Witness-tampering

QUESTION PRESENTED Whether the evidence was sufficient to convict the Petitioner for witness tampering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1) and two interrelated charges where there was no evidence that any attempt to persuade a witness was “corrupt,” that is, that he acted dishonestly or to bring about false or misleading testimony. ii RELATED CASES While there are no other parties to these proceedings, there are two related cases. The Petitioner along with his mother were indicted in the Western District of Virginia on allegations that prior to December 2014 they committed human trafficking and numerous immigration violations in the operation of her Harrisonburg restaurant, Inca’s Secrets, along with witness tampering from December 2014 to March 2015. United States v. Maria Rosalba Alvarado McTague, et al., Case No 5:14crd5. The McTague case was the subject of an interlocutory appeal arising out of the prosecutor’s handling of the Grand Jury that issued the indictment in the instant case. United States v. McTague, 840 F.3d 184 (4th Cir. 2016). The McTague case was resolved in the District Court when the Petitioner pled guilty to two misdemeanors of aiding and abetting his mother’s unlawful employment of aliens in her restaurant. Twenty (20) remaining (and more serious) counts against the Petitioner were dismissed on the motion of the United States. The second related case is the now-concluded case of the Petitioner’s codefendant: United States v. Edlind, 887 F.3d 166 (4th Cir. 2018), cert. denied October 1, 2018.