U.S. v. Daane
| Decision Date | 01 February 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-50295.,No. 05-50346.,No. 05-50283.,No. 05-50282.,No. 05-50309.,05-50282.,05-50283.,05-50295.,05-50309.,05-50346. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William Dwight DAANE, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Tere Thompson Daane, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Glenn Hurst Trent, Jr., Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Richard Eric Miller, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John William Arn, aka John Arn, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Donald W. MacPherson, Glendale, AZ, for appellants William and Tere Daane.
Jeff Price, Santa Monica, CA, for appellant Glenn Trent.
Stephen M. Lathrop, Rolling Hills Estates, CA, for appellant Richard Miller.
Karen L. Landau, Oakland, CA, for appellant John Arn.
Jerry A. Behnke, Assistant United States Attorney, Riverside, CA, for appellee United States.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California; Dean D. Pregerson, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. Nos. CR-01-01155-DDP-02, CR-01-01155-DDP-03, CR-01-01155-DDP-01, CR-01-01155-DDP-06, CR-01-01155-DDP-04.
Before: D.W. NELSON, RAWLINSON, and BEA, Circuit Judges.
Appellants William and Tere Daane (collectively the Daanes), Glenn Trent (Trent), Richard Miller (Miller), and John Arn (Arn) appeal their convictions for conspiracy and attempted extortion. Because we conclude that the district court committed no error when it rejected the appellants' proffered "claim of right" instruction, we affirm the convictions.1
Appellants were indicted for conspiracy and attempted interference with commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951 (the Hobbs Act), and traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of extortion. The indictment alleged, inter alia, that appellants traveled to Riverside, California from outside the state in order to "assault, restrain and abduct Leslie Darwin Murdock (Murdock) and force him to transfer money inter-state from Murdock's bank accounts to accounts controlled by the defendants and others." The indictment also alleged that William Daane knowingly possessed a firearm in furtherance of crimes of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). At the conclusion of appellants' first trial, the district court granted their motion for a new trial because of juror misconduct.
One of the appellants' co-defendants, Mark Stich (Stich), pled guilty and testified at appellants' second trial.
Murdock pled guilty in a separate case to three counts of mail fraud. Although Murdock guaranteed a five percent weekly return to investors, his investment plan was in reality a Ponzi scheme.2 Approximately 950 individuals invested in Murdock's business, including the appellants. The total loss to these investors was approximately $20 to $40 million.
Murdock had his first personal meeting with the Daanes and Miller in a hotel in Las Vegas. They discussed "opportunities to continue [Murdock's] program offshore." A couple of weeks after the Las Vegas meeting, Murdock met with Tere Daane and Arn in Temecula, California, where they discussed expansion of the scheme.
Shortly thereafter, Murdock met with Stich. Stich "made a demand on his return of his principal." Murdock finally agreed in writing to repay Stich.
After the meeting with Stich, Murdock traveled to Las Vegas to meet with the Daanes. Murdock met the Daanes and Arn at a restaurant in the Orleans Casino. They had a cordial conversation and the Daanes invited Murdock to their house for further discussions. At the Daanes' residence, the Daanes and Arn presented Murdock with documents entitled "What We Know" and "What We Can Do For Leslie D. Murdock."
The "What We Know" document contained information allegedly related to Murdock's finances and Ponzi scheme. For example, it stated that Murdock had an active accounts investment total of $10,000,000; Murdock made 3,900 wire transfers through seventeen banks; and Murdock was being investigated by the FBI and Treasury Department for money laundering and bad checks.
The "What We Can Do For Leslie D. Murdock" document referred to the creation of an offshore business structure; assistance in securing a second citizenship and passport for Murdock; the ability to "make LDM [Murdock] an invisible investor" and to "get LM [Murdock] of[sic] the federal income tax system."
During the discussions, Murdock, Tere Daane, and Arn moved into the kitchen. When Miller and Trent entered the kitchen, Trent moved toward Murdock and stated, "You don't know who I am, do you." Trent surprised Murdock since neither Tere Daane nor Arn had told him that other people would be joining them. Trent immediately demanded the return of $75,000 from Murdock and threatened Murdock that they "were going to the desert until [Trent] was satisfied."
