Professional Documents
Culture Documents
United States v. Grelle, 89 F.3d 824, 1st Cir. (1996)
United States v. Grelle, 89 F.3d 824, 1st Cir. (1996)
3d 824
I.
In August 1994 John Grelle and Robert Joost were indicted for conspiracy to
commit robbery in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. 1951. The 12-day
trial commenced in March 1995. The jury returned a guilty verdict against
Joost, but was unable to reach a verdict as to Grelle. In May 1995 a new jury
was impaneled to retry Grelle. In June, he pled guilty to the single count
indictment and was sentenced to 46 months in prison plus supervised release of
three years. Grelle appeals three offense characteristic enhancements imposed
by the district court pursuant to the Sentencing Guidelines. We now affirm.
The following summary of the facts is drawn from the presentence report, the
first trial record, and transcripts of tapes of recorded conversations admitted at
the trial. In March 1994, Detectives Steven O'Donnell and Joseph DelPrete of
the Rhode Island State Police conducted an undercover investigation of the
manufacture of counterfeit Foxwoods Casino, Connecticut, slot machine tokens
by Joost. The detectives met Joost on March 23, 1994. Approximately a month
later, after several meetings with Joost and various deliveries of counterfeit
tokens, Joost asked the detectives if they would commit an armored car robbery
with him. The detectives learned that the plan was to rob an armored car
belonging to Meehan Armored, Inc. Among other items, the car carried a gold
cargo that it picked up late afternoons from Leach and Garner, an Attleboro,
Massachusetts, precious metals manufacturer. The armored car and the gold
were then stored overnight at the Meehan headquarters in Woonsocket, Rhode
Island. At 3:00 a.m. two Meehan guards would load the gold into the armored
car at Woonsocket and drive the cargo to New York City. Joost planned to rob
the armored car as it left the Woonsocket building while the guards were busy
securing the premises. At the meeting, Joost detailed how he, the detectives,
and a fourth person would conduct the robbery; he indicated that he needed
four guys for the operation and that he already had one "guy."
The same three met again several times in May 1994 during which Joost told
the detectives further details about the proposed robbery. On May 28 he
introduced them to defendant Grelle. The four traveled to Pennsylvania to rob a
trailer and warehouse, but a prearranged stop by the police brought an end to
the plan. During the trip, however, Grelle told the two detectives that he was
going to participate in the armored car robbery along with them and Joost.
Grelle also stated that he was the manufacturer of the counterfeit Foxwoods
Casino tokens.
On June 16, Joost told the detectives that he had looked at the Meehan building
around midnight but left when he saw a police officer driving up the access
road. He said that five people would be the right number to commit the robbery
and gave them other details. On June 27, Joost told the detectives that he and
they would arrive at the Meehan building the next midnight in order to survey
the premises. Joost said that Grelle would drop them off and pick them up at
4:30 in the morning. The trip was then postponed to the following evening. The
detectives met Joost on the evening of June 29 and he said that he had
explained the robbery plans to Grelle. At 11:00 p.m. the three men met Grelle
in Smithfield, Rhode Island. One detective and Joost drove with Grelle in his
car while the other detective followed in his own car. During the drive, Joost
complained about Grelle's choice of a car, and Grelle promised a better car for
the robbery itself.
On July 21, Joost again described the armored car robbery plan to the
detectives and again mentioned putting a gun to the head of one of the Meehan
guards. On August 5, Joost and Grelle were arrested by federal agents and
Rhode Island police detectives and Grelle's office was searched by federal
agents, who seized a mold for counterfeiting U.S. quarters. They also seized
from his car molds for counterfeit one- and five-dollar Foxwoods Casino tokens
and two counterfeit one-dollar Foxwoods Casino tokens. From Grelle's home in
North Scituate, Rhode Island, the agents seized 15 counterfeit U.S. quarters,
some marijuana plants, a bag of marijuana, and still other counterfeit casino
tokens.
At the joint trial, the director of security for two manufacturing companies
testified that those companies manufactured items in gold and silver in the
Attleboro, Massachusetts, area and shipped the finished products five days
weekly to New York City via the Meehan Woonsocket company, which
delivered the products to various customers in New York. He indicated that the
dollar value of the average daily shipments from April 1994 to August 1994
ranged from $455,887 to $848,998. A Meehan official testified that other
precious metal shipments accompanying that cargo averaged about $5,000,000
daily.
guards, or (4) the restraint of those guards were discussed. However, the
government specifically reserved its right to argue that these details were
reasonably foreseeable to Grelle.
9
In the plea agreement the government agreed to recommend that Grelle receive
a two-level decrease for acceptance of responsibility provided that (1) he admit
his involvement in the criminal conduct, (2) he otherwise complied with all the
requirements of U.S.S.G. 3E1.1, and (3) he did not receive an enhancement
for obstruction pursuant to U.S.S.G. 3C1.1. The government also agreed to
recommend that he receive a three-level decrease under U.S.S.G. 2X1.1(b)(2)
because the substantive crime was not close to commission and that he receive
a four-level decrease for a minimal role under U.S.S.G. 3B1.2(a).
