U.S. v. Warren

• Decision Date: 03 October 1985
• Docket Number: No. 83-3539,83-3539
• Citation: 772 F.2d 827
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Willie WARREN, Jr., a/k/a Kokomo, a/k/a Koke, Richard Warren, Michael Moore, a/k/a Peanut, a/k/a Michael Monroe, and Willie Warren, Sr., a/k/a Black Knight, a/k/a Knight, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 827

772 F.2d 827

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Willie WARREN, Jr., a/k/a Kokomo, a/k/a Koke, Richard Warren, Michael Moore, a/k/a Peanut, a/k/a Michael Monroe, and Willie Warren, Sr., a/k/a Black Knight, a/k/a Knight Defendants-Appellants.

No. 83-3539.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Oct. 3, 1985.

J. Stanford Lifsey, Tampa, Fla., for Richard Warren.

Mark P. Bryan, Asst. Fed. Public Defender, Tampa, Fla., for Michael Moore.

J. Larry Hart, Asst. U.S. Atty., Tampa, Fla., W. Bradford Reynolds, Walter W. Barnett, Mark L. Gross, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Rights Div., Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellee.

Edwin R. Ivy, Orlando, Fla., for Willie Warren, Sr.

F. Malcolm Cunningham, Jr., Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith & Cutler, Tampa, Fla., for Willie Warren, Jr.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Before RONEY and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges, and BROWN ^*, Senior Circuit Judge.

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

Appellants were convicted of conspiring to hold, and actually holding, migrant workers in involuntary servitude. They contend that the evidence was insufficient to support their convictions and they ask us to acquit them. Alternatively, appellants seek a new trial on the basis of several trial court rulings. We affirm.

I.

Appellants Willie Warren, Sr., Richard Warren, Willie Warren, Jr., and Michael Moore operated agricultural labor camps which supplied field workers to farmers in Florida and North Carolina. The operation of these camps, however, involved certain irregularities concerning the recruitment and treatment of laborers. The experiences of three such workers are the basis for the charges for which the appellants were indicted in this case.

In September 1980, Richard Warren approached Richard Simmons on a street in Atlanta, Georgia, where Simmons lived, and asked if he was interested in working for one day unloading trucks in Augusta, Georgia. Richard Warren told him that he would bring him back to Atlanta that afternoon. Simmons got into Warren's car, and Warren asked him if he knew of others who would like to work. Simmons directed him to several people, including Michael Davis, who also agreed to go with Warren. Davis was told that he was needed for one day of construction work in Augusta and that he would be returned that evening. Simmons then asked Warren to drive by Simmons' sister's house, where he stayed on occasion, so he could tell his sister where he was going and get his radio. Simmons talked to his sister and picked up his radio, but brought with him no other belongings.

Richard Warren drove Simmons, Davis, and the others to Willie Warren, Sr.'s farm labor camp in North Carolina, arriving in late afternoon. During the trip Warren gave each man several bottles of wine. One man jumped out of the car during the ride, but Warren stopped and forced him back into the vehicle. The passengers eventually fell asleep and did not awake until they were in North Carolina. Simmons knew he was in North Carolina only because he saw a sign. Warren told the workers that, "If I told y'all where you were going, y'all would never came with me."

At the camp Richard Warren told Simmons that he would be told later when the trucks to be unloaded would arrive. Simmons at this point wished to escape, but he was scared. Willie Warren, Sr. gave Simmons, Davis, and the others wine, cigarettes and a place to sleep.

Simmons and Davis were awakened the following day by Willie Warren, Sr. and told to pick potatoes. When Simmons asked about the truck, Warren, Sr. reiterated that they would pick potatoes. Simmons was frightened and had no idea where he was. He asked Warren, Sr. about returning home, but Warren, Sr. told him that they would talk about that later. The workers were brought to a potato field and told to pick. Richard Warren watched the pickers and threatened to report them to Warren, Sr., if they did not work fast enough. Warren, Sr. also threatened them.

Neither Simmons nor Davis received any pay on payday. Instead, they were told that they owed Warren, Sr. money for the food they received at their meals. Neither worker, in fact, ever received any money for the work he did while in North Carolina. They did not leave because they were scared, did not know where they were, and had no way out. Warren, Sr. had said in front of the workers that they "done took all my wine and stuff up and I wish I would catch one of them trying to leave here." On another occasion, Warren, Sr. warned that, if he caught anyone trying to leave the camp, he would bring them back and "whoop them." Warren, Sr. allowed Simmons to call his sister to have her send Simmons his unemployment check; he told Simmons that, if the check was delivered, Simmons could go home. The check, however, never arrived.

