United States v. Enyinna Onyewu

Summary

A per curiam panel of the D.C. Circuit affirmed the convictions of Enyinna Onyewu, Emmanuel Sumo, and Quaysa Flumo after a nine-day joint trial for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and related counts arising from ten January 2018 commercial robberies. The court upheld admission of a 2020 Missouri traffic stop as non-propensity association evidence, sustained the automobile-exception seizure of Onyewu's car and the denial of a Franks hearing, held the Hobbs Act divisible and Hobbs Act robbery a 'crime of violence' under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), rejected a due process challenge to the wired plea offer, admitted Flumo's cell-phone photographs under the inevitable discovery doctrine, deemed the misclassification of an FBI agent's firearms testimony as lay opinion harmless, found the § 924(c) aiding-and-abetting evidence sufficient under Rosemond, and denied all first-time ineffective assistance claims for lack of colorable prejudice. Judge Wilkins and Judge Walker each filed a concurrence addressing the precedential footing of the court's common-law robbery analysis; neither disturbed the judgment.