Ocasio v. United States

• Decision Date: 02 May 2016
• Docket Number: 14–361.
• Citation: 578 U.S. 282,194 L.Ed.2d 520,136 S.Ct. 1423
• Parties: Samuel OCASIO, Petitioner v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

578 U.S. 282

136 S.Ct. 1423

194 L.Ed.2d 520

Samuel OCASIO, Petitioner

v.UNITED STATES.

No. 14–361.

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued Oct. 6, 2015.

Decided May 2, 2016.

Ethan P. Davis, Washington, DC, for petitioner.

Allon Kedem, Washington, DC, for respondent.

Daniel S. Epps, Cambridge, MA, Ashley C. Parrish, Ethan P. Davis, Counsel of Record, David M. Barnes, David P. Mattern, King & Spalding LLP, Washington, DC, Megan R. Nishikawa, King & Spalding LLP, San Francisco, CA, James P. Sullivan, King & Spalding LLP, Austin, TX, for petitioner.

Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Solicitor Gen., Counsel of Record, Leslie R. Caldwell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Michael R. Dreeben, Deputy Solicitor Gen., Allon Kedem, Asst. to the Solicitor Gen., Stephan E. Oestreicher, Jr., Atty., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, for the United States.

Joseph C. Perry, Baker Botts L.L.P., New York, NY, Evan A. Young, Counsel of Record, Baker Botts L.L.P., Austin, TX, for amicus curiae Former United States Attorneys, in support of petitioner.

Jonathan Hacker, National Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Washington, DC, Andrew J. Pincus, Counsel of Record, Jeffrey H. Redfern, Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, DC, for amicus curiae National Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers, in support of petitioners.

Justice ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court.

Petitioner Samuel Ocasio, a former officer in the Baltimore Police Department, participated in a kickback scheme with the owners of a local auto repair shop. When petitioner and other Baltimore officers reported to the scene of an auto accident, they persuaded the owners of damaged cars to have their vehicles towed to the repair shop, and in exchange for this service the officers received payments from the shopowners. Petitioner was convicted of obtaining money from the shopowners under color of official right, in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951, and of conspiring to violate the Hobbs Act, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. He now challenges his conspiracy conviction, contending that, as a matter of law, he cannot be convicted of conspiring with the shopowners to obtain money from them under color of official right. We reject this argument because it is contrary to age-old principles of conspiracy law.

I

Hernan Alexis Moreno Mejia (known as Moreno) and Edwin Javier Mejia (known as Mejia) are brothers who co-owned and operated the Majestic Auto Repair Shop (Majestic). In 2008, Majestic was struggling to attract customers, so Moreno and Mejia made a deal with a Baltimore police officer, Jhonn Corona. In exchange for kickbacks, Officer Corona would refer motorists whose cars were damaged in accidents to Majestic for towing and repairs. Officer Corona then spread the word to other members of the force, and eventually as many as 60 other officers sent damaged cars to Majestic in exchange for payments of $150 to $300 per referral.

Petitioner began to participate in this scheme in 2009. On several occasions from 2009 to 2011, he convinced accident victims to have their cars towed to Majestic. Often, before sending a car to Majestic, petitioner called Moreno from the scene of an accident to ensure that the make and model of the car, the extent of the damage, and the car's insurance coverage would allow the shopowners to turn a profit on the repairs. After directing a vehicle to Majestic, petitioner would call Moreno and request his payment.

Because police are often among the first to arrive at the scene of an accident, the Baltimore officers were well positioned to route damaged vehicles to Majestic. As a result, the kickback scheme was highly successful: It substantially increased Majestic's volume of business and profits, and by early 2011 it provided Majestic with at least 90% of its customers.

Moreno, Mejia, petitioner, and nine other Baltimore officers were indicted in 2011. The shopowners and most of the other officers eventually pleaded guilty pursuant to plea deals, but petitioner did not.

In a superseding indictment, petitioner was charged with three counts of violating the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951, by extorting money from Moreno with his consent and under color of official right. As all parties agree, the type of extortion for which petitioner was convicted—obtaining property from another with his consent and under color of official right—is the "rough equivalent of what we would now describe as ‘taking a bribe.’ " Evans v. United States, 504 U.S. 255, 260, 112 S.Ct. 1881, 119 L.Ed.2d 57 (1992). To prove this offense, the Government "need only show that a public official has obtained a payment to which he was not entitled, knowing that the payment was made in return for official acts." Id., at 268, 112 S.Ct. 1881.

