Opinion ID: 3015959
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Heading: to punish any person for the

Text: nonrepayment thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. 18 U.S.C. § 894. An extension of credit is defined to mean “to make or renew any loan, or enter into any agreement, tacit or express, whereby the repayment or satisfaction of any debt or claim, whether acknowledged or disputed, valid or invalid, and however arising, may or will be deferred.” 18 U.S.C. § 891(1). Because of the disjunctive “or,” if the extortionate collection of a debt involves a loan, there is no additional requirement that the parties agree to defer repayment of the loan. The statute does not define the term “loan.” The term is generally defined as “[d]elivery by one party to and receipt by another party of a sum of money upon agreement, express or implied, to repay it with or without interest.” Black’s Law Dictionary 936 (6th ed. 1990). Mussare argues that the evidence is not sufficient to show that he and Bruce loaned any money or in any other way extended any credit to Taylor and Kane. But Taylor testified “I borrowed–asked to borrow $115 from J. J. Mussare, and it was given to Jim Kane, and then given to me to buy heroin with.” (App. at 299.) He also testified that he understood that the money was to be repaid, either in cash or marijuana. (Id. at 300.) 6 Mussare argues that the jury’s acquittal on the charges of conspiracy to possess heroin establishes that the jury rejected Taylor’s testimony characterizing the transaction as a loan. However, it would not be inconsistent for the jury to acquit Mussare on the possession of heroin charge, but still believe that the transaction was a loan. It does not appear that there was any evidence that Mussare and Bruce sought the heroin for themselves or even agreed to the heroin buying scheme; they simply wanted marijuana. Alternatively, even if inconsistent, there is no requirement that a jury’s verdict be consistent. See United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 62-63 (1984). We will not interpret the jury’s acquittal on the heroin charge as a rejection of Taylor’s testimony, and that testimony clearly provides evidence that the transaction was a loan. We also observe that, even if a reasonable jury could not find that a loan existed, it nevertheless could reasonably conclude that there was an agreement to defer repayment of the debt Kane and Taylor owed to Bruce and Mussare. Taylor received the money on Saturday, January 22. Bruce and Mussare remained at Kane’s apartment until Sunday morning, while Kane and Taylor each left the apartment, first to purchase heroin and then to try to sell it for profit. Bruce and Mussare left the apartment Sunday morning, but returned that evening for their marijuana. At that point, Kane told them that he had been unable to resell the heroin, and that he had neither the marijuana he had promised them or the money to repay them. Bruce and Mussare again left without incident. It was not until Monday evening that Bruce and Mussare assaulted Taylor. From this sequence of events, a reasonable jury could find an agreement to defer repayment of the debt. See United States v. DiPasquale, 740 F.2d 1282 , 1287 (3d Cir. 1984) (“A tacit agreement may be implied from the circumstances surrounding the creation of the debt.”). As such, there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding that an extension of credit had been made, either because the initial payment was a loan or because an agreement to postpone the payment of a claimed debt could be inferred.