Lawrence Ray v. United States

Whether, in a RICO conspiracy prosecution, 18 U.S.C. §1962(d), the government must prove the existence of a de facto enterprise that affects commerce, or whether, as held in the leading appellate case requiring no such proof, the jury can be charged that a defendant is guilty if he participated in an agreement to “form” an enterprise (in commerce) – a notion with no support in the language of the RICO statute and is an erroneous interpretation of Supreme Court law.

Whether the sex trafficking statute, 18 U.S.C. §1591(a), requires a finding that both elements – the “conduct” requirement (the actus reus), and the “knowledge” requirement -- are met, as opposed to finding that defendant’s supposed “coercion”, without his performance of an “action” enumerated in the statute, suffices for sex trafficking liability.