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`In the
`United States Court of Appeals
`For the Eleventh Circuit
`
`____________________
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`No. 20-10373
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`____________________
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`
`UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
`
`versus
`
`ANDREW THOMPSON,
`a.k.a. Nico,
`ALFONZO CHURCHWELL,
`a.k.a. Boo Boo,
`JORDAN RODRIGUEZ,
`a.k.a. Big Man,
`
`
` Plaintiff-Appellee,
`
` Defendants-Appellants.
`
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`____________________
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`In the
`United States Court of Appeals
`For the Eleventh Circuit
`
`____________________
`
`No. 20-10373
`
`____________________
`
`
`UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
`
`versus
`
`ANDREW THOMPSON,
`a.k.a. Nico,
`ALFONZO CHURCHWELL,
`a.k.a. Boo Boo,
`JORDAN RODRIGUEZ,
`a.k.a. Big Man,
`
`
` Plaintiff-Appellee,
`
` Defendants-Appellants.
`
`
`____________________
`
`
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`Opinion of the Court
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`20-10373
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`Appeals from the United States District Court
`for the Middle District of Florida
`D.C. Docket No. 8:18-cr-00205-WFJ-TGW-3
`____________________
`
`Before GRANT, LUCK, and HULL, Circuit Judges.
`
`LUCK, Circuit Judge:
`
`Jordan Rodriguez, Alfonzo Churchwell, and Andrew
`Thompson were members of a gang called “Third Shift” that sold
`drugs, robbed, fought with rival gangs, and murdered in further-
`ance of the gang’s operations. They were charged with a slew of
`crimes that the gang committed, convicted of most of them, and
`sentenced to life in prison. They now appeal their convictions,
`challenging the sufficiency of the evidence, an evidentiary ruling,
`the jury instructions, the district court’s response to a jury ques-
`tion, and comments the district court made about Rodriguez’s
`counsel’s strategic choices. After careful review, and with the ben-
`efit of oral argument, we affirm their convictions.
`
`
`
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`FACTUAL BACKGROUND1
`
`The Third Shift gang
`
`The Third Shift gang was based in Oneco, a suburb of
`Bradenton, Florida. Rodriguez, Churchwell, and Thompson were
`members of Third Shift. Rodriguez and Thompson were child-
`hood friends. Rodriguez’s sister Maryha—who was also Thomp-
`son’s ex-girlfriend—described the two as “best friends” and said
`Thompson was Rodriguez’s “little do-boy,” meaning Thompson
`“would always choose [Rodriguez], always, even with risking his
`family.” Thompson’s brother-in-law, Johnny Cintron; Cintron’s
`friend, Phillip Uscanga; Uscanga’s friend, Raymy; Rodriguez’s
`brother, Jesse; and a man known as Macho were Third Shift mem-
`bers too.
`
`Cintron testified to seeing Rodriguez “rep” Third Shift—
`“[t]hrowing up gang signs [and] stuff like that”—“and talk about
`being in the gang.” Cintron said the gang’s sign was “like an A-ok
`sign”; the gang also had a color (black), an “affiliated” or “friendly
`gang[]” (North Side), and a “rival gang[]” (South Side). Cintron saw
`Thompson “throw up the gang sign” and wear the gang’s “flag” (“a
`black bandanna”). And he heard Macho sing a Third Shift song.
`
`
`1 “[W]e recount the facts . . . in the light most favorable to the government
`and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the jury’s verdict.” United States
`v. Martin, 803 F.3d 581, 585 n.1 (11th Cir. 2015).
`
`
`
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`The trap house
`
`Third Shift operated a “trap house”—a place where people
`“go[] to purchase drugs and use drugs on [the] premises”—on 11th
`Street East in Oneco. J.R., Churchwell’s “close” friend and a “big
`hitter” drug dealer in the Bradenton area, “opened” the trap house
`and “put[] his man [Rodriguez] in there” to “make some money.”
