Opinion ID: 201500
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 4 In November 1999, Kevin Weeks (Weeks), a member of the Bulger/Flemmi group, was arrested and indicted (the Weeks indictment) by a grand jury in Worcester, Massachusetts (the grand jury). 1 Soon after his arrest, Weeks agreed to cooperate with the government and disclosed information about crimes committed by the Bulger/Flemmi group. Weeks stated that Bulger and Stephen had committed three previously unsolved murders and buried the bodies at a specified location in Dorchester, Massachusetts. 2 Weeks also said that the Bulger/Flemmi group had an arsenal of weapons (guns and ammunition) hidden in a structure behind the house of Michael and Stephen's mother, Mary Flemmi (Mrs. Flemmi), in Boston, Massachusetts. As a result of the information that Weeks provided, the grand jury amended the Weeks indictment to include Bulger and Stephen, who were each charged with engaging in violent racketeering activities, including assault and murder. 3 5 Thereafter, law enforcement agents obtained warrants to search for the weapons and bodies Weeks had described. On January 13, 2000, agents searched the structure behind Mrs. Flemmi's house for the arsenal and, in a secret compartment within the structure, found a single revolver, along with ammunition and silencers. The hide, however, contained numerous shelves and gun racks and, thus, appeared capable of storing a substantial number of firearms. At the location Weeks identified in Dorchester, the agents unearthed the skeletal remains of three murder victims, who were subsequently identified as Arthur Barrett (Barrett), John McIntyre (McIntyre), and Deborah Hussey (Hussey), the latter being Stephen's step-daughter. 6 On January 11, 2000, two days before the agents searched the hide, William St. Croix (St.Croix), Stephen's son, visited Stephen in prison. During the visit, Stephen asked St. Croix to remove guns Stephen had hidden in the structure behind his mother's house. St. Croix and his friend, Michael Allen (Allen), went to Mrs. Flemmi's house that same day. Michael was present when they arrived. St. Croix told Michael that Stephen had asked St. Croix to remove guns from a hide in the structure because he was concerned that Weeks, whom he knew to be cooperating with the government, would disclose the existence and location of the hide. Michael helped St. Croix locate the hide and load the guns into bags, which St. Croix and Allen then transported to Allen's residence. 4 Michael's Grand Jury Testimony 7 On June 7, 2000, Michael was called to testify before the grand jury, which was still investigating the Bulger/Flemmi group. Michael was questioned about the structure behind his mother's house, the hide, the missing guns, and the bodies unearthed in Dorchester. Michael told the grand jury that the last time [he] was in [the structure] was about three years ago. When Michael was asked whether he had ever seen the hide, or the items recovered therefrom, before the January 13, 2000 search, he responded, Never. Michael also stated that, before January 13, 2000, he did not know about the hide; had never conversed with anyone about the hide; had never seen any firearms at his mother's house; did not know whether there were ever rifles in the hide; and did not know whose property was recovered from the hide or how it came to be situated there. Finally, when Michael was asked whether he knew if Stephen's step-daughter, Hussey, was alive, he answered, I don't know. Yet, a few months before, in January of 2000, while he and St. Croix were visiting Stephen in prison, Stephen confessed to killing Hussey. 8 The grand jury subsequently added Michael to the Weeks indictment. He was charged with obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with the removal of the guns from the hide and his grand jury testimony, and with unlawful possession of firearms. Michael's Trial 9 Michael was tried separately from the other indicted parties. At his trial, which began on April 16, 2002, the government called St. Croix and Allen to testify that Michael had helped them remove guns from the hide. The government also presented evidence that the guns met the statutory requirements for the firearms charges, and it played for the jury a recording of Michael's grand jury testimony. In addition, the government was permitted to ask St. Croix and Weeks about the Bulger/Flemmi group, its criminal exploits, and Michael's contacts with the group. Nevertheless, the jury was instructed, on more than one occasion, that Michael [was] not charged with complicity in the [crimes] carried out by the Bulger-Flemmi organization, and it was reminded that it was to confine [its] deliberations to the crimes with which Michael [was] actually charged. 5 10 Michael's defense at trial was that he had nothing to do with the removal of the guns from the hide — he insisted that any testimony on the part of the government's witnesses to the contrary was false. The jury ultimately convicted Michael on all counts. Michael's Sentencing 11 Michael was sentenced on September 9, 2002. In order to determine Michael's sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice, the district court had to identify the most serious substantive offense related to his unlawful conduct. 6 The district court, adopting the position taken in the United States Probation Office's Pre-Sentence Report (PSR), decided that the relevant offense was murder and sentenced Michael accordingly. Present Appeal 12 On appeal, Michael argues that the district court erred in admitting St. Croix and Weeks' testimony about the Bulger/Flemmi group, its criminal activities, and Michael's interactions with the group. He insists that: (1) the testimony pertaining to the Bulger/Flemmi group and its criminal exploits was irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial and, as such, should have been excluded pursuant to Federal Rules of Evidence 401, 402, and 403; (2) the testimony describing his interactions with the group was unfairly prejudicial evidence of uncharged misconduct that should have been excluded under Federal Rules of Evidence 403 and 404(b); and (3) even if the district court did not err in admitting the challenged evidence for the reasons stated above, the testimony [describing] statements made by Stephen [ ] to Weeks and[ ] St. Croix [was hearsay that was] erroneously admitted under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E). Furthermore, Michael asserts that the district court, in calculating his sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice, erred in determining that the most serious offense related to those charges was murder. We address these arguments seriatim.