When Extortion Equals Bribery, Can Victims Be Villains?

Stretching the federal law against extortion to cover what most view as run-of-the-mill bribery caused problems during a conspiracy case argued at the U.S. Supreme Court Oct. 6 (Ocasio v. United States, U.S., 14-361, argued 10/6/15).

The case involves a former Baltimore police officer convicted of federal Hobbs Act extortion—and conspiring to commit extortion under the general conspiracy statute—for his participation in a scheme to send drivers involved in car accidents to a particular repair shop in exchange for a fee.

The problem was that—according to the officer—the conspiracy charge was based on the involvement not of ...