## Facts

- Juan Rico Doss was charged with sex trafficking of children, transportation of minors into prostitution, and conspiracy involving multiple minor victims.
- At Doss’s first trial, a minor victim (C.F.) refused to testify; the jury could not reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial.
- A superseding indictment added witness-tampering counts alleging Doss attempted to influence or prevent testimony by (1) C.F., (2) his wife (Jacquay Ford), and (3) a fellow prisoner (Mark Cohn).
- At the second trial, the jury convicted Doss of sex-trafficking-related offenses and two witness-tampering counts.
- For the C.F. tampering count, the government presented evidence that Doss told C.F. during transport to/from court that if she testified “everyone would get in trouble” and it “would be bad” for her, and urged her to shift blame to a former pimp and minimize Doss’s role.
- For the Ford tampering count, the government relied largely on letters in which Doss urged Ford not to testify against him, referencing their marriage and a claimed marital privilege.
- The district court imposed a mandatory life sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3559(e), finding Doss had a qualifying prior sex offense against a minor under 17.
- Doss appealed the witness-tampering convictions and the mandatory life sentence determination.

## Issues

1. Whether “corruptly persuades” in 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b) includes urging a witness to withhold testimony when the witness has a lawful right or privilege not to testify.
2. Whether the proof at trial on the C.F. tampering count materially varied from the indictment’s allegations.
3. Whether the district court correctly applied 18 U.S.C. § 3559(e) in treating Doss’s prior conviction as a qualifying predicate for mandatory life imprisonment.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit largely affirmed the convictions for sex trafficking of children, transportation of minors into prostitution, conspiracy, and witness tampering involving C.F.
- The court reversed the witness-tampering conviction involving Ford, holding the government did not prove “corrupt persuasion” where Doss’s conduct amounted to urging exercise of an arguable marital privilege.
- The court rejected Doss’s variance challenge to the C.F. tampering count, concluding the evidence fell within the scope of the indictment’s broader allegations.
- The court vacated the life sentence and remanded for resentencing, concluding the district court used an incorrect approach in deciding that the prior conviction triggered § 3559(e), and because one witness-tampering count was reversed.

## Legal Principles

- Under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b), “corruptly persuades” requires consciousness of wrongdoing; it does not cover mere persuasion to exercise a lawful right or privilege not to testify.
- Persuasion is “corrupt” when it seeks to induce unlawful conduct (such as perjury or concealment) or uses inherently wrongful means (such as bribery or intimidation beyond lawful advice).
- An indictment’s use of general language (including open-ended phrasing) may allow proof of additional conduct at trial so long as it is consistent with, and within the scope of, the charged scheme; such proof does not necessarily create a fatal variance.
- A mandatory life sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3559(e) requires a legally correct method for determining whether a prior conviction qualifies as a predicate “sex offense against a minor”; legal error in that determination requires resentencing.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit limited § 1512(b) by holding that encouraging a witness to assert a lawful privilege is not, without more, “corrupt persuasion,” reversed the witness-tampering conviction tied to the spouse’s refusal to testify, affirmed the remaining convictions including tampering involving a minor victim, and vacated the mandatory life sentence for resentencing due to an incorrect § 3559(e) predicate-offense analysis.


United States v. Doss, 630 F.3d 1181 (9th Cir. 2011)