`Rodriguez lived there, paid rent and utilities, and was “in charge.”
`According to Cintron, Rodriguez ran the trap house from mid-2015
`through late 2016 and had no other job.
`
`During that time, Rodriguez, Cintron, Jesse, and other Third
`Shift members hung out at the trap house “[a]lmost every day.”
`Pole cameras (installed by local law enforcement in June 2016) cap-
`tured Thompson at the trap house several times, and both Cintron
`and Thompson himself testified that Thompson was there about
`once a week. Cintron saw Churchwell at the trap house “[a] couple
`days,” and Cintron and Jesse’s friend, Quentin Couch, saw Church-
`well there too.
`
`The members of Third Shift sold drugs from the trap house.
`In fact, Stephanie Brewer—the trap house’s housekeeper—said
`buying and using drugs was “the main thing that went on in th[e
`trap] house.” Rodriguez’s neighbor testified to seeing “a lot of traf-
`fic” coming and going, and a lot of “[p]eople hanging out,” at the
`trap house. Pole camera footage similarly showed “lots of short-
`term traffic”—by car, bicycle, and foot—with people visiting the
`trap house “at all hours of the day and late into the night and the
`
`
`
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`early morning hours,” often for less than four minutes. A law en-
`forcement search on September 11, 2016, revealed drug parapher-
`nalia around and throughout the trap house—including a digital
`scale, syringes, glass pipes, a plastic pill bottle, plastic gloves, and
`plastic baggies—plus containers of cash. A later search turned up
`more syringes, as well as a duffle bag containing “a bunch of pill
`bottles” holding “numerous unidentified pills and also narcotics.”
`
`J.R. would cook crack cocaine at the trap house a few times
`a week, after which Rodriguez would “break[ the crack cocaine]
`down into small pieces,” “separating them and organizing them”
`on the kitchen table. Rodriguez kept drugs—crack and powder co-
`caine, marijuana, heroin, and pills, “[a]nything that you needed”—
`in a backpack in his bedroom and sold them from the trap house’s
`kitchen or living room multiple times a day. He sold to Cintron a
`few times a week and he twice enlisted Cintron to sell marijuana
`and crack cocaine on his behalf when Rodriguez was busy. Couch
`said he bought marijuana from Rodriguez at the trap house
`“[m]ore than probably like a hundred times,” and Maryha bought
`marijuana from Rodriguez too. Shazlynn Dunton (Thompson’s
`girlfriend) bought marijuana and cocaine from Rodriguez, and
`Brandi Simon admitted both to buying marijuana and crack co-
`caine from Rodriguez and to paying him to use a room at the trap
`house to take pills or shoot Dilaudid.
`
`Pole camera footage from January 2017 showed Rodriguez
`dealing drugs out of a van parked in front of the trap house. When
`officers initiated a traffic stop of the van shortly after observing the
`
`
`
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`drug transactions, they discovered marijuana, “several bags of
`crack cocaine,” powder cocaine, narcotics, unlabeled prescription
`pill bottles, baggies, a scale, two rifles, a handgun, a pistol, a holster,
`ammunition, a baton, zip ties, a flashlight, and around $3,700 cash.
`Rodriguez would later tell a cellmate at FCI Coleman Low that he
`had sold marijuana and heroin from the trap house.
`
`Others, including Churchwell and Thompson, sold drugs
`from the trap house too. Brewer testified that Rodriguez “had men
`underneath him”—“younger boys”—selling drugs at the trap
`house. Cintron admitted he started selling crack that he bought
`from Rodriguez because he “was just there, and [he] would see
`how many people would come[, s]o [he] just started doing it also.”
`Rodriguez knew he was selling from the trap house, Cintron said,
`but Cintron “never had to get [Rodriguez’s] permission.”
