Opinion ID: 783826
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Attempted Murder

Text: 61 With respect to racketeering activity of attempted murder, we conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support a finding that the Netas, through its members and associates, was engaged in racketeering during the period covered by the indictment. Although evidence of Garcia's attempt to kill Santiago in August or September of 1994 at Pimentel's direction was insufficient to establish attempted murder under New York case law, evidence of the Netas' contemporaneous altercation with a rival gang was sufficient to permit a rational juror to conclude that the Netas constituted an entity engaged in racketeering during the time period relevant to the indictment. 62 In United States v. Desena, 287 F.3d 170 (2d Cir.2002) — a VCAR case where the defendant unsuccessfully challenged the sufficiency of the evidence that he engaged in the racketeering act of attempted assault — we had the opportunity to review the elements of an attempt crime set forth in the New York Penal Law. That statute imposes criminal liability for an attempted crime when with intent to commit a crime, [the defendant] engages in conduct which tends to effect the commission of such crime. N.Y. Penal Law § 110.00. As we explained in Desena, New York's courts require[] that the [G]overnment prove the defendant engaged in conduct that came dangerously near commission of the completed crime. 287 F.3d at 178 (emphasis added and internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting People v. Kassebaum, 95 N.Y.2d 611, 618, 721 N.Y.S.2d 866, 744 N.E.2d 694 (2001)). To satisfy the `dangerously near' standard, the defendant must have carried the project forward to within `dangerous proximity' of the intended crime, though he need not take the final step to effectuate that crime. Id. (citing People v. Bracey, 41 N.Y.2d 296, 300, 392 N.Y.S.2d 412, 360 N.E.2d 1094 (1977); People v. Fair, 269 A.D.2d 91, 94, 711 N.Y.S.2d 196 (3d Dep't 2000)). The rationale behind the `dangerously near' or `dangerous proximity' standard is that it imposes criminal liability only in situations where the defendant's conduct caused `a sufficient risk of harm to be treated as a crime in itself.' Id. (quoting Bracey, 41 N.Y.2d at 299, 392 N.Y.S.2d 412, 360 N.E.2d 1094). 63 In the context of attempted murder prosecutions factually analogous to the case at bar, New York courts have consistently held that, to survive a sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge, the Government must establish that the defendant pointed a weapon at a victim and was about to kill him with it. For example, in People v. Putnam, 130 A.D.2d 52, 55-56, 518 N.Y.S.2d 239 (3d Dep't 1987), the Appellate Division found insufficient evidence to support an attempted murder conviction where the only acts committed by the defendant were an agreement between the defendant and a hit man for the murder to occur during a certain weekend and for the defendant to supply the hit man with a knife to be used as the murder weapon together with the hit man's requested fee for committing the murder. Likewise, in People v. Mendez, 197 A.D.2d 485, 485, 603 N.Y.S.2d 44 (1st Dep't 1993) (mem.), the Appellate Division vacated the defendant's attempted murder conviction where the defendant pointed a revolver at the victim's midsection from a distance but did not have his finger on the trigger. And, in People v. Chandler, 250 A.D.2d 410, 411, 673 N.Y.S.2d 100 (1st Dep't 1998) (mem.), the Appellate Division again vacated a defendant's attempted murder conviction where the defendant momentarily pointed a loaded semiautomatic pistol at the chest of a police officer from a distance of approximately 25 feet[, but] there [was] no proof that [he] had his finger on the trigger. (internal quotation marks omitted) 64 In light of the foregoing, there was insufficient evidence to support a finding by the jury that the Netas attempted to murder Santiago in August or September of 1994, at Pimentel's direction. That evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the Government, see Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781; Dhinsa, 243 F.3d at 648-49, established only that (1) Garcia was armed when he spent an evening in the vicinity of a park, which Santiago was known to frequent, looking for him so he could shoot and kill him; and (2) Garcia abandoned his attempt to kill Santiago after he failed to locate him. These activities fall far short of the dangerously near/dangerous proximity bar set forth in New York's attempted murder case law. Accordingly, the attempted murder of Santiago cannot serve as the requisite racketeering act to support the Defendants' convictions. 65 Nevertheless, the Government did present sufficient evidence for a rational jury to have found that the Netas engaged in attempted murder. In particular, Garcia testified that, in September or October of 1994, following an earlier altercation between the Netas and members of a rival gang, the Papichulos, a Neta named Caveman chased down members of the Papichulos with a machine gun in hand and proceeded to beckon them out from hiding. When the Papichulos' leader came out and fired his shotgun at Caveman, Caveman immediately opened fire with his semi-automatic weapon. 66 Because Garcia testified that this episode occurred as part of a larger altercation between the Netas and the Papichulos, a rational juror certainly could have concluded that Caveman took these actions on behalf of the Netas. Moreover, although one could argue that Cavemen ultimately fired at the rival gang members in self-defense, the fact that, before the shooting occurred, he chased after them with a semi-automatic weapon and called them out from hiding provides more than sufficient evidence for a rational juror to have concluded that Caveman would have fired upon the Papichulos even if they had not fired first. 67 Accordingly, the Government provided sufficient evidence for a rational juror to have concluded that the Netas constituted an entity engaged in attempted murder during the relevant time period to serve as the requisite act of racketeering to support the Defendants' convictions. See 18 U.S.C. § 1961 (defining racketeering activity to include any act or threat involving murder ... chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year).