Opinion ID: 2995593
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Spradley

Text: The district court found that Spradley knew Willis had been murdered to keep him from relaying any more information to law-enforcement authorities. It based its findings, in part, on evidence that Spradley knew about Willis’s informant activities. Coconspirator Keith Cork testified at trial that several days before Willis’s murder, he and Spradley confronted Willis about rumors that he had been talking to the police. Cork’s testimony was corroborated by a statement to the same effect made by Willis to police on June 20, 1997, approximately ten days before the murder. In addition, Cork testified that Spradley, in a meeting about Willis’s informant activities attended by several conspiracy members, said that he would not let anyone hurt them. We believe that this evidence sufficiently supports the conclusion that it was reasonably foreseeable to Spradley that Willis would be murdered with malice aforethought. Spradley knew that Willis was likely to be murdered in an attempt to prevent him from further exposing the conspiracy, which satisfies the test of reasonable foreseeability. Therefore the district court did not err by applying the First-Degree Murder Guideline to Spradley. See United States v. Walker, 142 F.3d 103, 114 (2d Cir. 1998).