`
`Cintron also saw Churchwell at the trap house “[a] couple
`days” selling crack and heroin. Churchwell received and sent text
`messages arranging sales of heroin and molly too. And when
`Churchwell was arrested in September 2016, multiple baggies con-
`taining heroin were confiscated from him.
`
`As for Thompson, he admitted to selling drugs for Dunton
`a few times “when it wasn’t available or convenient for her to han-
`dle her business.” But Maryha testified that she saw Thompson sell
`marijuana, Kyle Stackhouse (another drug dealer who knew
`Thompson from the neighborhood) saw him sell crack cocaine,
`and Dunton saw Thompson sell methamphetamine as well.
`
`
`
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`Thompson and Churchwell sometimes sold drugs they had pur-
`chased from Rodriguez; other times, they sold drugs they’d pro-
`cured elsewhere.
`
`Rodriguez
`
`Rodriguez flaunted his gang activities on social media. His
`posts regularly referenced “thug life” and “G shit.” In April 2016,
`Rodriguez posted: “im out here tryna grind in each and every way,
`stackin up my paper tryna avoid catching a case.” And a few days
`later, he posted:
`
`i been thuggin it since i was 14, i swear i couldnt stay
`out the court scene . . . . i get out there and thug it
`cause i aint no ones concern . . . . i aint had a job in
`so long cause all i know is the streets.
`
`Rodriguez also posted about using firearms and other forms of vi-
`olence. For example, about a week after a January 2016 drive-by
`shooting we discuss in detail below, Rodriguez posted a status up-
`date declaring:
`
`I play this game well I feel like its monopoly, except
`I’m grinding hard I don’t see nothing stopping me,
`tossin out that money like I’m some kind of slot ma-
`chine, keep ya eyes to yaself before u hear that choppa
`scream, 100 round drum and its fully loaded, take me
`as a joke but ima shoot it if I tote it.2
`
`
`2 “Choppa” (or chopper) is street slang for an assault rifle.
`
`
`
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`A few days later, he updated his status: “It’s time to leave state
`cause [n-words] is gna make me go Rambo dog g shit.” Then, in
`April 2016, he commented: “i been in oneco my whole life and
`these hoes really got shit fucked up talking like they bad cause ill
`make them disapear.”
`
`Rodriguez used his social media to complain about—and
`even taunt—snitches too. In one status update, he said: “Facebook
`gangster right here [n-word] my adress is 5832 11th street east came
`fade”—that is, “come fight”—“if u want it [n-word] aint nobody
`scared [n-word] but believe me if u pull a gun im killing yo ass [n-
`word], fuck talking run up.” Similarly, a few weeks after the Janu-
`ary 2016 drive-by shooting, he challenged people who “think they
`hard but wna talk to the police and snitch”: “I stay on 11th street
`come my way with that p**** shit dog I know real crips that’ll
`check yaw ass.” Later the same day, he sent a message ranting
`about people “who act gangsta but they wna talk to police when
`gangsta shit goes down bruhh I just needa get out of state before I
`catch a charge for fukin somebody up dog.”
`
`Apart from posting on social media, Rodriguez protected
`the trap house in numerous ways. The refrigerator—which the
`September 2016 search revealed to contain beer and a drawer of
`money—was secured with a lock. He had Brewer (the house-
`keeper) periodically “go in”—“[e]verybody that was [there] using
`[drugs] had to get out”—and “bleach and clean the whole trap
`house.” She’d “bleach everything down,” “bring out” all the drug
`“paraphernalia,” and collect anything of “monetary value” to “give
`
`
`
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`back to the house man.” Rodriguez or J.R. paid Brewer with
`“[m]aybe just a little spending money but mostly with drugs.”
