U.S. v. Silverio, Docket No. 02-1376.
| Decision Date | 03 July 2003 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 02-1376. |
| Citation | 335 F.3d 183 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Christian SILVERIO, also known as Grimy, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
v.
Christian SILVERIO, also known as Grimy, Defendant-Appellant.
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Louis M. Freeman, New York, N.Y. (Freeman, Nooter & Ginsberg, of counsel), for Defendant-Appellant.
Cecil C. Scott, Assistant United States Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Roslynn R. Mauskopf, United States Attorney, and Peter A. Norling, Assistant United States Attorney, of counsel), for Appellee.
Before: WALKER, Chief Judge, OAKES and WINTER, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM.
This case raises the question whether intent is required to establish the interstate nexus necessary for a robbery conviction under the Hobbs Act. The defendant, Christian Silverio, was convicted of attempted robbery by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Jack B. Weinstein, Judge, on evidence relating to a robbery of a Manhattan doctor in his home. On appeal, Silverio argues that there is insufficient evidence to confer federal jurisdiction over his crime under the Hobbs Act because he did not know that the robbery affected interstate commerce. We find that the evidence sufficiently establishes that the robbery was directed at money obtained in interstate commerce and that Silverio's individual intent is not determinative. Accordingly, we affirm.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the government, see United States v. Jamison, 299 F.3d 114, 115 (2d Cir.2002), the following
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evidence was presented at Silverio's trial.
On the night of February 26, 1998, Silverio and two other men forced entry into the home of Dr. Scott Kessler, an ear, nose and throat doctor with a celebrity clientele. The men tied and blindfolded Dr. Kessler and his family, threatened them with weapons, and stayed for several hours before leaving with some money and jewelry.
The two assailants with Silverio that night, Angel Maldonado and Julio Silverio, who is the defendant's brother, had learned about Dr. Kessler from Jose Negron, the doorman at Kessler's residence. Negron had a history of committing violent robberies with Maldonado and Julio Silverio, and, based on Negron's belief that Dr. Kessler kept a substantial amount of money in his apartment from his medical practice across the street, Negron proposed robbing Dr. Kessler at home. Because Negron could not participate in the actual robbery for fear of being identified by the Kesslers, Julio Silverio recruited his brother, Christian, as the third assailant a few days before the robbery.
On February 26, the defendant, his brother, Maldonado, and Negron went to the Kesslers' apartment building, armed with two guns. After gaining entry to the building through Negron, who stayed downstairs on his doorman shift, the three assailants made their way to the Kesslers' door, where they announced a flower delivery. When Dr. Kessler opened the door, the three men rushed into the apartment and, after a struggle, brought Dr. Kessler, his wife, and his son to a couch, where they were tied and blindfolded.1
Maldonado then demanded "the money" that he claimed he knew was in the house.2 When Dr. Kessler's son offered $300 from his piggy bank, Maldonado responded that he wanted the hundreds of thousands of dollars that were supposed to be there. He also stated that they knew Kessler was "a big shot doctor across the street" who traveled in limousines and treated celebrity patients. When the Kesslers denied having such amounts of cash in their home, the men refused to believe them and continued to demand that the money be produced. They also demanded Dr. Kessler's financial records. Dr. Kessler explained that his business proceeds were in a business account, which he could not deplete without consent from his partner, who was out of town. When the men sought to go to his office across the street to get money, he told them that there was no money there other than petty cash. As time passed, the assailants gradually lowered the amount of money demanded.
Negron, with whom Maldonado kept in touch by cell phone, insisted that the money was in the apartment and directed the assailants to kidnap the Kessler children...
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