U.S. v. Peete
| Decision Date | 28 November 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-6269,89-6269 |
| Citation | 919 F.2d 1168 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ricky PEETE, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
W. Hickman Ewing, Jr., U.S. Atty. (argued), Memphis, Tenn., for plaintiff-appellee.
Alan Bryant Chambers (argued), Handel R. Durham, Memphis, Tenn., for defendant-appellant.
Before MARTIN and WELLFORD, Circuit Judges, and SILER, Chief District Judge. *
Ricky Peete appeals his jury conviction and subsequent sentence for attempting to affect commerce by extortion in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1951.
Ricky Peete, who is black, was the elected city councilman for City Council District Seven in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis's Charter provides that the legislative power for Memphis shall be vested in the City Council. The Council is comprised of thirteen members, one from each of the seven council districts, and six elected from the city at large. The Council, inter alia, fixes the municipal tax rates and approves and adopts all municipal budgets. In addition, the Council votes on resolutions relating to decisions by the Memphis and Shelby County Land Use Control Board. An appeal from the Land Use Control Board concerning a proposed subdivision project, Pigeon Roost, was to be heard by the City Council on February 28, 1989.
On October 26, 1988, Colonial Partners, Inc., a Memphis, Tennessee real estate development company, made an application to the Office of Planning and Development of Memphis and Shelby County concerning the proposed Pigeon Roost subdivision on Waring Road in Memphis. The two individuals involved with the project for Colonial Partners were Doug Dickens and Hank Hill. Richard Hall, a consultant and engineer, worked with Hill and Dickens on the project. The proposed development would utilize certain materials moving in interstate commerce.
On January 5, 1989, a Colonial Partners representative presented the project before the Land Use Control Board. The Board approved the project and the matter was set for a vote before the Memphis City Council.
On the morning of February 9, 1989, Dickens and Hall met with Councilman Peete at his City Hall office to seek his support for their project. That afternoon, Peete phoned Hall and told Hall that he would like to be paid $2,000 before the vote and $1,000 after the vote. Peete referred to this transaction as a "contract". Hall declined Peete's solicitation and then notified Dickens of the substance of Peete's call.
Dickens reported Councilman Peete's solicitation of a bribe to purchase his vote for approving the Pigeon Roost project to the United States Attorney's Office in Memphis. Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Donald MacDonald then contacted Dickens and Hank Hill, who agreed to cooperate in a government investigation of Peete's alleged solicitation.
At the government's request, Hill contacted Peete by telephone on February 16, 1989. Hill informed Peete that he had different ideas about the situation than his partners and that he wished to meet with Peete at Peete's City Hall office. That afternoon, Hill met with Peete in his City Council office. Hill was wearing a "wire" during this meeting and the conversation was recorded.
During the course of this meeting, Peete discussed the number of votes needed to approve the proposed subdivision development, and he mentioned the names of other city councilmen. Peete stated that he could ensure a certain number of votes and passage of the proposal. Peete indicated the minimum amount of money that he would need for the proposal's success by holding up one finger. Hill stated that he would be willing to give Peete $1,000 up front and $1,000 after the vote. Peete replied, "Okay."
At trial, Peete testified that he thought Hill initiated contact with him to work on the recall effort to oust Memphis's mayor, Dick Hackett. Hill had stated that Peete held up one finger to indicate the cost of the bribe, $1,000; Peete testified that he was holding up his middle finger to express his blunt opposition to the mayor as part of the recall effort.
After Peete agreed to Hill's offer, Peete asked Hill if he were wearing a wire. Peete took Hill's evasive responses as a negative answer and then agreed to meet with Hill at 3:30 that afternoon to receive the first payment. Peete stated that the quick payment was "motivation, incentive [for Peete] to go to work right now."
After the meeting, Hill obtained ten $100 bills at his office. He then met with Agent Macdonald who photocopied the ten $100 bills Hill was to give to Peete. MacDonald gave Hill $1,000 in twenties and fifties to repay Hill who was using his own $100 bills for the bribery payment. Hill met Peete that afternoon at a Shoney's restaurant in Memphis. This meeting was also recorded by the F.B.I. Peete made several statements to the effect of "it's not what you know, it's who you know." Peete stated that he hoped that Hill had brought an envelope; Hill said that he had not. Peete then asked that the money be handed to him under the table. Hill gave him the ten $100 bills under the table. Hill then said that after the election, he would give Peete another $1,000. Peete said that they should get together for lunch for that transaction because he disliked talking on the phone because he did not trust it. Peete then discussed the action he was going to take in regard to the vote and named the other councilmen to whom he would speak. Hill then said "Okay, we got a deal." Peete said "Okay."
At trial, Peete testified that he had wanted the money to be placed in an envelope because that is how a gentleman gives campaign donations. He stated that he felt the Memphis area where they were conducting the "donation" was not safe and that he did not want to insult the minimum wage employees at Shoney's by having $1,000 waved in the air, so he asked Hill to hand the "donation" to him under the table.
