Opinion ID: 76722
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Pipkins's Involuntary Servitude Conviction

Text: 80 Pipkins contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for unlawfully and willfully holding or selling 15-year-old JF5 in involuntary servitude, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1584 (Whoever knowingly and willfully holds to involuntary servitude or sells into any condition of involuntary servitude, any person for any term ... has committed the offense of involuntary servitude.). 81 A conviction under § 1584 requires proof that the victim [was] forced to work for the defendant by the use or threat of physical restraint or physical injury.... United States v. Kozminski, 487 U.S. 931, 952, 108 S.Ct. 2751, 2765, 101 L.Ed.2d 788 (1988). If a defendant keeps a victim in involuntary servitude through such fear of physical harm that the victim is afraid to leave, regardless of any opportunity to escape, the defendant has violated § 1584. See United States v. Warren, 772 F.2d 827, 833 (11th Cir.1985). 82 Pipkins argues that he could not have placed JF5 in involuntary servitude, as she was free to leave at any time. Pipkins notes that JF5 first prostituted for herself, then bounced from Lil Jeff to Playboy to Black to Cowboy before prostituting for Pipkins. Then, after prostituting for Pipkins for two to three weeks, JF5 left Pipkins for Scooby, then returned to Pipkins, and left again to work for Scooby. Pipkins asserts that the first time JF5 left, she did so voluntarily, leaving with one of Scooby's prostitutes. And, after leaving, she maintained contact with Pipkins either by telephone or in person in his home. 12 83 We reject this argument. Pipkins held JF5 in involuntary servitude by forcing her to prostitute herself and turn over all of her earnings to him, lest she endure a beating at his hands. On one occasion, he gave her a $1,000 quota for the night before she could return home. He also had sexual intercourse with her; she testified that she didn't have a choice because Pipkins was intimidating. And, in KK's presence, he punished her for smoking marijuana with one of Scooby's prostitutes by forcing her to have oral sex with another prostitute, JF6, who had just returned from a night of prostituting. Relating to this forced sexual encounter, JF5 testified that Pipkins told her that he wouldn't hit her, but that he didn't have to hit her to hurt her. 84 Section 1584 requires that involuntary servitude be for any term, which suggests that the temporal duration can be slight. Thus, the language of § 1584 negates Pipkins's argument that JF5 was never in involuntary servitude because she freely traveled between pimps. The record supports a finding that Pipkins held JF5 in involuntary servitude for at least part of the time that she prostituted for him. 85 We therefore conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support Pipkins's conviction for involuntary servitude of JF5. 86