`
`Rodriguez also installed security cameras outside the trap
`house, and a TV in the living room displayed a live feed of the sur-
`rounding area. And he supplied countless firearms, teaching Third
`Shift members to wipe ammunition clean of fingerprints before
`loading them. Cintron saw “[a]n AK, a shotgun . . . [i]n the living
`room,” and “a couple pistols” (specifically, a revolver and a “regu-
`lar” 9-millimeter). Couch saw an FN gun, a “mini Draco”—“[a]
`mini chopper, like a mini AK”—and a “little Warthog gun,” all be-
`longing to Rodriguez. The September 2016 search turned up a
`semiautomatic handgun, plus holsters, magazines, ammunition (of
`various calibers, including rifle ammunition and shotgun shells),
`and spent casings throughout the trap house.
`
`Lots of people handled Rodriguez’s firearms while at the
`trap house. According to Brewer, “whoever was in the[ trap house]
`usually had [Rodriguez’s] guns on them,” and Cintron said he
`“would go in and just pick [the revolver] up” himself. Cintron re-
`called Rodriguez and his brother Jesse holding the firearms; he also
`saw Thompson “grab the [AK-47] and play with it” when he
`stopped by the trap house. Pole camera footage confirmed this,
`showing Rodriguez and Thompson armed—Thompson with a “ri-
`fle-style firearm,” at one point—while around the trap house. And
`Thompson admitted, while testifying, that he “handle[d] assault
`weapons” both at Rodriguez’s house and at his own. Maryha tes-
`tified that Thompson “kept a lot of guns at [their] house” and
`
`
`
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`would “[p]lay with them, . . . [p]oint[ing] the lasers on [the] guns”
`at police vehicles; Stackhouse likewise testified that Thompson
`once “rode by [on a bicycle] and pointed [an AK-38 or 40] at the
`truck [Stackhouse] was sitting in.”
`The gang’s murders
`
`Theft and violence went hand in hand with Third Shift’s
`drug business. Cintron testified that members of Third Shift “reg-
`ularly committed thefts.” A Manatee County deputy described see-
`ing Thompson take a bike—then quickly replace it after noticing
`he was being watched. And Maryha and Dunton both recalled
`Thompson bragging about committing robberies. After one rob-
`bery—during which Third Shift members stole “a TV and a pistol
`and some money”—Rodriguez “threatened to slap the shit out of”
`Cintron’s sister for calling the police.
`
`Third Shift members also engaged in gun fights. And they
`murdered rival gang members, other drug dealers, and even com-
`plaining customers. Three of those murders are relevant to this
`appeal.
`
`Rodriguez’s murder of Julio Tellez
`
`First, Rodriguez killed Julio Tellez, a rival gang member,
`during a drive-by shooting. On the morning of New Year’s Day,
`2016, two Third Shift members—Cintron and Uscanga—drove
`Uscanga’s red Mustang convertible, top down, to a corner store to
`buy cigars. Members of their rival gang, South Side, were at the
`store. Third Shift was “always in altercations with” South Side, and
`
`
`
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`this New Year’s Day was no different. Two South Side members
`attacked Cintron with a long wooden stick outside the store and
`then fled in a minivan after Cintron overpowered them.
`
`Cintron and Uscanga chased the minivan all the way back to
`a “South Side gang member’s house,” “telling [them] to pull
`over”—and at one point Cintron threw a water bottle through the
`van’s open window. Cintron recognized the house from “a prior
`time when [he, his brother, Macho, and Jesse] got into an alterca-
`tion over there.” That time, “[a] bunch of dudes came out with
`guns”; so Cintron, unarmed but worried there might again be
`armed South Side members at the house, decided to abandon the
`chase. He and Uscanga instead went to retrieve Uscanga’s gun
`from fellow Third Shift member Raymy, and then the three went
`to the trap house for ammunition.
`
`The house the minivan fled to, it turns out, belonged to
`Tellez; the South Side members went there because Tellez had told
`them “he would have [their] backs” if they “ever needed anything.”
`When they arrived, though, Tellez sent them away: he didn’t have
`any firearms on hand and “didn’t want nothing to do with what
`they had going on.” But because “he felt like some trouble was
`going to happen,” Tellez summoned help from his friend Eliceo
`Santoyo, who brought over a 9-millimeter Beretta and an SKS.
