01-2471 U.S. v. Siegler

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“[T]he district court relied on ample evidence in the record to determine that Siegler intended that Hauger be harmed in retaliation for her testimony against him. First, the court pointed to Siegler’s prior conduct: his mailing the discovery materials from his felon-in-possession case to Hester on Aug. 9, 1999. This act was directly linked to the actual threat because the materials included a report of Hauger’s witness interview, her address and a description of her appearance. In the threatening letter, Siegler also expressed his anger about Hauger’s testifying against him and gave Hester a description of Hauger and information on her whereabouts. Accordingly, Siegler’s prior conduct had a direct and substantial connection to the threatening letter, see U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual sec. 2A6.1, cmt. n.2, and the district court properly considered that conduct in assessing Siegler’s intent to carry out the threat contained in the Aug. 31, 1999 letter.”

“Frustrated by Hester’s inaction, Siegler turned to Shilo and Shawn Schneider to pressure Hester to carry out the hit on Hauger. And, after Hester finally refused to carry out the order, Siegler turned to Shawn to ‘take care of’ Hauger. Thus, the district court did not clearly err in finding that, rather than abandoning the threat, Siegler persisted through repeated calls to other gang members in trying to enlist their support to harm or even kill Hauger for her damaging testimony.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Crabb, J., Flaum, J.