At trial, the United States introduced evidence that Peete was having financial trouble at the time he solicited the bribe--namely, he was often behind in bank payments on an $18,104.60 loan. On the day Peete received the $1,000 bribe payment, the collection counselor at his bank had phoned Peete because he was two payments behind on the loan. Peete told her that he would make a payment on February 17, the next day, and one on February 28--the day of the vote on the Pigeon Roost proposal. The bank's records show that Peete made a cash payment of $317.17 on the loan on February 17. At trial, Peete admitted that none of the $1,000 campaign "donation" went into a campaign fund. He contended that he was repaying himself for loans that he had made to his campaign.
On February 24, 1989, Peete was arrested by F.B.I. agents. On March 20, 1989, Peete was indicted by a federal grand jury for violating the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1951. The indictment charged that from February 9 until February 24, Peete knowingly and willfully attempted to affect interstate commerce by extortion under color of his position as a city councilman. Peete filed various motions to compel discovery regarding the F.B.I.'s investigation and its contacts with the mayor's office. Those motions were denied by the district court as overbroad and beyond the scope of any governmental discovery obligations to a criminal defendant under both constitutional and Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure standards. Peete also challenged the nexus of his alleged crime with interstate commerce, the key element for federal jurisdiction in the Hobbs Act, in a motion to dismiss the indictment which was also denied.
On April 17, 1989, Peete raised the name of Congressman Harold Ford in a discovery request. Peete contended, in a later pretrial motion to compel discovery, that he was singled out for prosecution because he had refused to cooperate with the F.B.I.'s investigation of Congressman Ford. Agent MacDonald provided affidavits and testified at trial that he had telephoned Peete in 1988 following an article which appeared in a Memphis newspaper on August 6, 1988 in which Peete made allegations against Congressman Ford. Peete had agreed to meet with Agent MacDonald to discuss those allegations, but on the day of the scheduled meeting, Peete was not at his residence and his attorney informed MacDonald that Peete no longer wanted to discuss Congressman Ford with the F.B.I. Peete also contended that Richard Hall, the developer partner who was initially contacted by Peete, met with Congressman Ford in February 1989 to "set up" Congressman Ford. Denying this allegation, Hall testified that he knew Congressman Ford, that Hall's brother worked in Congressman Ford's Washington office, and that Hall visited Congressman Ford because Hall was seeking, as recommended by Peete in their City Hall meeting, political assistance on the passage of the subdivision project. Hank Hill testified that he knew Congressman Ford as well, having constructed his house. These motions, asserting selective prosecutorial motive and calling for the dismissal of the indictment, were dismissed.
On June 26, 1989, the trial began. On June 30, 1989, Peete was found guilty by a jury on the one-count indictment. On September 15, 1989, Peete was sentenced to 30 months in prison, a $3,000 fine and two years of supervised probation. One of the conditions of probation was that Peete be prohibited from serving in or seeking public office. Peete appeals his conviction and sentence.
Peete raises several issues challenging the applicability of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1951, the Hobbs Act, to the facts of this case. The Hobbs Act provides, in pertinent part:
Sec. 1951. Interference with commerce by threats or violence.
or attempts or...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Moore v. Mitchell
...United States v. Tucker, 90 F.3d 1135, 1142 (6th Cir.1996) (district court decision reviewed for clear error); United States v. Peete, 919 F.2d 1168, 1179 (6th Cir.1990) (same). Evidence that would support a challenge for cause is sufficient to demonstrate a race-neutral basis. Batson, 476 ......
-
U.S. v. Hamrick
...Contreras, 950 F.2d 232, 237 (5th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 2276, 119 L.Ed.2d 202 (1992); United States v. Peete, 919 F.2d 1168, 1175-76 (6th Cir.1990); United States v. Luttrell, 889 F.2d 806, 810 (9th Cir.1989), vacated in part on other grounds, 923 F.2d 764 (9th C......
-
Sampson v. City of Xenia
...Miranda warnings only to those suspects who are in custody, and Sampson was not in custody on the date in question. United States v. Peete, 919 F.2d 1168, 1177 (6th Cir.1990). Sampson voluntarily accompanied Anger to the Xenia Police station, and Anger informed Sampson on more than one occa......
-
U.S. v. Chance
...that [either of these operations would] have an effect on interstate commerce." Wang, 222 F.3d at 237 (quoting United States v. Peete, 919 F.2d 1168, 1174 (6th Cir.1990)). Regarding the Lane Street operation, there was no evidence regarding its size, amount of profits, who its customers wer......
-
Probation, parole & other post-release supervision
...boards will create imaginative and oppressive conditions, such as: • Prohibitions on political activity. [ E.g., United States v. Peete , 919 F.2d 1168, 1181 (6th Cir. 1990) (elected official convicted of attempting to extort bribe lawfully prohibited from seeking or serving in elected publ......
-
Sentencing
...activities during probation), overruled on other grounds by Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83 (1998); U.S. v. Peete, 919 F.2d 1168, 1181 (6th Cir. 1990) (probationer convicted of attempted extortion lawfully prohibited from seeking or serving in elected public office du......