United States v. Mills

• Citation: 378 F.Supp.3d 563
• Decision Date: 30 April 2019
• Docket Number: Case No. 16-cr-20460
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Edwin MILLS, et al., Defendants.
• Court: United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of Michigan)

378 F.Supp.3d 563

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff,

v.Edwin MILLS, et al., Defendants.

Case No. 16-cr-20460

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

Signed April 30, 2019

Louis Crisostomo, Linda Aouate, United States Attorney's Office, Aldous Brant Cook, U.S. Department of Justice, Detroit, MI, for Plaintiff.

Gerald J. Gleeson, II, Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone, PLC, Troy, MI, Jean deSales Barrett, Ruhnke & Barrett, Montclair, NJ, Federal Defender, Federal Defender Office, Michael A. Rataj, Sanford A. Schulman, Christopher W. Quinn, II, Detroit, MI, Jacqueline K. Walsh, Walsh & Larranaga, Seattle, WA, Judith S. Gracey, The Gracey Law Firm, Keego Harbor, MI, Richard H. Morgan, Jr., Law Office of Richard H. Morgan Jr, Pontiac, MI, Avraham C. Moskowitz, Moskowitz, Book and Walsh, LLP, New York, NY, Stephen T. Rabaut, Clinton Township, MI, Michael O. Sheehan, Sheehan and Reeve, New Haven, CT, Sanford Plotkin, Sanford Plotkin, P.C., Ann Arbor, MI, John M. McManus, McManus Law, Royal Oak, MI, Vincent J. Toussaint, Toussaint Law, James A. Waske, Southfield, MI, for Defendants.

OPINION & ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT CARLO WILSON'S MOTIONS TO DISMISS

(Dkts. 626, 627, 629, 630, 632, 633, 634, 635, 636)

MARK A. GOLDSMITH, United States District Judge

This criminal case involves multiple defendants, all of whom have been charged with violating the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq. Defendant Carlo Wilson has filed nine motions to dismiss (Dkts. 626, 627, 629, 630, 632, 633, 634, 635, 636).¹ The Government has filed responses in opposition to the motions, some of which were consolidated (Dkts. 686, 689, 690, 694, 697, 698), to which Wilson replied (Dkts. 727, 728, 730, 731, 732, 733, 734).² For the reasons stated below, the Court denies the motions.

I. BACKGROUND

A federal grand jury returned a second superseding indictment on February 28, 2018, charging the eleven defendants in this case with various crimes, including violations of RICO. See generally 2d Superseding Indictment (Dkt. 292). That indictment claims that Defendants were members and associates of a criminal enterprise—the "6 Mile Chedda Grove" street gang in Detroit—one of whose purposes was to "preserv[e] and protect[ ] the power, territory, reputation, and profits of the enterprise through murder, robberies, intimidation, violence, and threats of violence." Id. at 2, 6. The enterprise purportedly operated on the east side of Detroit within an area bordered roughly by East McNichols Road to the north, Kelly Road to the east, Houston-Whittier Street to the south, and Chalmers Street to the west. Id. at 2. The "Chedda Grove" part of the enterprise's name is partially derived from one of the main streets in this territory—Cedargrove Street. Id.

The indictment further alleges that the enterprise's profits derived primarily from the sale and distribution of controlled substances, including crack cocaine, heroin, and morphine. Id. at 5. The sale and distribution alleged were not limited to Michigan; gang members and associates purportedly sold and distributed controlled substances in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and West Virginia. Id.

Eight of the eleven defendants have since pleaded guilty.³ The three remaining defendants have been separated into two groups with separate trial dates. See 8/7/2018 Order (Dkt. 425). Group One is currently composed of one defendant, Robert Baytops, who is not subject to the death penalty upon conviction. His trial will be scheduled at a future date. See 3/26/2019 Order (Dkt. 846) (granting Defendant Donell Thompson's motion for severance). Group Two, composed of two defendants who are death-penalty eligible, has a trial date of April 21, 2020. See 8/31/2018 Order (Dkt. 475).

Defendant Carlo Wilson belongs to Group Two and has been charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (Count One); two counts of murder in aid of racketeering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(1) (Count Eight involves victim A.T.; Count Ten involves victim S.H.); two counts of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence causing death in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c) and 924(j) (Count Nine involves victim A.T.; Count Eleven involves victim S.H.); two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(3) (Count Twelve involves victim M.A.; Count Thirteen involves victim T.M.); and one count of using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (Count Fourteen, based on Counts Twelve and Thirteen). See generally 2d Superseding Indictment. On March 1, 2018, the Government filed its notice of intent to seek a sentence of death against Wilson (Dkt. 293).

