Avaloz

MEMORANDUM **

Ernie Avaloz appeals his convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 894 on the grounds that: (1) as applied in this case, the statute violates the Commerce Clause, and (2) the district court proceedings violated his right to a fair trial.

The victim testified that he used the loan from Avaloz’s employer for commercial purposes, to invest in cars. The extortionate means Avaloz employed to extract repayment of the debt involved threatening the victim over the phone, traveling from out of state to threaten him in person, and transporting a used Mercedes back to California from Arizona on a flatbed truck in an effort to frighten the victim. These facts do not suggest the loan in question was purely personal and intra-state in nature. Nor do they suggest that Avaloz’s attempts to exact payment of the loan by extortionate means were unrelated to, and had no effect on, interstate commerce.

Even assuming, arguendo, that the loan was of a personal and intra-state nature, Avaloz’s Commerce Clause challenge still fails. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 891 et seq. against a Commerce Clause challenge in Perez v. United States, 402 U.S. 146 , 91 S.Ct. 1357 , 28…