Opinion ID: 775760
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Victim Within the Meaning of the Hobbs Act

Text: 112 Defendants next argue that Section 2B3.2(c)(1) does not apply because Riddick, as a rival coalition member, was not a victim within the purview of the Hobbs Act. This is a legal issue subject to de novo review. Relying on United States v. Napoli, 179 F.3d 1 (2d Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1162, 145 L. Ed. 2d 1084, 120 S. Ct. 1176 (2000), defendants first argue that the victim referred to in Section 2B3.2(c)(1) must be a direct and not an indirect victim of the extortionate scheme. Napoli is inapposite because it construed U.S.S.G. 3D1.2, which refers to the same victim while the Hobbs Act guideline refers to a victim. Id. 179 F.3d at 7. Alternatively, defendants argue that even though a victim may not deserve the narrow construction accorded to the victim by Napoli, it is less inclusive than any victim, as that phrase was construed in United States v. Muhammad, 948 F.2d 1449, 1455-56 (6th Cir. 1991) (applying enhancement for bodily injury to any victim to robber who assaulted police officer attempting to restrain him during his get-away). In appellants' view, a victim's place on the continuum between any victim and the victim may support application of 2B3.2(c)(1) if a direct target of extortion or an innocent bystander is killed but not if a rival coalition member is killed. We disagree. If it were not for BFB's extortionate purpose and need to control the Queens site, Mulder would not have come to the site to confront Callie Harris' gang and therefore would not have shot Riddick. In Muhammad, the court said, one must understand the term 'victim' in the context of the crime committed. Id. at 1456 n.1. In extortion, the term a victim is most reasonably construed to include all persons killed to carry out the extortionate scheme, a reading that includes Riddick, who was killed to maintain BFB's control over the HHM sites in Queens. Therefore, we agree with the district court that Riddick was a victim of that portion of the conspiracy that related to the Union Street site. 113