Opinion ID: 779372
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Count 6 — Hobbs Act Conspiracy

Text: 37 The district court concluded that Tocco's offense level for his Count 6 Hobbs Act conspiracy conviction was 21; the court concluded that Tocco's base offense level for the conspiracy was 18 pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2B3.2(a), and the court applied a three-level aggravating role enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(b). Under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.2(d) [a] conviction on a count charging a conspiracy to commit more than one offense shall be treated as if the defendant had been convicted on a separate count of conspiracy for each offense that the defendant conspired to commit. Count 6 charged Tocco with conspiring to commit nine specific acts of extortion. Therefore, for Count 6, Tocco could have been held accountable for all nine acts of extortion listed in that Count, his offense level for that Count then being derived pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3D1.4. The commentary to U.S.S.G. § 1B1.2 cautions, however, that: 38 Particular care must be taken in applying subsection (d) because there are cases in which the verdict or plea does not establish which offense(s) was the object of the conspiracy. In such cases, subsection (d) should only be applied with respect to an object offense alleged in the conspiracy count if the court, were it sitting as a trier of fact, would convict the defendant of conspiring to commit that object offense. 39 U.S.S.G. § 1B1.2(d), commentary, applic. note 5. As the jury verdict in this case was general for Count 6, the district court correctly applied the above standard. The court then found that for each act of extortion it would not convict the defendant of conspiring to commit that offense. See, e.g., J.A. at 249. But in order to sentence Tocco for Count 6, the court had to find that he conspired to commit at least one of the acts of extortion. 40 Count 6 of the indictment provided that: Defendants herein ... did unlawfully, knowingly, and willfully combine, conspire, confederate, and agree together and with each other, to obstruct, delay, and affect commerce ... and the movement of articles and commodities in such commerce, by extortion, ... in that the Defendants did agree to obtain the property of Robert Monro, Jesus Morales, George Wierzba, Ramzi Yaldoo, John Johns, George Yatooma, Sam Martin, Daniel Abraham, and George Sophiea.... 41 J.A. at 180-81. If Tocco had not conspired to commit any of the acts of extortion charged in Count 6, the jury could not have convicted Tocco of Count 6. In fact, the jury instructions require as much. J.A. at 2135 (Jury Instr.) (requiring the jury to find for Count 6 that some member of the conspiracy did some overt act for the purpose of advancing or helping the conspiracy). 15 Moreover, if Tocco had not conspired to commit any of the acts of extortion charged in Count 6, the district court could not have calculated Tocco's offense level for Count 6. In calculating an offense level for a conviction on a count charging a conspiracy to commit more than one offense, the court must look to the offense levels for the offenses the defendant conspired to commit. See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.2(d). Inasmuch as the court in this case concluded that Tocco's offense level for the Count 6 Hobbs Act conspiracy was 21, the court must have found that Tocco conspired to commit one of the acts of extortion charged in Count 6. 42 We instruct the district court on remand to reassess whether Tocco conspired to commit the various acts of extortion charged in Count 6 for the purposes of calculating his Count 6 offense level. Because all of the acts of extortion have the same base offense level pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2B3.2(a) and because the court must apply a three-level aggravating role enhancement to each act it finds Tocco conspired to commit pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(b) and our previous remand, it is possible that the court could still conclude on this remand that Tocco's offense level for Count 6 is 21. However, we also instruct the court on remand to explain which act or acts of extortion it finds that Tocco conspired to commit. As we explained above, any act of extortion that Tocco did conspire to commit should be included as relevant conduct for the purpose of calculating Tocco's Count 1 RICO conspiracy base offense level. 16