The only people who left the camp did so at night, and some of those people were brought back by Willie Warren, Sr., his bookkeeper, or Richard Warren. When Simmons asked Warren, Sr. on another occasion to take him home, Warren, Sr. said he should stay on one more week and then would be sent home. Simmons had seen Warren, Sr. knock down a woman who was working for him and kick her. He also saw Warren, Sr. threaten her and others with a gun. Warren, Sr. had also threatened Davis with a smoldering piece of rubber hose. Both men feared Warren, Sr. because of stories they had heard from other laborers. On one occasion, Simmons gave food to a friend who was too sick to work. The friend apparently had not been fed on order of Warren, Sr. because he had not worked. Richard Warren saw the food being given and told Simmons that "Dad ain't going to like this" and that he would tell Warren, Sr. Because of Warren, Sr.'s reputation, the threat scared Simmons.

Every Sunday while he was in North Carolina Simmons and the other members in his crew worked for Willie Warren, Jr. and Michael Moore. ¹ On these occasions Warren, Jr. was in charge of everyone in both his crew and Warren, Sr.'s group, of which Simmons was a member. Moore sometimes watched the workers with a stick in his hand. Simmons saw Moore strike at least one laborer.

On several occasions Simmons went into a town near camp. He never asked anyone to help him get home because he did not feel like a free man and he was afraid of the Warrens, based on what he saw and heard in the camp. In November 1980, Warren, Sr. transported his crew to Loughman, Florida. Simmons cooked for the crew at Loughman, which was given only one meal a day. Several days later Willie Warren, Jr. brought his crew to the camp. Simmons cooked for them as well. Warren, Jr. stayed at the camp for a few days. Richard Warren and Michael Moore were also at the Loughman camp; they brought back to camp at least one worker who tried to leave.

Simmons escaped ten days after the crews arrived in Florida. He left at night, having seen one of the Warrens bring two people back who had left two days before. He walked along the railroad tracks, until he was found by the police. He explained to them that he was scared and that he had left a migrant camp and was on his way to Atlanta. The police took him to the county line, and from there he walked into a small town. He had no money because he was never paid for any work performed in Florida. From the bus station in town, Simmons contacted his sister, who then arranged by phone to pay for his ticket home.

Davis stayed at the Florida camp for a month and a half, receiving no pay and only one meal a day. He left the camp in December 1980 with Sister Catherine, a nun, who periodically visited the camp. He had previously asked Sister Catherine to contact his mother, who, after being contacted by the nun, wired money for Davis' ticket home.

The experiences of the two workers were not unique, nor were they the earliest incidents of outrageous behavior at the work camps operated by the appellants. In July 1979, Len Gaston was working in North Carolina for a man named Sonny. One day, while Gaston was walking down a road, Michael Moore drove up in a van and offered to take Gaston back to Sonny's camp. Gaston got into the van, but Moore drove him to a field in which Willie Warren, Jr.'s crew was working, this despite Gaston's protestations to be returned to Sonny's camp. When Gaston tried to leave, Moore grabbed him and told him that he "wasn't going no place." Although Gaston was told he would be paid while at Warren, Jr.'s camp, he was given only five dollars every two weeks. When Gaston complained about not getting paid, he was beaten by Warren, Jr. Moore watched Gaston when he worked in the fields. Occasionally Gaston was told to work for Willie Warren, Sr.

Warren, Jr. brought his crew to Florida that year just before Thanksgiving. Gaston was transported on a bus driven by Michael Moore to Apopka, Florida, where they stayed for one month. In December, the crew moved to Loughman and joined Warren, Sr.'s crew. Gaston was paid five dollars every other week by Warren, Jr. He was later turned over to Warren, Sr. and worked for him for two months. Gaston could not leave because he had no money. He got out only after Sister Catherine helped him get his social security money which allowed him to buy a ticket home.

These accounts, as well as others, ² revealed an operation where individuals were picked up under false pretenses, delivered to a labor camp to work long hours for little or no pay, ³ and kept in the fields by poverty, alcohol, threats, and acts of violence. On April 14, 1983, a grand jury in the Middle District of Florida returned a four count indictment against Willie Warren, Sr., Willie Warren, Jr., Richard Warren, and Michael Moore. All four were charged with one count of conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371 (1982) ⁴ to violate 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1583 (1982), ⁵ which prohibits enticing persons to go to a place while intending that the persons would then be held as slaves, and 18...