United States v. John Luong

MEMORANDUM

Defendants were charged with and convicted of several counts of conspiracy to commit robbery in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951 (a), and related violations of 18 U.S.C. § 924 . Each was convicted and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Defendants appeal their judgments of conviction and their sentences. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for resentencing.

1. The district court properly denied Defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment on Sixth Amendment grounds. Under our later-decided precedent, the court erred by declining to consider any method other than “absolute disparity” to assess the representativeness of the grand jury venire. United States v. Hernandez-Estrada, 749 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 709 , 190 L.Ed.2d 445 (2014). But Defendants failed to satisfy their burden, under Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357, 364 , 99 S.Ct. 664 , 58 L.Ed.2d 579 (1979), to show that any underrepresentation that existed in the grand jury venire was “due to systematic exclusion of the group in the jury-selection process.” See also Hernandez-Estrada, 749 F.3d at…