Opinion ID: 779309
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sufficiency of the Evidence to Convict Colon and Arocho for Witness Tampering

Text: 56 Colon and Arocho next challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting their conviction on Count 8 for witness tampering. Specifically, Count 8 charged Colon and Arocho with attempting to corruptly influence the testimony of a witness, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1). This charge stemmed from Colon and Arocho's contact with Allen while they were in prison and their alleged attempts to induce Allen to testify falsely at their trial that he was intoxicated at the time that he made a statement to the police incriminating them. A jury found Colon and Arocho guilty on this count. 57 In reviewing a jury's verdict for the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence, together with all reasonable inferences, in the light most favorable to the government. See United States v. Swanquist, 161 F.3d 1064, 1071 (7th Cir.1998). We neither reweigh the evidence nor assess the credibility of the witnesses. See United States v. Irorere, 228 F.3d 816, 822 (7th Cir.2000). Rather, the sole question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. We will overturn a jury verdict only if the defendant can establish that the record contains no evidence, regardless of how it is weighed, from which a jury could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Gondy, 792 F.2d 664, 674 (7th Cir.1986). 58 In this case, to have convicted Colon and Arocho under Section 1512(b)(1) for witness tampering, the jury was required to find beyond a reasonable doubt that 1) Allen was a witness or a prospective witness; 2) defendants Colon and Arocho attempted to persuade Allen to provide false testimony; and 3) defendants Colon and Arocho acted knowingly and with the intent to influence Allen's testimony. 5 See 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1); United States v. Johnson, 903 F.2d 1084, 1087 (7th Cir. 1990). Reading the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, we conclude that all of these elements were satisfied. First, there is no dispute that Allen was a prospective witness. As to the last two elements, the government presented evidence that following their arrest, Allen, Colon and Arocho were all housed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago on the same floor, and that for two or three months, Allen shared a cell with Colon. During this time, Colon told Allen they could beat the case if Allen and Flores would change their stories and claim that they were threatened by the police. Colon, joined by Arocho, also told Allen to say that he was scared, drunk and high on drugs at the time that he gave the officers a statement and that the officers had threatened him. Allen originally told Arocho and Colon that the statement he had given the officers was true and that he was not going to change it. At trial, Allen testified that Colon and Arocho nonetheless approached him again, presenting him with a typed document to sign, which stated that he was drunk, high on drugs and had been threatened by the officers. Allen testified that he signed the document even though the statements were not true because he felt that if he did not sign it, he would continue to have confrontations with Colon and that he was worried about prison security. Based on this evidence, a jury could reasonably conclude that Colon and Arocho were attempting to persuade Allen to provide false testimony and that they acted knowingly and with the intent to influence Allen's testimony. Therefore, Colon and Arocho's sufficiency of the evidence challenge fails. 59