By: Derek Hawkins//January 9, 2017//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: United States of America v. Michael Davis
Case No.: 15-3671
Officials: BAUER, ROVNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.
Focus: Sentencing – Reversible Error
In June 2012, defendant Michael “Mickey” Davis made a $300,000 start-up loan to Ideal Motors, Inc., a car dealership in Melrose Park, Illinois, owned by R.J. Serpico and his father Joseph Serpico. Within a matter of months, Joseph had gambled the money away and Ideal Motors had fallen deep in arrears. The following summer, a man named “Mickey” conspired to have R.J. Serpico’s legs broken. Though the scheme was never carried out, defendant Davis was eventually convicted at trial of attempted extortion and using extortionate means to collect a loan. Davis has appealed, raising five issues. The first is whether the district court erred by admitting against Davis the out-of-court statements by several people involved in the conspiracy to hurt Serpico. The second is whether the district court abused its discretion in allowing the prosecutors to impeach the testimony of a key prosecution witness with his prior inconsistent statements to government agents. Those two issues are substantial, but we find no reversible error. Davis raises three other issues concerning witness immunity, the scope of cross-examination, and the government’s closing argument. Those issues also provide no grounds for setting aside the convictions. We affirm Davis’s convictions and sentence.
Affirmed