United States v. Buselli

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit
• Writing for the Court: Hull, Circuit Judge
• Citation: United States v. Buselli, 106 F.4th 1273 (11th Cir. 2024)
• Docket Number: 23-10272
• Decision Date: 11 July 2024
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gretchen BUSELLI, a.k.a. Gretchen Yarbrough, Defendant-Appellant.

106 F.4th 1273

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gretchen BUSELLI, a.k.a. Gretchen Yarbrough, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 23-10272

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

Filed: July 11, 2024

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, D.C. Docket No. 4:21-cr-00045-MW-MAF-1

Robert G. Davies, U.S. Attorney Service - Northern District of Florida, U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Florida, Pensacola, FL, Jordane E. Learn, Eric K. Mountin, Kaitlin Weiss, DOJ-USAO, Tallahassee, FL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Joseph F. DeBelder, Federal Public Defender's Office, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant-Appellant.

Before Jordan, Lagoa, and Hull, Circuit Judges.

Hull, Circuit Judge:

After a jury trial, Gretchen Buselli appeals her convictions for a murder-for-hire plot targeting her husband and for making false statements to a federal agent. Buselli challenges the jury instructions given on both convictions and the constitutionality of her false-statements conviction. After careful review of the record and the parties' briefs, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm Buselli's convictions.

I. TRIAL EVIDENCE

As recounted below, the trial evidence included, inter alia, recorded phone calls of Buselli hiring "Paul" to murder her estranged husband and pictures capturing Buselli leaving $5,000 in cash in a lunch box in a designated area for "Paul." Here's the sequence of events.

A. Buselli's Daughter

In 2020, Buselli reported to authorities several times that her estranged husband, Bradley Buselli, was physically and sexually abusing their daughter.¹ Buselli and Bradley lived in Florida, were separated, and shared custody of their daughter.

Buselli's abuse allegations were investigated by the Tallahassee Police Department, the Children's Home Society of Florida, the Florida Department of Children and Families², and the guardian ad litem appointed in Buselli and Bradley's divorce proceedings to represent the interests of their daughter. Each concluded that no evidence supported Buselli's abuse allegations. Notably, the guardian ad litem recommended that Bradley be granted majority custody of his daughter because the guardian believed Buselli was attempting to take her daughter and move to Oregon.

B. The Murder-For-Hire Plot

In June 2021, Christopher Colon, who lived in Montana, reported to the Hillsborough County, Florida Sheriff's Department that Buselli asked him to murder Bradley. Buselli was Colon's former high school girlfriend. Because Colon lived in Montana, Florida authorities contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") for assistance. An FBI agent contacted Colon in Montana and gave Colon a recorder to capture his calls with Buselli.

On July 9, 2021, Colon recorded a call with Buselli. Buselli expressed her frustration with the failure of Child Protective Services and a state court judge to act on her reports that Bradley had sexually and physically abused their daughter.

Discussing Bradley's murder, Buselli stated on the recorded call: "I have been thinking about this for a year, and um I have checked in with myself multiple, multiple, multiple times. I have paused in the anger. I have rejected the idea. I have thought about karma, . . . I have thought about [my daughter] growing up not knowing her father." Buselli said that she would receive full custody of her daughter after Bradley was missing for 60 days and "at that point, I'll put the house up for sale, bam, gone."

As to how Bradley would be killed, Buselli stated: "The easiest thing would be for you [to] just pop him and get the fuck out of there fast, but again that's going to instantly trigger a homicide investigation." Colon suggested that he could throw Bradley into the ocean, to which Buselli responded, "it's not going to trigger a homicide investigation immediately" and "that gives me time to be like 'oh my god what the fuck, her dad just disappeared, I don't know what happened.' " Buselli added that dumping Bradley into the ocean would be more complicated for Colon, but would leave "no trace, fish food, no trace." Colon stated, "Alright so basically you want me to snatch him up, put him on a boat, get rid of his ass, real easy." Buselli responded, "I think as far as the investigation aspect and the legal ramifications, that is the best."

Buselli also confirmed that she had not talked to anyone else about killing Bradley. Buselli discussed mailing "ghost credit cards" to Colon to pay for him to travel to Florida.

A few weeks after the July 9 phone call, Buselli mailed Colon two $500 pre-paid debit cards. Authorities intercepted envelopes from Buselli to Colon containing (1) the debit cards with user agreements, and (2) photographs of Bradley, his home and work addresses, and his vehicle information.

