U.S. v. Zheng
| Decision Date | 17 September 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-15551.,01-15551. |
| Citation | 306 F.3d 1080 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Chang Qin ZHENG, Zheng Wei Zheng, Jin Shuang Zheng, a.k.a. Shuang Jin Zheng, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
R. Jerome Sanford, Gainesville, FL, Pamela A. Moine, Asst. U.S. Atty., Pensacola, FL, Terry Flynn, Tallahassee, FL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Robert Augustus Harper, Jr., Tallahassee, FL, for Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
Before DUBINA, BARKETT and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges.
A jury found Appellees Chang Qin Zheng ("Chang"), Zheng Wei Zheng ("Zheng"), and Jin Shuang Zheng, a.k.a. Shuang Jin Zheng ("Jin"), guilty of conspiring to conceal, harbor, and shield from detection aliens in buildings and motor vehicles for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain, knowing and in reckless disregard of the aliens' illegal status, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii), (a)(1)(A)(v)(I), and (a)(1)(B)(i). The jury also found the Appellees guilty of the substantive crimes of concealing, harboring, and shielding from detection certain named illegal aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain, knowing and in reckless disregard of the aliens' illegal status, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii), (a)(1)(A)(v)(II), and (a)(1)(B)(i). After trial, the district court granted a Motion for Judgment of Acquittal as to all Appellees. The Government appeals, and we reverse.
In 1989, Chang illegally entered the United States but became a legal permanent resident in 1995. His wife, Jin, had previously entered the United States in 1984 on a tourist visa and reported to the Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS") as an illegal alien. Jin became a legal permanent resident in 1996. In 1993, Jin's brother, Zheng, entered the United States with false documents. Authorities arrested Zheng, but the INS issued him an employment authorization. In 1997, the INS rescinded his employment authorization and ordered Zheng deported. Zheng, however, never left the United States.
In 2000, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") in Gainesville, Florida, and the INS in Jacksonville, Florida, began investigating complaints that three people who were operating two Chinese restaurants in Gainesville — the China Super Buffet and the New China Restaurant — were allegedly employing illegal Chinese and Central American immigrants. The FBI and INS conducted joint surveillances from March until July 2000. In one surveillance, authorities observed ten to fifteen Asian and Hispanic individuals outside Zheng's house at 1707 South Williston Road, Gainesville, Florida. These men and women were dressed identically, wearing white shirts, black vests, and pants. In another surveillance, authorities saw approximately ten Asian and Hispanic individuals outside Zheng's house enter two vehicles, a red Plymouth registered to Chang and a tan Honda registered to Zheng. Thirty minutes later, authorities saw these same individuals working in the China Super Buffet.
On another occasion, authorities observed ten or eleven workers arrive at the China Super Buffet in either the red Plymouth or the tan Honda. On April 28, 2000, authorities videotaped four individuals leave Chang and Jin's home in Chang's red Plymouth and drive to the China Super Buffet. Later that same day, authorities saw Zheng working the cash register at the China Super Buffet. When an officer paid for the meals, Zheng accepted the money and made change but failed to ring up the sale on the cash register.
On June 16, 2000, Alachua County Deputy Sheriff Steven Maynard ("Deputy Maynard") responded to a disturbance call at Zheng's residence. Upon arrival, Deputy Maynard observed what appeared to be two Hispanic males jump a chain link fence in the back yard of the residence and flee. Three other individuals at the residence complained to Deputy Maynard that they disputed their wages with their employers. Authorities later discovered that two of the complaining individuals were illegal aliens. Looking inside the residence, Deputy Maynard saw between ten and twenty persons of Asian and Hispanic heritage. Deputy Maynard knocked on the door and Zheng appeared. Zheng admitted to Deputy Maynard that he was an illegal alien and stated that he was the manager of the Super China Buffet.
Chang, Jin, and their two children arrived shortly thereafter at Zheng's residence. Chang and Jin escorted Deputy Maynard around the house and explained that they employed the occupants of the house at their restaurants. Deputy Maynard noticed that some of the rooms were sparsely furnished with barrack-like accommodations. Several of the occupants admitted to Deputy Maynard that they were illegal aliens. In addition, Chang admitted to Deputy Maynard that he knew that some of his employees were illegal aliens.1
On July 27, 2000, investigators executed search warrants at the China Super Buffet, the New China Restaurant, and at the Appellees' residences. Investigators located one illegal alien in Zheng's home and recovered numerous business documents, including invoices for both restaurants, billing records, blueprints, and a contractor's estimate for renovations to the China Super Buffet. Investigators also recovered fifteen to twenty credit cards in Zheng's name and a total of $13,585 in cash in the trunk of his Honda. At Chang and Jin's home, investigators recovered various documents and located one illegal alien. At the two restaurants, the investigators recovered business records, financial records, cash, illegal aliens, business cards, and an INS order directing Zheng to report for deportation on May 10, 2000. Investigators discovered that eighteen of the twenty-two employees at the restaurants were illegal aliens.
Investigators presented the evidence to the Government, who then charged the Appellees with violating 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii),(a)(1)(A)(v)(I), (a)(1)(A)(v)(II), and (a)(1)(B)(i). At trial, various employees testified about their working and living arrangements. These employees stated that they lived in Zheng's house without paying rent and that they worked at the restaurants, on average, twelve hours a day, six days a week. Most of the restaurants' employees, if not all, lacked proper authorization documents. Some employees testified that Chang and Zheng never requested to see identifying information. Additionally, the employees testified that Chang and Zheng paid them in cash, an average monthly salary between $900 and $1900. The Government also proffered evidence showing that the Appellees failed to pay Social Security and federal taxes for these employees, either from the employees' earnings or from the required employer payments. Further, the Appellees failed to make unemployment compensation payments required under Florida state law. The Government also proved that Appellees infrequently filed tax returns and when they did file, they greatly under-reported the number of employees, the amount of wages paid to employees, their personal income, and their business income. Despite failing to pay their taxes, Appellees wired more than $200,000 in cash to China.
1. Whether the district court erred in granting the Appellees' Motion for Judgment of Acquittal after the jury found the Appellees guilty of violating 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii), (a)(1)(A)(v)(I), (a)(1)(A)(v)(II), (a)(1)(B)(i).
2. Whether the district court erred by failing to enter a judgment of conviction on the lesser included offense proscribed in 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii), (a)(1)(B)(ii).2
This court applies "the same standard used in reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence" to a district court's grant of a Judgment of Acquittal. United States v. Ward, 197 F.3d 1076, 1079 (11th Cir.1999). This court does not defer to the district court's decision, but views the evidence in the light most favorable to the Government, resolving any conflicts in the evidence in favor of the Government. Id. "The court must ascertain whether a reasonable jury could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." Id.
The Government charged the Appellees with various violations of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(B)(i). Section 1324 provides, in pertinent part:
§ 1324. Bringing in and harboring certain aliens
(a) Criminal penalties
(i) knowing that a person is an alien, brings to or attempts to bring to the United States in any manner whatsoever such person at a place other than a designated port of entry or place other than as designated by the Commissioner, regardless of whether such alien has received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States and regardless of any future official action which may be taken with respect to such alien;
(ii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States by means of transportation or otherwise, in furtherance of such violation of law;
(iii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation;
(iv) encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law; or
(v)(I) engages in any conspiracy to commit any of the preceding acts, or
(II) aids or abets the commission of any of the preceding acts, shall be punished as provided in subparagraph ...
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