Opinion ID: 162347
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sufficiency of Evidence Claims

Text: 27 This court reviews the sufficiency of evidence de novo. See United States v. Malone, 222 F.3d 1286, 1290 (10th Cir.2000). We do so, however, viewing the evidence and the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the government. We will reverse only if no rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 1290-91 (quotation omitted). 28
29 The Hobbs Act punishes activity that in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do. 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a). The statute defines commerce as all commerce between any point in a State ... and any point outside thereof; all commerce between points within the same State through any place outside such State. Id. § 1951(b)(3). The Supreme Court has stated that the Hobbs Act speaks in broad language, manifesting a purpose to use all the constitutional power Congress has to punish interference with interstate commerce by extortion, robbery or physical violence. Stirone v. United States, 361 U.S. 212, 215, 80 S.Ct. 270, 4 L.Ed.2d 252 (1960). 30 Toles claims that there was insufficient evidence to establish the interstate commerce requirement of the Hobbs Act for the Northside Tag Agency robbery. He concedes that binding precedent in this circuit requires the government to demonstrate only a de minimis effect on interstate commerce. See Malone, 222 F.3d at 1294-95 (explaining that the Supreme Court's decisions in United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, 120 S.Ct. 1740, 146 L.Ed.2d 658 (2000), and Jones v. United States, 529 U.S. 848, 120 S.Ct. 1904, 146 L.Ed.2d 902 (2000), did not affect the de minimis standard). 31 In this circuit, only a potential effect on commerce is required to satisfy the interstate commerce element. United States v. Wiseman, 172 F.3d 1196, 1216 (10th Cir.1999) (emphasis added); see also United States v. Chanthadara, 230 F.3d 1237, 1253-54 (10th Cir.2000) (relying on the depletion of business assets resulting from robbery to find potential effect on interstate commerce); Nguyen, 155 F.3d at 1228 (same); United States v. Zeigler, 19 F.3d 486, 493 (10th Cir.1994) (same). Wiseman, Chanthadara, Zeigler, and Nguyen stand for the proposition that there need not be a showing of actual effect on interstate commerce to satisfy the de minimis requirement. See Nguyen, 155 F.3d at 1228 (collecting cases from other circuits). In Wiseman, for example, we found no error in instructing the jury that the government could satisfy the interstate commerce requirement merely by demonstrating that the stolen funds could have been used to purchase goods in interstate commerce. See 172 F.3d at 1215-16. This court sees no principled distinction between the purchase of interstate goods in Zeigler, Nguyen, Chanthadara, and Wiseman, and the sale of goods, as implicated here. When the affected business sold goods or services, the government can satisfy the de minimis requirement by showing that the robbery could have decreased the business' sales in interstate commerce. 32 At trial, Thomas McGee, a clerk at the Northside Tag Agency, testified that the agency sold vehicle tags, which are an annual license tax, and pike passes, which permit Oklahoma and out-of-state residents to drive on Oklahoma toll roads. The tag agency accepts out-of-state checks as payment for tags and drivers' licenses. For pike passes, the agency accepts credit cards which are cleared out-of-state. Moreover, McGee testified that out-of-state residents who traveled to Oklahoma could purchase pike passes at the tag agency. The robbers took money from the tag agency, customers, and McGee. As a result of the robbery, the tag agency was closed for the remainder of the day. 33 Viewing this uncontroverted evidence and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the government, as we must, a reasonable jury could conclude that the robbery had a potential effect on interstate commerce. It is undisputed that customers were robbed at the tag agency. The tag agency's closure could have prevented them from using out-of-state checks and credit cards to purchase pike passes and license tags from the agency. See Chanthadara, 230 F.3d at 1253-54 (relying in part on business' revenues from out-of-state credit cards to conclude there was a de minimis effect on interstate commerce). The agency's closure also could have prevented potential customers from going to the agency and using out-of-state forms of payment. Moreover, the robbery could have delayed or obstructed sales to out-of-state residents who wished to purchase pike passes. See United States v. Lotspeich, 796 F.2d 1268, 1270 (10th Cir.1986). Indeed, this court concluded in Lotspeich that there was a de minimis effect by relying in part on evidence that a business had proposed to build a racetrack  with the hope  of attracting out-of-state customers. See id. (emphasis added). There is thus sufficient evidence for a jury to conclude that the closing of the tag agency could in any way or degree obstruct[ ], delay[ ], or affect[ ] commerce. 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a); see also United States v. Boston, 718 F.2d 1511, 1516 (10th Cir.1983) (approving jury instruction requiring government to prove that the defendant actually or potentially obstructed, delayed or affected interstate commerce or attempted to do so (emphasis added)). 6 34 The dissent acknowledges that the evidence may have permitted the jury to infer some possibility that the agency's temporary closure prevented use of out-of-state forms of payment. [S]ome possibility, however, is apparently less than de minimis under the dissent's view and insufficient to establish a potential effect on interstate commerce. The dissent suggests that the government must present evidence which would allow a jury to infer that transactions regularly involved out-of-state payments. As the dissent recognizes, however, our cases require only that the government demonstrate a potential effect on interstate commerce. Evidence showing whether and to what extent a business' historic sales derived from out-of-state forms of payments and sales to out-of-state residents is, by definition, unnecessary for a jury to conclude that the robbery could have impeded the tag agency's ability to engage in interstate commerce. 35 Here, there was a realistic possibility that an out-of-state resident who wanted to purchase a pike pass at the Northside Tag Agency could not do so after the robbery. There was also a realistic possibility that one of the customers robbed wanted to use an out-of-state check or credit card to purchase a vehicle tag. In convicting Toles of the robbery, the jury necessarily found that there was at least a potential effect on interstate commerce, a finding that was reasonable and supported by the prosecution's uncontroverted evidence. We conclude that the government's evidence was not so trivial as to automatically place the[ ] robber[y] beyond the reach of the Act. 7
36 Toles argues that the government's evidence that Toles used a real gun in the Homeland grocery robbery and the tag agency robbery was insufficient for a jury to convict. 8 At trial, Thomas McGee testified that one of the robbers used a big, shiny handgun during the robbery. McGee, who had served in the military and had some familiarity with firearms, also testified he had no doubt that the gun was real. On cross-examination, McGee testified that many imitation guns look like real guns and that the robbers did not actually fire the gun. 37 Similarly, Raymond Crawford, the assistant manager at the Homeland grocery store at the time of the robbery, testified that he had no doubt that the robbers used a real gun. Crawford stated on cross-examination that the gun was not fired or discharged during the robbery and that it was possible that the gun may not have been real. 38 Viewing this testimony in the light most favorable to the government, a reasonable jury could have concluded that the guns used in the Homeland and tag agency robberies were real.