C. "Paul" — The Undercover Agent

Ultimately, the FBI planned to have Colon pass off Buselli to "Paul," purportedly Colon's friend, but actually an undercover agent. On August 20, 2021, Colon recorded a call with Buselli in which he told her that he was concerned authorities would connect him to Bradley's murder, and Colon would not have an alibi for the time it would take to drive to Florida, murder Bradley, and return to Montana. Colon told Buselli that he had a friend, "Paul," who lived in Florida, owned a boat, and could carry out the plan to murder Bradley.

On August 23, 2021, Colon texted Buselli that he "talked to Paul and he's 100% on board and wants to get involved[.]" Buselli responded, "Thank you so much! Yes please give him this number."

On August 26, 2021, Buselli and "Paul" spoke on the phone in a recorded call. Buselli explained that Bradley was molesting their daughter, Child Protective Services was not helpful, and she wanted to move back to Oregon, but Bradley was getting in the way. Buselli told "Paul" she was "thinking about it" for over a year and was 100% sure she wanted Bradley gone forever. Buselli gave "Paul" information about Bradley, including his age, height, weight, and his work and home addresses. Buselli agreed to pay "Paul" $5,000 up front and $20,000 after the murder. Buselli said she wanted "Paul" to use his boat to "just take [Bradley] out, and, disappear him" so there would be "no trace . . . missing person forever." Buselli agreed to leave $5,000 for "Paul" to pick up in a public place, like a Walmart or a Greyhound bus station.

Buselli and "Paul" spoke again on September 8, 2021, in a recorded call. Buselli provided "Paul" with Bradley's new home address. Buselli proposed to leave the $5,000 at a large outdoor amphitheater because it was a public place without any cameras. Buselli confirmed that the agreement with "Paul" was for "five upfront, and 20 after, to make it never found." Buselli said she had $7,000-$8,000 in African Krugerrand gold coins and could pay "Paul" the remaining amount after she sold her home.³ In response to this phone call, investigators installed a camera facing the amphitheater and captured Buselli as she left $5,000 in cash in a lunch box in the seating area of the amphitheater.

With the murder-for-hire plot in motion, investigators wanted to make it seem that Bradley had actually disappeared. So investigators contacted Bradley, explained the murder-for-hire plot, put him in a hotel, and asked him not to make any phone calls or use the internet. Investigators also had Bradley miss a scheduled FaceTime call with his daughter while she was with Buselli on the night of September 15, and investigators had Bradley miss work on September 16.

On September 16, 2021, "Paul" and Buselli spoke on the phone. "Paul" told Buselli "[i]t's done" and "it was quick and clean, and he had no idea what it was about," to which Buselli said "[t]hank you" and that she felt "relieved." The two agreed to speak again on October 16 to discuss Buselli's remaining payment to "Paul."

D. Buselli's Statements to the FBI

Also on September 16, 2021, investigators, including an FBI agent, contacted Buselli at her home. Under the guise that Bradley had disappeared, investigators asked her to come to the police station for questioning, which she voluntarily did. Once at the police station, investigators read Buselli her Miranda⁴ rights, and Buselli signed a form stating she understood and waived her rights.

Buselli detailed her troubled relationship with Bradley. Buselli explained that the couple separated and Bradley moved out of their home after a fight in which Buselli struck Bradley, which led to the police being called. Buselli clarified that Bradley had never hit her. Soon after this fight, Buselli began reporting Bradley to authorities for physically and sexually abusing their daughter.

Investigators then told Buselli it was a crime to lie to a federal agent and asked her if she knew anybody "that would do anything like this?"—referring to Bradley's apparent disappearance. Buselli replied, "No. I would never ask anyone to do something like this." Investigators then asked, "how would you feel if something happened to him?" Buselli replied, "I don't know. I don't want something to happen to him."

Eventually, investigators revealed that they had been surveilling Buselli, that "Paul" was an undercover agent, and that they knew about the murder-for-hire plot. Investigators asked why Buselli wanted Bradley dead, to which she responded, "He's molesting my daughter." Investigators noted that several investigations into Bradley's purported abuse of their daughter concluded that no abuse occurred. Investigators then arrested Buselli.⁵

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. Indictment

Buselli was indicted on two counts: (1) use of interstate commerce "with intent that the murder of [Bradley] be committed in violation of the laws of the State of Florida" as consideration for payment, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1958(a), 2; and (2) knowingly and willfully making materially false statements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2). The false-statements charge was based on these two...