`
`Meanwhile, at the trap house, Cintron told Rodriguez and
`Macho about the fight at the corner store and got ammunition
`from Rodriguez (who had supplied him with bullets before). The
`Third Shift members hatched a plan to retaliate for the attack:
`
`
`
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`Uscanga would drive Cintron and Raymy by Tellez’s house in the
`red Mustang—top up this time, “[s]o [the men] couldn’t be seen”—
`and Cintron (the only one armed in the car) would “just start shoot-
`ing” to lure people out of the house. Then Rodriguez would drive
`his blue Honda by the house, with Macho (unarmed) in the passen-
`ger seat, and “finish the job”—“mean[ing] whoever came out[, Ro-
`driguez] was going to start shooting at.”
`
`Things went exactly as planned. As Uscanga drove the red
`Mustang past Tellez’s house, Cintron shot into the empty yard.
`Cintron’s shots drew Tellez, Santoyo, and Tellez’s friend Juan
`Montoya outside from the living room; they didn’t return fire be-
`cause the Mustang “was already kind of far down the road” by then
`(and because Santoyo noticed some children playing nearby).
`Then, as the men started heading back inside the house, Rodriguez
`“rolled up and parked [the Honda] in front of the house,” “halfway
`in the road, halfway in the driveway.” Rodriguez reached across
`Macho and fired through the passenger-side window, killing Tellez
`and wounding Montoya. When Santoyo fired back, Rodriguez
`fled. Macho would later complain to Cintron about being burned
`by shell casings when Rodriguez fired over him from the driver’s
`seat.
`
`After the murder, the Third Shift members returned to the
`trap house. Cintron recalled Rodriguez telling him that the initial
`shots had lured people out of Tellez’s house but “they were fo-
`cused on [the red Mustang], and [Rodriguez] got the upper hand
`on them and started shooting,” after which Rodriguez “saw a body
`
`
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`drop.” Rodriguez admitted to Couch—and later to his cellmate at
`Coleman Low—that he shot Tellez. Rodriguez also bragged to the
`gang members that he had shouted “Fuck South Side” as he shot
`Tellez. And Rodriguez told the others there was a bullet hole in
`his Honda; Cintron saw the hole in the car’s right back fender. Ro-
`driguez eventually told Cintron that he had the Honda fixed at a
`body shop before selling it. DMV records confirmed that Rodri-
`guez sold the car three weeks after the shooting, and officers exam-
`ining the car discovered both visible gunshot damage to the trunk’s
`interior and an area “on the passenger side just above the taillight”
`with “a lighter blue” exterior paint. According to Cintron, Rodri-
`guez disposed of the guns used in the shooting too.
`
`Churchwell’s murder of Earnestine Gardner
`
`Second, Churchwell murdered Earnestine Gardner in the
`front yard of the Third Shift trap house. The morning of Septem-
`ber 11, 2016, Couch saw Churchwell at the house armed with one
`of Rodriguez’s revolvers. Brewer, the trap house’s housekeeper,
`arrived early that morning to find Gardner “arguing with [Church-
`well] out front” about being shorted ten dollars in change after
`Gardner bought cocaine from Churchwell.
`
`Rodriguez was sleeping at the time. Because Brewer was
`worried the argument would attract the police’s attention, she sent
`someone to wake up Rodriguez in hopes that he’d “diffuse[]” the
`situation. When Rodriguez went outside, Churchwell came inside
`and sat beside Brewer in a pair of chairs near the kitchen. Shortly
`
`
`
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`after, Gardner “came in[side] . . . and walked straight to [Church-
`well] . . . and stood right up over him.” Gardner told Churchwell
`she was “gonna show [him that she] don’t play about [her] money”;
`then she walked back outside.
