backWASHINGTON, March 2, 2015 — The Supreme Court of the United States today granted King & Spalding’s petition for certiorari on behalf of Samuel Ocasio, a former Baltimore police officer convicted of conspiracy to commit extortion.
The government charged Ocasio with referring car accident victims to a repair shop in exchange for kickbacks paid by the repair shop. King & Spalding successfully convinced the Court to grant certiorari to resolve a significant issue of statutory interpretation concerning the Hobbs Act. That question is whether a conspiracy to extort “property from another” requires the government to show that the conspirators agreed to obtain property from someone outside the conspiracy, or whether a defendant may be convicted of extorting property from another member of the conspiracy.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in October or November of this year.
The King & Spalding team involved in this pro bono case consisted of appellate partner Ashley Parrish, associate Ethan Davis and former associates Matthew Owen and Daniel Epps.
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