Opinion ID: 772793
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Membership motives

Text: 13 Judge Scheindlin held that during trial the government abandoned the motive theories of gaining entrance to Power Rules and increasing or maintaining position in the gang. See Ferguson, 49 F. Supp.2d at 325. The government argues that this finding was erroneous. Despite her abandonment finding, Judge Scheindlin went on to consider the evidence supporting the membership-related motives. For the purposes of this opinion, therefore, we will assume that the government did not waive these theories of criminal liability. Judge Scheindlin held that there was no credible evidence that Ferguson was a member of Power Rules or sought to become a member of Power Rules. Id. at 327-28. Based on the trial evidence, the district court held that [a]t most, the jury found that Ferguson participated in two failed attempts to find and kill Ayala and [t]his does not rise to the level of activity necessary to support a finding of membership or a desire to become a member. Id. at 328. 14 On appeal, the government argues that Ferguson was closely affiliated with Power Rules and acted with Power Rules members, using guns that gang leader Guzman supplied, to kill Ayala in order to protect the gang's core drug business. According to the government, Ferguson's motive was his affiliation with the gang and his desire to maintain and enhance his close association with its leaders. The district court did not abuse its discretion, however, when after it weighed the evidence, assessed witness credibility, and considered the jury's verdict, it concluded that the membership motives fell short. 15 Many of the cases upon which the government relies show circumstances in which a defendant who is an established member of a criminal enterprise acts in a way consistent with that membership. See, e.g., United States v. Rahman, 189 F.3d 88, 126-27 (2d Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied, 120 S. Ct. 439 (1999); United States v. Diaz, 176 F.3d 52, 94-95 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 120 S. Ct. 181 (1999); Concepcion, 983 F.2d at 382-83. For example, Concepcion was a lieutenant in the enterprise and initiated violence in connection with its narcotics business to maintain and increase his leadership position in the group. See Concepcion, 983 F.2d at 382-83. In Diaz, defendants were gang members who furthered that membership by killing an informant who could harm the gang's narcotics enterprise. See Diaz, 176 F.3d at 95. In this case, however, there was no direct evidence that Ferguson was a Power Rules member. The weight of the evidence showed that Ferguson was an outside hit man who did not belong to or seek to join Power Rules. Even the government so characterized Ferguson's role. During summation, the prosecutor told the jury that Ferguson had more limited involvement in gang activities and his role essentially was that of a hired gun. 16 We recognize that evidence of a person's membership in or association with a criminal enterprise may be circumstantial because Section 1959(b)(2) defines enterprise in part as a group of individuals associated in fact. 18 U.S.C. § 1959(b)(2). The government essentially relies on the same fact - Ferguson's participation in the effort to kill Ayala - to prove both his membership in Power Rules and his motive of furthering gang membership. According to the government, an important indication of Ferguson's membership is that he acted with Power Rules gang members and followed the orders of gang leader Guzman. If this were a Rule 29 motion, we might agree with the government that the facts sufficiently showed membership and actions in furtherance of membership. However, the contrary view of the district court after weighing the evidence on a Rule 33 motion is not an abuse of discretion. 17 The government contends that the effort to murder Ayala not only was important to Power Rules but indeed was a core activity of the gang because killing a rival drug dealer was critical to protecting the gang's principal activity of selling drugs. The government assigns error to the district court's contrary holding and argues that Judge Scheindlin was wrong to discount all proof of the related Mercado shooting and consider only evidence of two isolated occasions of Ferguson's participation in the conspiracy to murder Ayala. Ferguson, 49 F. Supp.2d at 327. What the district court held, however, was that the only gang activity in which Ferguson participated was the conspiracy to kill Ayala, and this conduct by itself was insufficient to show his membership in Power Rules. See id. at 327. Although she viewed evidence of the Mercado shooting as suspect in light of the jury's acquittals on all counts related to this incident, see id. at 326 n.8, Judge Scheindlin nonetheless examined the totality of the case as Sanchez requires. We cannot say that the district court abused her discretion when she concluded that the weight of the evidence showed that Ferguson was an outside hit man and not a Power Rules member acting to further that membership. Ferguson may have participated in an important mission of Power Rules when he tried to kill Ayala, but that fact standing alone is not competent to show his racketeering motive. 18 While Ferguson need not have been a formal Power Rules member for criminal liability under Section 1959 to attach, there must be evidence that he acted with the expectation of gaining membership, see Polanco, 145 F.3d at 540 n.2, see also Malpeso, 115 F.3d at 159 n.1, 164, or in furtherance of an intimate involvement with the enterprise. See United States v. Muyet, 994 F. Supp. 501, 516 (S.D.N.Y. 1998), aff'd, 225 F.3d 647 (2d Cir. 2000). In order to show this sort of involvement, defendant must participate in the enterprise's activities. See Malpeso, 115 F.3d at 159 n.1. For example, in Muyet, a defendant who was not a member of the gang was closely associated with it and criminally liable under Section 1959 because he participated in high-level meetings with gang leaders or at gang headquarters, planned violent crimes to support the gang's activities, and carried out crimes using his discretion. See Muyet, 994 F. Supp. at 516. Ferguson did not participate in Power Rules' core activities of drug sales, extortion or robbery, and none of those additional circumstances is present with respect to Ferguson. Indeed, other than the facts of Ferguson's participation in the Ayala murder conspiracy, the only trial evidence characterizing Ferguson as an associate of Power Rules rather than an outside hit man is the testimony of Luis Soto, who also defined an associate of Power Rules as a friend of Miguel's [Guzman]. Judge Scheindlin did not abuse her discretion on this Rule 33 motion by deciding that this evidence as a whole was incompetent.