Opinion ID: 2669163
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Faamausili-Home Shooting

Text: Mr. Daniel Maumau and Mr. Toki challenge the sufficiency of the evidence arising from the shooting into the Faamausili home. In challenging the sufficiency of the evidence, they argue that the Government failed to prove that they had acted with the purpose of maintaining or increasing their positions within the enterprise. According to the Defendants, the shooting was personal. We conclude that three factors support the jury’s conclusion that the shooting was to further or maintain the Defendants’ positions in TCG: (1) Mr. Toki enlisted two of his fellow gang members to retaliate; (2) during the commission of the shooting, Mr. Daniel Maumau and Mr. Kamoto donned blue bandanas, which were insignia of TCG; and (3) the shooting was in broad daylight, suggesting that the shooters wanted the family and others to know that TCG was responsible. From these factors, the jury could have inferred an intent to commit violent crimes to maintain or further TCG’s reputation in the community as a fearsome gang and to maintain or enhance their own positions within TCG. The Government does not need to prove that the defendant’s “sole or principal motive” was to maintain or increase his position in the enterprise. United States v. Smith, 413 F.3d 1253, 1277 (10th Cir. 2005), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Hutchinson, 573 F.3d 1011, 1021 (10th Cir. 2009). Rather, the Government need only establish that the predicate violent crime was committed as an “integral aspect of membership” in the enterprise (TCG). Id.; see 38 United States v. Concepcion, 983 F.2d 369, 381 (2d Cir. 1992) (noting that one could be guilty under § 1959 if the violent crime was “an integral aspect of membership” even if it was not the “sole or principal motive”). Mr. Daniel Maumau and Mr. Toki focus on the personal nature of the dispute. In their eyes, Mr. Toki wanted to retaliate for being interrupted during sex and punched in the face. Because the shooting was based on personal motives, they continue, the evidence was insufficient to tie the shooting to their status in TCG. For this argument, Mr. Daniel Maumau and Mr. Toki cite cases holding that the fifth element was satisfied when the predicate assault was directed at a rival gang or at someone who had threatened the activities of the gang. E.g., Daniel Maumau’s Opening Br. at 19-23. The two defendants argue that these cases are distinguishable because they involved the functioning of the gang, unlike the personal affront to Mr. Toki. Id. at 24-27. In the view of Mr. Daniel Maumau and Mr. Toki, the Government’s evidence resembles that in United States v. Thai, 29 F.3d 785 (2d Cir. 1994), and United States v. Jones, 291 F. Supp. 2d 78 (D. Conn. 2003), two of the cases invoked by Mr. Daniel Maumau. E.g., Daniel Maumau’s Opening Br. at 21-23. In Thai, the defendant, a gang leader, was offered $10,000 to bomb a building; in attempting to execute his plan, the gang leader employed fellow gang members. See Thai, 29 F.3d at 818. The Government argued that the fifth element 39 was satisfied because the gang’s purpose was to make money through crime. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, reasoning that the evidence did not connect the bombing to the gang. Id. Because any such connection was based on “pure speculation,” the court reversed the § 1959 conviction. Id. The facts in United States v. Jones, 291 F. Supp. 2d 78 (D. Conn. 2003), were similar. There the defendant, another gang leader, confronted an acquaintance who had allegedly disrespected the defendant’s girlfriend; the defendant retaliated by killing the acquaintance with the help of two friends. The Government argued that without retaliation, the insult would have diminished the defendant’s reputation in the gang. But the district court concluded that the evidence did not “support an inference that any act of disrespect directed at Jones personally was also an affront or threat to the [gang’s] and Jones’s leadership position.” Jones, 291 F. Supp. 2d at 88, 92. Our facts bear some similarity to the facts in Thai and Jones. For example, the jury could infer that Mr. Toki went to the Faamausili home for personal reasons rather than to advance the standing of his gang. But the jury could also have inferred an effort to promote the gang and Mr. Toki’s status within the gang. In inferring an intent to promote the gang, the jury could have focused on three aspects of Mr. Toki’s retaliation. First, Mr. Toki retaliated by recruiting two other TCG members, Mr. Kamoto and Mr. Daniel Maumau. Second, when the three men fired, two of them donned blue bandanas, the signature clothing of 40 TCG. Third, the shooting took place in broad daylight. Without any evidence of concealment, the jury could infer that Mr. Toki intended to instill fear in the community, one of TCG’s purposes. The jury could have found not only an intent to promote the reputation of TCG, but also an intent to enhance Mr. Toki’s standing with the gang. See United States v. Dhinsa, 243 F.3d 635, 671 (2d Cir. 2001) (concluding that “section 1959 encompasses violent crimes intended to preserve the defendant’s position in the enterprise or to enhance his reputation and wealth within that enterprise”). For example, the jury could have inferred that Mr. Toki’s reputation for toughness would have diminished by a failure to retaliate after being punched in the face. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Government, a jury could reasonably conclude that Mr. Daniel Maumau and Mr. Kamoto responded to an assault on Mr. Toki, one of their fellow gang members, to maintain their reputations and TCG’s. Though the motive may have been partly personal, the jury could also have found that Mr. Toki acted with the “integral or essential” purpose of promoting the gang and maintaining or advancing his position in the gang.