United States v. Liston

The Short North Posse gang of Columbus, Ohio (an affiliate of the national Crips gang) conducted brutal home-invasion style robberies and planned and executed the murder of rivals, high-value targets, and cooperating witnesses to support its drug operation. After two months of trial, Ledbetter, Ussury, Liston, and Harris were convicted of RICO conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. 1962(d) for their membership in the Posse enterprise. Those four, plus Robinson, were convicted of various murders in aid of racketeering, 18 U.S.C. 1959, and other similar crimes; all received at least one life sentence. The Sixth Circuit vacated Ussury’s conviction for the murder of Hill in aid of racketeering, finding insufficient evidence that Ussury acted with the necessary statutory purpose The court vacated Harris’s and Robinson’s convictions for murder by firearm during a crime of violence in light of the Supreme Court’s 2019 “Davis” decision, that 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3)(B)’s residual clause is unconstitutionally vague. The court rejected other claims, including insufficiency of the evidence, ineffective assistance of counsel, improper jury instructions, and improper testimony. View "United States v. Liston" on Justia Law