`
`“[A]s soon as [Gardner] got through the threshold of the
`door,” Churchwell stood up, went to the doorway, then turned
`back to look at Brewer. He “looked at [Brewer] for three long sec-
`onds,” silent, before “pull[ing] his .45 and turn[ing] around and
`[shooting Gardner] in the back.” According to Brewer, Churchwell
`then “walked up on [Gardner] and he shot her three more times.”
`Pole camera footage showed Churchwell fleeing on foot; he would
`later admit to his cellmate at Coleman Low that he had shot Gard-
`ner. Gardner died at the hospital from her injuries.
`
`Rodriguez called 911 at 6:38 a.m.—about two minutes after
`Gardner was shot. Even though he was standing close to Church-
`well when Gardner was murdered, Rodriguez told law enforce-
`ment officers that he had been sleeping when he heard gunshots
`outside his house, hadn’t seen the shooter, and didn’t know who
`the victim was. And even though Churchwell and Rodriguez had
`called each other nineteen times on the day of Gardner’s murder,
`Rodriguez later told the police that he didn’t know who Church-
`well was either. Rodriguez texted Churchwell a few times that day
`too, including sending a message at 9:23 a.m. reading “Bruh call me
`u str8.”
`
`
`
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`Several months after Churchwell was arrested for Gardner’s
`murder, he called Rodriguez several times from jail. In a mid-No-
`vember 2016 call, Rodriguez told Churchwell he got his security-
`camera DVR back from the police. Churchwell said he was “shit-
`ting for a minute,” but Rodriguez assured him that “we straight”
`because the DVR “ain’t have nothing” on it, so “all the[ police] got
`is [Brewer].” Churchwell also said that if he could figure out who
`had been at the trap house the day of Gardner’s murder, then his
`“private investigator” could “talk to people” and “verify” Church-
`well wasn’t there. Rodriguez said “I gotcha[] bro. I’ll have people
`call.” Churchwell later told Rodriguez that his investigator could
`“get everybody . . . [r]ounded up. . . . Boom, boom, boom, you
`know what I’m saying?” Rodriguez responded “Yeah.”
`
`“[O]utta everybody,” Churchwell said, Rodriguez “keep[s]
`it the real[e]st”—“when I came . . . back from court, bro, I was like,
`damn, bro showed up for real, baby”—and Churchwell was “gonna
`carry that back to” Rodriguez, telling him: “[Y]ou got a [n-word]
`on your team, boy, that’s gonna ride or die about you now . . . . I’d
`spill my blood for you, boy. . . . I’m fixing to ride for a [n-word],
`bro, that’s what it is, [n-word]. That’s what it is. You ain’t gotta
`worry about nothing now. Straight up.” “I be wanting you to get
`the fuck up outta there,” Rodriguez responded. Rodriguez also
`commented that the police suspected Churchwell of Gardner’s
`murder because “[Churchwell] already got a previous charge . . . so
`they already looking at it, like, yeah, he capable of it ‘cause he al-
`ready did it.”
`
`
`
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`Later, in January 2017—during what Churchwell warned
`would “be the last time [he] call[ed]”—Churchwell asked Rodri-
`guez whether he “got rid of [Churchwell’s] three-wheeler, you feel
`me, that three-wheeler.” “[N]othing else” was worrying him,
`Churchwell said. Rodriguez assured Churchwell that it was al-
`ready “gone.” In that case, Churchwell said, “don’t worry about
`nothing. You know what I’m saying? My lawyer said we good,
`bro.” A Manatee County Sheriff’s Office detective who listened to
`the jail call testified that the meaning of “three-wheeler” was “un-
`known” but that he “highly doubt[ed]” Churchwell meant a bike.