II. DISCUSSION

Wilson has filed nine motions to dismiss, which the Court will address in what it believes to be the most logical order.

A. Motion to Dismiss Counts Eight Through Fourteen Based on Facial and As-Applied Constitutional Challenges to VICAR (Dkt. 365)

As part of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-473, 98 Stat. 1976, Congress enacted the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Activity ("VICAR") statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1959,⁴ which, among other things, prohibits the commission of certain violent crimes "for the purpose of gaining entrance to or maintaining or increasing position in an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity." 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a). An "enterprise" is defined under VICAR as an association "engaged in, or activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce," 18 U.S.C. § 1959(b)(2), while "racketeering activity" is defined the same as it is in RICO, compare 18 U.S.C. § 1959(b)(1) with 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1) ; see also United States v. Mapp, 170 F.3d 328, 335 (2d Cir. 1999). "Congress enacted VICAR to complement RICO, and it intended VICAR, like RICO, ‘to be liberally construed to effectuate its remedial purposes.’ " United States v. Banks, 514 F.3d 959, 967 (9th Cir. 2008) (quoting United States v. Concepcion, 983 F.2d 369, 380-381 (2d Cir. 1992) ).

Wilson first argues that Counts Eight through Fourteen of the second superseding indictment must be dismissed because VICAR is facially unconstitutional. See generally Def. Wilson Mot. at 4-9 (Dkt. 635). Relying principally on United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, 120 S.Ct. 1740, 146 L.Ed.2d 658 (2000), and United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995), Wilson contends that Congress exceeded its authority under the Commerce Clause because VICAR criminalizes intrastate activity, including murder, even when the activity itself is noneconomic and has no impact or bearing on interstate commerce. Id. at 8. Rather, "[i]t is only the group whom the murder is meant to impress that must have some effect on interstate commerce, and this effect may be wholly unrelated to the murder or any other racketeering activity." Id. Although VICAR's definition of enterprise requires a nexus between a defendant's crime and interstate commerce, Wilson claims that this connection is "too attenuated" and "fails to limit VICAR's reach to only those violent acts that affect interstate commerce." Id. The Court disagrees.

Congress has the constitutional authority to "regulate Commerce ... among the several States," U.S. Const., art. I, § 8, cl. 3, which includes regulating or prohibiting "activities that substantially affect interstate commerce," even if the activity is purely local. Lopez, 514 U.S. at 558-559, 115 S.Ct. 1624. When assessing the scope of Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause, courts must determine whether there is a "rational basis" to conclude that the prohibited activities, "taken in the aggregate, substantially affect interstate commerce." Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1, 22, 125 S.Ct. 2195, 162 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005) ; see also Taylor v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 2074, 195 L.Ed.2d 456 (2016) (reaffirming applicability of the Raich substantial-effects test). Insofar as it concerns VICAR in particular, a court must decide "whether Congress could rationally have concluded that intrastate acts of violence, such as murder, committed for the purpose of maintaining or increasing one's status in an interstate racketeering enterprise, would substantially affect the interstate activities of that enterprise." United States v. Umana, 750 F.3d 320, 336 (4th Cir. 2014). For Wilson to succeed on his facial challenge, he must show that "no set of circumstances exists under which [VICAR] would be valid." United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745, 107 S.Ct. 2095, 95 L.Ed.2d 697 (1987) ("A facial challenge to a legislative Act is, of course, the most difficult challenge to mount successfully.").

Like the Fourth Circuit in Umana, this Court finds that "Congress could rationally have concluded that proscribing reputation-enhancing violence committed by members of a criminal enterprise would disrupt the interstate commerce that the enterprise itself engages in." Umana, 750 F.3d at 337 ; see also United States v. Crenshaw, 359 F.3d 977, 986 (8th Cir. 2004) ("The regulation of violent acts committed as an aspect of membership in RICO enterprises therefore represents one method for Congress to exercise its power under the Commerce Clause to regulate the enterprises themselves."). It is entirely reasonable to believe that members of a street gang, like 6 Mile Chedda Grove, would commit certain violent crimes, like murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, to maintain or enhance their status and reputation in the gang. Although VICAR does not require that these violent crimes themselves have any connection to interstate commerce, the violent acts must have been committed for the purpose of establishing, maintaining, or increasing a position within the enterprise. These violent acts could, in turn, enhance the power and reach of...