After Tere Daane and Arn intervened to keep the peace, Murdock agreed to take Trent back to Riverside. Arn volunteered to go instead, and Murdock agreed to sign a promise to repay Trent $78,000. Arn was to stay with Murdock to "provide upkeep and transfer particulars up to the payment of said funds." Arn was also supposed to work on obtaining reimbursement for a list of individuals provided by Tere Daane. The total amount of reimbursement to these individuals approximated one million dollars.
During their drive to California, Murdock and Arn conversed about the events at the Daanes' residence. Arn told Murdock that Arn was nervous because there was a gun in the back of Trent's shorts.
Murdock took Arn back to Las Vegas after approximately two weeks in Riverside. Although Murdock assured Arn that he was going to proceed with their plan to restructure the investment program, Murdock later called Arn and informed him that Murdock was going to declare bankruptcy.
On September 20, 2001, Stich, the Daanes, Arn, Miller, and Trent met in Trent's hotel room. Trent stated that he did not care "if they found Mr. Murdock buried in the sand." They discussed going to Pasadena the next day, and Trent suggested that they "should take Murdock somewhere." Trent also mentioned, William Daane and Miller agreed to help with Murdock, but Stich refused. Arn stated that "he had an uncle that had a hotel in the desert where Mr. Murdock could be taken." Trent suggested that they "band-tie" Murdock's hands, "duct tape his feet, put him in a car, and take him out to the desert." Tere Daane also stated that she had a fax machine and wiring instructions for transferring funds to an international account. There was no discussion of firearms at this meeting.
The following morning, Stich, Miller, Arn, Trent, and the Daanes prepared to go to Pasadena. When Stich was placing his bags into William Daane's Suzuki, he saw draw ties3 and duct tape. Stich had also purchased two pairs of gloves and duct tape. Stich rode with William Daane to Pasadena. Arn and Tere Daane were in a white Cherokee, with Miller and Trent in a blue Ford Taurus rental car. After locating Murdock's car in a Staples parking lot, William Daane told Stich to place the ties and duct tape into Trent's blue rental car.
After Stich spotted Murdock running down the street, William Daane used a two-way radio and stated, "The rabbit's on the run." Tere Daane also had a two-way radio, and she repeated that "[t]he rabbit is on the run." William Daane then moved his car to a parking lot where Tere Daane and Arn were waiting in the white Cherokee. In the parking lot, William Daane retrieved a plastic box from the Cherokee's cargo area. William Daane returned to his car, placed the plastic box on Stich's lap, and confirmed that it contained a gun. Afterwards, William Daane and Stich drove to the Staples parking lot. When they arrived, Stich saw Murdock get into his car. Trent ran up to Murdock's car and held the door open. As Trent tried to pull Murdock from his car, a struggle ensued and police officers were called.
Stich slid the box containing the gun underneath the driver's seat of the Suzuki. As Stich was walking away from the incident, William Daane told him to "hide the gun," but Stich had already placed it underneath the seat. After they were arrested, William Daane told Stich that "he was going to tell the police that the guns were for a hunting trip."
Officer Howlett responded to the incident at the Staples parking lot. Initially, Trent, Miller, and William Daane denied that an altercation had occurred. They also denied having any of Murdock's property. Officer Howlett asked three or four times for them to return Murdock's telephone and keys. After being threatened with arrest for robbery, Trent and William Daane returned the items to Murdock.
Miller permitted Officer Howlett to search the blue rental car. She noticed a two-way radio on the center console; a pair of gloves; a full roll of duct tape in the passenger's seat; and plastic flex ties on the passenger floorboard. Miller admitted that he had used the two-way radio in the car "to communicate with his friends."
After Officer Howlett approached Tere Daane, who was in the white Cherokee, Tere handed the officer "some papers that had names and dollar amounts written on them." The documents were affidavits made out to Murdock and signed by different individuals. Officer Howlett also observed a fax machine in Tere Daane's vehicle.
Officer Howlett retrieved an e-mail document from Tere Daane providing information on how to transfer one million dollars by wire.
Tere Daane told Officer Howlett, "she and the group of people had invested money with [Murdock], and that he had not been paying them, and he had been avoiding them, and ...
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