`
`Thompson’s murders of Berry Joseph
`and Lashawna Stevenson-Weeks
`
`Third, Thompson murdered Berry Joseph and LaShawna
`Stevenson-Weeks. Joseph was a local drug dealer from whom
`Thompson and his girlfriend Dunton bought cocaine. In January
`2017, Thompson told Dunton he was going to see Joseph to repay
`a debt. Thompson drove off, armed and wearing a hat, in Dunton’s
`Pontiac G6 to meet Joseph. Thompson met Joseph in a parking lot,
`followed him back to Joseph’s house, and parked next to Joseph’s
`Explorer.
`
`A neighbor across the street saw, from her porch, the two
`vehicles parked in Joseph’s driveway. She reported seeing one per-
`son inside Joseph’s Explorer and two men—one wearing a red
`hat—standing next to it. The neighbor heard a gunshot, saw a per-
`son lying on the ground while the man with the red hat leaned into
`Joseph’s Explorer, and then heard more gunshots. The man in the
`
`
`
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`17
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`red hat then drove away in the Pontiac, “[n]onchalant, like nothing
`happened.” The neighbor would later identify Thompson as the
`shooter in a photo line-up, and officers would match prints col-
`lected from the Explorer’s front driver’s side window to Thomp-
`son. The man lying on the ground by the Explorer was Joseph, and
`the person in the vehicle was Stevenson-Weeks; both died from
`gunshot wounds.
`
`Starting about forty-five minutes after the murders—and
`continuing throughout the next two and a half hours—Thompson
`and Rodriguez spoke by phone eight times (and a ninth by text).
`During that time, Rodriguez used his own car to drive Thompson
`back to Thompson’s house. Thompson burned his clothes on a
`grill as soon as he got home. While Thompson was showering,
`Dunton went into their living room to inspect the dark-colored
`“men’s toiletry bag or razor bag”—a description matching the bag
`Joseph used to carry his drugs—Thompson had brought into the
`house when he returned. Inside, she found powder cocaine, meth,
`and empty “little dime and nickel bags.”
`
`A bullet pierced the Pontiac’s windshield during the shoot-
`ing. But when Dunton asked where her car was, Thompson
`claimed it was being fixed because a tree branch fell on the wind-
`shield. A few days after the double-murder, Rodriguez texted and
`called to tell Thompson and Dunton that the Pontiac was fixed and
`ready to be picked up. Thompson testified that Rodriguez directed
`him to the body shop that repaired the damaged windshield.
`
`
`
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`Opinion of the Court
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`20-10373
`
`Thompson confessed to Stackhouse that Thompson ar-
`ranged to meet Joseph, “went to rob him” of his “[d]ope and
`money,” and shot and killed Joseph and Stevenson-Weeks.
`Thompson admitted that, after the murder, he went to a carwash
`“because [the car] had blood speckled on the front fender,” burned
`his clothes—but not his hat, which Thompson told Stackhouse
`“was on the dresser in the house when the police came and got
`him,” but “they didn’t bother the hat, . . . they left it on the
`dresser”—and spray-painted the car’s tire rims a different color “so
`the car wouldn’t match the description.” Thompson also told
`Stackhouse that one of his shots broke the Pontiac’s windshield—
`so “he took it to a shop to get the window fixed”—and another hit
`the car’s door; police would later find a projectile inside the door,
`as well as a “projectile hole” covered with electrical tape.
`PROCEDURAL HISTORY
`
`In July 2019, a grand jury returned a twenty-count indict-
`ment against Rodriguez, Churchwell, Thompson, and other code-
`fendants who are not part of this appeal.
