It is a memorandum disposition worth reading. The Court found the district court erred in admitting through a detective hearsay statements from an alleged gang member implicating the defendant.
Further, the district court erred in failing to suppress the defendant's inculpatory statements resulting from a deliberate two-step interrogation: "Detectives interrogated Young at the police station for at least twenty minutes without providing any Miranda warnings. Only after Young confessed that he drove the vehicle linked to the shooting (his mother’s car) did the detectives finally give him Miranda warnings."
On this issue, the Ninth Circuit rejected "the government’s contention that the detectives delayed giving the Miranda warnings so that they could build rapport with Young and get 'biographical' information."
The Court also found the district court plainly erred in failing to instruct the jury accurately as to the culpability required for a criminal conviction under RICO.
The district court instructed the jury that the government must prove that Young “conspired and agreed” that he “or a co-conspirator, would conduct or participate, either directly or indirectly, the conduct of the affairs of the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity.” The district court’s instructions obscure the elements of the crime because they do not explain what the defendant, not a co-conspirator, needed to agree to do in order to be found criminally culpable as a conspirator. A defendant is guilty of conspiracy to violate RICO only if the evidence shows that the defendant knowingly and personally “agreed to facilitate a scheme which includes the operation or management of a RICO enterprise.”Finally, the Court touched on an important issue to monitor, the impact of Burrage v. United States, 134 S. Ct. 881 (2014) (insisting on but-for causality), on “substantial purpose” or "dual purpose" instructions.
Congratulations to Ben Coleman on another great victory. And congratulations to Mark Windsor for his tenacious advocacy below.
