United States v. Zhou
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
428 F.3d 361 (2005)
During a wave of Manhattan Chinatown robberies, someone phoned gambling-parlor shareholder Chen Tin Hua demanding $10,000 be left for pickup by Xiao Qin Zhou, which Hua refused; later that day, Chen and Lin (defendants), Xiao, and Li Wei confronted Hua while pointing guns and demanding the money, and when Hua again said he had none, Xiao struck him, Wei hit him with a gun, and Xiao took a necklace from Hua's neck before fleeing. Chen and Lin were convicted of conspiracy to commit extortion and extortion (tied to this first incident) along with separate robbery counts, and appealed the extortion-related convictions as unsupported by sufficient evidence.
Whether, under federal law, a defendant can be liable for extortion if there is no evidence that the defendant forcibly obtained the victim's consent to a taking of the victim's property.