Opinion ID: 2804914
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Intent to extort

Text: “Our standard of review concerning whether the evidence is sufficient to support a conviction is strict. We review the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, resolving evidentiary conflicts in favor of the government, and accepting all reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence that support the jury’s verdict.” United States v. Bell, 477 F.3d 607, 613 (8th Cir. 2007) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). We will overturn a conviction only if no reasonable jury could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. Carlson argues that no reasonable jury could have found that she had the requisite “intent to extort” under 18 U.S.C. § 876(b) and (d) because she did not intend to “obtain” anything from the businesses she threatened. In making her argument, Carlson relies on Scheidler v. National Org. for Women, Inc., 537 U.S. 393, 397 (2003), in which the Supreme Court held that “petitioners did not commit extortion because they did not ‘obtain’ property from respondents as required by the Hobbs Act.” The Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951, is a criminal statute that punishes whoever affects commerce “by robbery or extortion.” Under the Hobbs Act, the term “extortion” is specifically defined as “the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear . . . .” 18 U.S.C. § 1951(b)(2). In Scheidler, petitioners were anti-abortion activists who had used threats of violence to intimidate women and clinic staff from going to abortion clinics. No demands were made from these women to actually hand over anything of tangible value. The Court ruled that, though the threats were coercive and unlawful, they did not constitute extortion because the activists “neither pursued nor received something of value from respondents that they could exercise, transfer, or sell.” Scheidler, 537 U.S. at 405 (quotation omitted). -5- The present case differs from Scheidler in two key respects: The statute in question does not define the term extort; and Carlson did demand items of value, she just did not seek to obtain them for herself. As for the definition of extort, in another case evaluating the application of the Hobbs Act, Sekhar v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that “absent other indication, ‘Congress intends to incorporate the well-settled meaning of the common-law terms it uses.’” 133 S. Ct. 2720, 2724, (2013) (quoting Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 23 (1999)). “Extortion require[s] the obtaining of items of value, typically cash, from the victim.” Id. “Obtaining property requires ‘not only the deprivation but also the acquisition of property.’” Id. at 2725 (quoting Scheidler, 537 U.S. at 404). Both Scheidler and Sekhar took issue with the fact that the respective defendants had not actually sought to deprive and/or obtain transferable property. Here, however, that requirement has been met: Carlson demanded money and medical supplies—items of value. The question that remains is, does it matter that the place Carlson wished the money to be delivered suggests that she herself was not interested in obtaining the money and supplies? The Second Circuit has reasoned that “far from holding” that Hobbs Act liability requires the extortion of tangible property rights, the Supreme Court in Scheidler “simply clarified that for . . . liability to attach, there must be a showing that the defendant did not merely seek to deprive the victim of the property right in question, but also sought to obtain that right for himself.” United States v. Gotti, 459 F.3d 296, 300 (2d Cir. 2006) (emphasis added). However, the Gotti court went on to suggest that had the protestors in Scheidler attempted to force the abortion clinic to turn over its real property to a “third party of the extortionist’s choosing,” this action would have fit within the Supreme Court’s definition of extortion. Id. at 324 n.9. We agree with the Second Circuit’s analysis. In Sekhar and Scheidler, the Supreme Court was concerned with the type of property sought to be extorted, i.e. whether it is obtainable, rather than who in the end is doing the actual obtaining. The -6- jury in the present case was instructed: “To act with intent to extort means to act with the purpose of obtaining money or something of value from someone through wrongful means.” The letters sent by Carlson demanded that large sums of money and animal supplies be brought to a certain address, or else the author would follow through on her threats. A reasonable jury could have found that Carlson’s letters manifested the requisite intent to extort under 18 U.S.C. § 876(b) and (d).