United States v. Sutherland

Glen Sutherland (defendant), a municipal judge, separately agreed with Edward Maynard and with Grace Walker (defendants) to have each collect traffic tickets and fines from friends in exchange for favorable dispositions, splitting the proceeds. Sutherland and Walker worked this scheme from 1975 to 1977; Sutherland and Maynard worked a similar but separate scheme only in 1979. All three were indicted together under a single RICO conspiracy count, but the government presented no evidence that Walker and Maynard ever agreed with each other — its theory was that both schemes tied together simply because both involved the same RICO "enterprise," the municipal court itself. The three were convicted and appealed.