`
`Count one charged Rodriguez, Churchwell, and Thompson
`with conspiracy to conduct and to participate in the affairs of a rack-
`eteering enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, in vi-
`olation 18 U.S.C. section 1962(d). As overt acts in furtherance of
`the conspiracy, count one alleged that: (1) Rodriguez, Churchwell,
`and Thompson used the trap house to “maintain, manufacture,
`and distribute controlled substances” and to “maintain firearms”;
`
`
`
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`19
`
`(2) Rodriguez both “conspired to commit,” and actually commit-
`ted, a drive-by shooting resulting in Tellez’s murder; (3) Rodri-
`guez, Churchwell, and Thompson possessed (and Thompson also
`attempted to possess) with intent to distribute controlled sub-
`stances; (4) Churchwell murdered Gardner; (5) Rodriguez and
`Churchwell conspired to obstruct the investigation into Gardner’s
`murder; and (6) Rodriguez knowingly used and carried a firearm in
`furtherance of his drug trafficking crimes. Count one also gave no-
`tice of a series of “Special Sentencing Factors,” alleging that: (1) Ro-
`driguez killed Tellez “from a premeditated design . . . while at-
`tempting to murder another human being”; (2) Churchwell killed
`Gardner “from a premeditated design”; and (3) Thompson killed
`Joseph and Stevenson-Weeks “from a premeditated design . . .
`while perpetrating and attempting to perpetrate a robbery.”3
`Count two charged Rodriguez, Churchwell, and Thompson
`with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distrib-
`ute a controlled substance, in violation of 21 U.S.C. sections 846
`and 841(b)(1)(C).
`
`Counts three through five charged Rodriguez with crimes
`related to Tellez’s murder. In count three, Rodriguez was charged
`with “conspir[acy] to murder rival gang members” in aid of racket-
`eering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 1959(a)(5). In count four,
`
`
`3 The indictment also alleged as special sentencing factors that Thompson
`murdered Demetrius Robinson and Florence Randall, but the jury acquitted
`Thompson of these allegations.
`
`
`
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`20-10373
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`he was charged with murdering Tellez in aid of racketeering, in
`violation of 18 U.S.C. sections 1959(a)(1) and 2. And in count five,
`Rodriguez was charged with using and discharging a firearm dur-
`ing Tellez’s murder,
`in violation of 18 U.S.C. sections 2,
`924(c)(1)(A)(iii), and 924(j)(1).
`Count eight4 charged Thompson with possession of a con-
`trolled substance with intent to distribute, in violation of sec-
`tions 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(C).
`
`Counts nine through twelve charged Churchwell and Rodri-
`guez with crimes related to Gardner’s murder. Count nine charged
`Churchwell with murder in aid of racketeering, in violation of sec-
`tion 1959(a)(1). Count ten charged him with using and discharging
`a firearm during and in relation to (1) the drug trafficking conspir-
`acy, (2) Gardner’s murder in aid of racketeering, and (3) maintain-
`ing a drug distribution house, in violation of 18 U.S.C. sections
`924(c), 924(c)(1)(A)(iii), and 924(j)(1). As a sentencing enhance-
`ment under section 924(j)(1), count ten also alleged that Church-
`well caused Gardner’s death “by murder as defined in 18 U.S.C.
`[section] 1111, through the use of a firearm.” Count eleven
`charged Churchwell with possession of ammunition by a felon, in
`violation of 18 U.S.C. sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). And count
`twelve charged Rodriguez as an accessory after the fact to Church-
`well’s offenses charged in counts nine through eleven, in violation
`of 18 U.S.C. section 3.
`
`
`4 Counts six and seven involved coconspirators who are not part of this appeal.
`
`
`
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`21
`
`Counts thirteen through nineteen charged Thompson and
`Rodriguez with crimes related to the murders of Joseph and Ste-
`venson-Weeks. Count thirteen charged Thompson with attempt
`to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, in viola-
`tion of sections 841(b)(1)(C) and 846. Counts fourteen and sixteen
`charged him with murdering Stevenson-Weeks and Joseph in aid
`of racketeering, in violation of section 1959(a)(1). Counts fifteen
`and seventeen charged Thompson with using and discharging a
`firearm during and in relation to (1) the drug trafficking conspiracy,
`(2) the attempt to possess and distribute a controlled substance
`charged in count thirteen, and (3) Stevenson-Weeks’s and Joseph’s
`murders in aid of racketeering, in violation of secti
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