Petitioner and another Baltimore officer, Kelvin Quade Manrich, were also charged with violating the general federal conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 371. The indictment alleged that petitioner and Manrich conspired with Moreno, Mejia, and other Baltimore officers to bring about the same sort of substantive violations with which petitioner was charged.

Before trial, petitioner began to raise a variant of the legal argument that has brought his case to this Court. He sought a jury instruction stating that "[i]n order to convict a defendant of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the conspiracy was to obtain money or property from some person who was not a member of the conspiracy." App. 53. In support of this instruction, petitioner relied on the Sixth Circuit's decision in United States v. Brock,

501 F.3d 762 (2007), which concerned two bail bondsmen who made payments to a court clerk in exchange for the alteration of court records. The Sixth Circuit held that "[t]o be covered by the [Hobbs Act], the alleged conspirators ... must have formed an agreement to obtain ‘property from another, ’ which is to say, formed an agreement to obtain property from someone outside the conspiracy." Id., at 767. The District Court did not rule on this request prior to trial.

Petitioner's codefendant, Manrich, pleaded guilty during the trial, and at the close of the prosecution's case and again at the close of all evidence, petitioner moved for a judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy count based on Brock . The District Court denied these motions, concluding that the Fourth Circuit had already rejected Brock 's holding in United States v. Spitler, 800 F.2d 1267 (1986).

The District Court also refused to give petitioner's proposed instruction. Instead, the court adopted the sort of standard instructions that are typically used in conspiracy cases. See generally L. Sand et al., Modern Federal Jury Instructions: Criminal § 19.01 (2015). In order to convict petitioner of the conspiracy charge, the jury was told, the prosecution was required to prove (1) that two or more persons entered into an unlawful agreement; (2) that petitioner knowingly and willfully became a member of the conspiracy; (3) that at least one member of the conspiracy knowingly committed at least one overt act; and (4) that the overt act was committed to further an objective of the conspiracy. The court "caution[ed]" "that mere knowledge or acquiescence, without participation in the unlawful plan, is not sufficient" to demonstrate membership in the conspiracy. App. 195. Rather, the court explained, the conspirators must have had "a mutual understanding ... to cooperate with each other to accomplish an unlawful act," and petitioner must have joined the conspiracy "with the intention of aiding in the accomplishment of those unlawful ends." Id., at 192, 195.

The jury found petitioner guilty on both the conspiracy count and the three substantive extortion counts, and the District Court sentenced him to concurrent terms of 18 months in prison on all four counts. On appeal to the Fourth Circuit, petitioner's primary argument was the same one he had pressed before the District Court: that his conspiracy conviction was fatally flawed because the conspirators had not agreed to obtain money from a person who was not a member of the conspiracy. The Fourth Circuit rejected petitioner's argument and affirmed his convictions. 750 F.3d 399 (2014).

We then granted certiorari, 574 U.S. ––––, 135 S.Ct. 1491, 191 L.Ed.2d 430 (2015), and we now affirm.

II

Under longstanding principles of conspiracy law, a defendant may be convicted of conspiring to violate the Hobbs Act based on proof that he entered into a conspiracy that had as its objective the obtaining of property from another conspirator with his consent and under color of official right.

A

In analyzing petitioner's arguments, we begin with the text of the statute under which he was convicted, namely, the general federal conspiracy statute, which makes it a crime to "conspire ... to commit any offense against the United States." 18 U.S.C. § 371 (emphasis added). Section 371's use of the term "conspire" incorporates long-recognized principles of conspiracy law. And under established case law, the fundamental characteristic of a conspiracy is a joint commitment to an "endeavor which, if completed, would satisfy all of the elements of [the underlying substantive] criminal offense." Salinas v. United States, 522 U.S. 52, 65, 118 S.Ct. 469, 139 L.Ed.2d 352 (1997) ; see 2 J. Bishop, Commentaries on the Criminal Law § 175, p. 100 (rev. 7th ed. 1882) ("Conspiracy, in the modern law, is generally defined as a confederacy of two or more persons to accomplish some unlawful purpose"); J. Hawley & M. McGregor, The Criminal Law 99–100 (3d ed. 1899) (similar); W. LaFave, Criminal Law 672 (5th ed. 2010) (similar).

Although conspirators must "pursue the same criminal objective," "a conspirator [need] not agree to commit or facilitate each and every part of the substantive offense." Salinas, supra, at 63, 118 S.Ct. 469. A defendant must merely reach an agreement with the "specific intent that the underlying crime be committed " by some member...