United States v. Davis, No. 22-1717 (6th Cir. 2023)
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Davis and Allen pleaded guilty to using a facility of interstate commerce (their cellphones) in a murder-for-hire scheme, 18 U.S.C. 1958(a).
The Sixth Circuit affirmed, rejecting an argument that the government could not constitutionally apply the federal murder-for-hire statute to their conduct. Although the statute rests on Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce, the defendants never left Michigan or even made calls outside the state when committing the murder. At most, some of their intrastate calls required the telephone company to use out-of-state switches. The Supreme Court has held that Congress may regulate the “instrumentalities of interstate commerce” even when used only within a state, and the Sixth Circuit treats an ordinary telephone as one such “instrumentality” within Congress’s control. The court also rejected speedy-trial claims. Before they pleaded guilty, the district court had postponed their trial for nearly four years. But the delay arose in part from their own repeated requests for more time and in part from the COVID-19 pandemic. Both reasons justified the delay.
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