10
The district court determined the base offense level to be 20. It then imposed a
6-level increase for intended use of a firearm, a 2-level increase for intended
restraint of a victim, and a 3-level increase for an intended loss between
$250,000 and $800,000. The court then subtracted 3 levels for insubstantial
completion of the substantive defense, 4 levels for minimal role, and 2 levels
for acceptance of responsibility. The total offense level was 22 with a
sentencing range of 41 to 51 months' imprisonment. The court imposed a
sentence of 46 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release.
II.
11
Grelle claims that the three sentence enhancements were erroneous on the
ground that the evidence was inadequate to show that he had knowledge of the
intended conduct or the amount of the intended loss. However, we conclude
that the circumstantial evidence is more than adequate to establish that the use
of firearms, the restraint of armored car guards and the intended loss of a gold
cargo were not only reasonably foreseeable to defendant but that he knew the
plan involved those factors and that his agreement to participate covered such
conduct.
12
Guidelines direct the court to consider not only the defendant's actual conduct
and the conduct he agreed to undertake, but also "all reasonably foreseeable
acts and omissions of others in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal
activity ... that occurred during the commission of the offense of conviction, in
preparation for that offense, or in the course of attempting to avoid detection or
responsibility for that offense." U.S.S.G. 1B1.3(a)(1)(B). The Commentary
explains that a defendant is accountable for the conduct of others in furtherance
of the jointly undertaken criminal activity and reasonably foreseeable in
connection with that criminal activity. See U.S.S.G. 1B1.3, comment.
13
The Commentary states that the relevant conduct determination for a particular
defendant depends on the scope of the activity he agreed to undertake jointly.
To determine the scope of a defendant's agreement, "the court may consider
any explicit agreement or implicit agreement fairly inferred from the conduct
of the defendant and others." Id. The Commentary admonishes that "the
criminal activity that the defendant agreed to jointly undertake, and the
reasonably foreseeable conduct of others in furtherance of that criminal activity,
are not necessarily identical." Id. For example, the note describes a defendant
who agrees with another to commit a robbery and explains that even though the
defendant did not contemplate an assault, he would be accountable for an
accomplice's assault of the victim in the course of the robbery "because the
assaultive conduct was in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal activity
(the robbery) and was reasonably foreseeable in connection with that criminal
activity (given the nature of the offense)." Id.
14
15
The conspiracy and robbery guidelines provide for a 6-level enhancement for
intended use of a firearm. U.S.S.G. 2B3.1(b)(2)(B). District Judge Lisi
presided over the first trial and was therefore familiar with the details of the
case, so that her rulings are entitled to great deference. 18 U.S.C. 3742(e).
She found here that the use of firearms was foreseeable to this defendant
because Grelle acknowledged that he had knowingly become involved in an
"armed robbery conspiracy" and admitted that Joost, his co-defendant in the
original trial, told him about the robbery and had taken Grelle to the robbery
site on the previous day. Indeed, as early as May 28, 1994, defendant had
become a co-conspirator by planning to participate in the armored car robbery
with Joost and the detectives.
17
Grelle was present during many of Joost's conversations with the detectives,
though it is not established that he was present when Joost specifically
mentioned firearms. Joost nevertheless mentioned to the detectives that guns
would be needed to subdue the guards and that it might be necessary to put guns
to their heads and shoot them. Under the plans known to Grelle, he would
certainly realize that the armored car guards would be carrying firearms and
would have to be subdued in order to steal the gold, thus requiring firearm use.
Joost's plan to use firearms was reasonably foreseeable to Grelle and was
proved by a preponderance of the evidence, so that the 6-level enhancement
was properly assessed.
B.
18
participants, the district court found that he likely discussed the same plans with
Grelle. The district court's finding that Grelle knew or could reasonably have
foreseen that the plan involved the restraint of others was supported by a
preponderance of the evidence and was not clearly erroneous.
C.
19
20
Grelle attacks the determination on the basis that the figures were not certain.
However, the Commentary to the guideline states that the "loss need not be
determined with precision. The court need only make a reasonable estimate of
the loss, given the available information." U.S.S.G. 2B1.1, comment. It is
clear that Grelle intended to participate in the armored car robbery and that both
Grelle and Joost knew or could reasonably foresee that the vehicle contained a
large amount of money. At one point, Joost told the detectives that he thought
the car could contain as much as several million dollars. Based on this
information, the district court acted reasonably in imposing a 3-level increase
for the intended loss. The decision was not clearly erroneous.
III.
21
For the foregoing reasons, the sentence imposed by the district court is
AFFIRMED.