United States v. Rashaad Laws ( 2016 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS AUG 10 2016
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 14-50031
Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No.
2:10-cr-00923-SJO-44
v.
RASHAAD LARAY LAWS, AKA Henry MEMORANDUM*
Anderson, AKA Big Time, AKA Seal C,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
S. James Otero, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted July 5, 2016
Pasadena, California
Before: MURGUIA and WATFORD, Circuit Judges, and BOLTON,** District
Judge.
Appellant Rashaad Laws appeals his convictions for racketeering conspiracy
in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) and drug trafficking conspiracy in violation of
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The Honorable Susan R. Bolton, United States District Judge for the
District of Arizona, sitting by designation.
21 U.S.C. § 846. Laws challenges the sufficiency of the evidence used to convict
him of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) and drug
trafficking conspiracies. This Court has jurisdiction over this direct appeal pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm.
We review a claim for sufficiency of the evidence de novo. United States v.
Garcia-Paz, 282 F.3d 1212, 1217 (9th Cir. 2002). A conviction is supported by
sufficient evidence if, in viewing evidence in the light most favorable to the
prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the
crime beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Wright, 215 F.3d 1020, 1025 (9th
Cir. 2000) (citing Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979)). Laws’s sufficiency
of the evidence argument fails as to both his RICO conspiracy1 and drug trafficking
conspiracy counts. On the RICO conspiracy count, the Government’s evidence
showed that Laws participated in gang activity including robberies; bought, sold,
and made drugs; and encouraged other members to do the same including taking
other members on “missions” to prove themselves. A rational jury could have
concluded that Laws knowingly participated in the RICO conspiracy. See United
States v. Dunn, 564 F.2d 348, 357 (9th Cir. 1977) (noting that even a slight
connection between the defendant and the conspiracy is sufficient to show knowing
1
The predicate offenses of the RICO conspiracy alleged in the indictment included
robbery, murder, and drug trafficking.
2
participation). The Government also presented sufficient evidence to support Laws’s
drug trafficking conspiracy conviction. See United States v. Moe, 781 F.3d 1120,
1125 (9th Cir. 2015) (requiring more than a buyer-seller relationship for a conviction
on a drug trafficking conspiracy). The Government’s evidence showed that Laws
resupplied gang members with drugs, benefitted from the gang’s drug selling
monopoly, and operated a cocaine stash house where he and other gang members
converted cocaine to crack cocaine for resale. A rational jury could have concluded
that Laws knew of and participated in the gang’s drug trafficking conspiracy. Wright,
215 F.3d at 1025.
AFFIRMED.
3