U.S. v. Faulkner

Record contained sufficient evidence to support defendant’s conviction on RICO/drug conspiracy charges stemming from defendant’s leadership role in street gang that operated drug distribution enterprise. Applicable charges required only that govt. establish that defendant knew about and agreed to facilitate commission of two predicate acts by another member of drug enterprise, and Ct. rejected defendant’s claim that govt. was required to show that he was personally involved in two or more predicate acts. Also, various witnesses supported instant conviction, where they testified about defendant’s role as manager of open-air drug market, and jury could properly believe govt. witness who testified that defendant ordered shooting of third-party for reasons related to defendant’s membership in gang. Fact that Ct. of Appeals could have assessed said witness’ credibility differently was irrelevant. Ct. further rejected defendant’s current double jeopardy argument stemming from his claim that he was being punished twice for same conduct at issue in prior 2011 conviction on drug charges, where: (1) Ct. of Appeals had previously rejected defendant’s double jeopardy argument in prior appeal of denial of his motion to dismiss instant charges; and (2) law of case doctrine precluded reconsideration of issue in absence of either change of law, finding that instant trial produced substantially different evidence, or finding that prior court decision was clearly erroneous.