United States v. Philmon Chambers

                          FOR PUBLICATION


                                  In the
         United States Court of Appeals
                      For the Eleventh Circuit
                        ____________________
                                No. 24-10657
                        ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                          Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus

LESLEY CHAPPELL GREEN,
  a.k.a. Grip,
                                                      Defendant-Appellant.
                        ____________________
                 Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Middle District of Georgia
                 D.C. Docket No. 3:22-cr-00014-MTT-CHW-3
                        ____________________
                        ____________________
                                No. 24-11301
                        ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                          Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
2                           Opinion of the Court                   24-10657


PHILMON DESHAWN CHAMBERS,
    a.k.a. Dolla Phil,
                                                        Defendant-Appellant.
                          ____________________
                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                        for the Middle District of Georgia
                   D.C. Docket No. 3:22-cr-00014-MTT-CHW-1
                          ____________________

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and LUCK and BRASHER, Cir-
cuit Judges.
BRASHER, Circuit Judge:
       This kitchen-sink criminal appeal is about the trial, convic-
tions, and sentences of two members of the Gangster Disciples.
Lesley Green and Philmon Chambers were tried together, along-
side another member of the gang. The jury found Green and
Chambers guilty of participation in a conspiracy under the Racket-
eer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The jury also found
Chambers guilty of three other crimes: (1) commission of a violent
crime in aid of racketeering (murder); (2) use of a firearm during
and in relation to a crime of violence; and (3) causing the death of
a person through the use of a firearm. Both Green and Chambers
were sentenced to life in prison—Chambers received two consec-
utive life sentences plus another consecutive term of imprison-
ment. Green challenges his conviction, and Chambers challenges
his convictions and sentences. We affirm on all issues.
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                          3

                               I.

       We divide our background into three parts. First, we explain
the history, structure, and operations of the Gangster Disciples.
Second, we describe Green’s and Chambers’s involvement in the
gang and their crimes. Third, we explain the relevant procedural
history that led to this appeal.
                               A.

       One prominent former member of the Gangster Disciples
described it this way: “Ain’t nothing normal about this mob . . . .
We kill people for the littlest reasons, it is not normal.” Doc. 361 at
146–47.
        The Gangster Disciples formed in the late 1960s in Chicago
with the merger of David Barksdale’s “Devil’s Disciples” and Larry
Hoover’s “Supreme Gangsters.” After the death of Barksdale—
whom the Gangster Disciples refers to as “King David”—Hoover
has led the gang as its “Chairman” from various prisons since the
1970s. Today, the gang has a presence in thirty-seven to forty
states, both inside and outside of prison. And, relevant to this ap-
peal, the Gangster Disciples has operated in Georgia since the mid-
1990s.
       The Gangster Disciples operates under a “pyramid-like”
structure. Below Hoover is the “board of directors,” the members
of which carry out Hoover’s orders. Then, there is the governor of
governors, who acts as an “in-between person . . . between the
board and the governors.” Each state has a governor position, and
4                     Opinion of the Court                24-10657

most states have an assistant governor position as well. The Gang-
ster Disciples further subdivides each state into regions governed
by a “regent.” Regions are, then, further subdivided into “decks” or
“counts,” which are headed by a first coordinator. At the bottom
of the pyramid are outstanding members, who act as “foot sol-
diers.”
       The Gangster Disciples engages in a laundry list of crimes:
murder, robbery, extortion, fraud, drug trafficking, carjacking,
prostitution, and the like. Money from these crimes “funnel[s] up”
through the “giant pyramid” of the gang. Some of the money from
criminal activity is used for “aid & assistance,” which includes
providing funds to other members who are in hiding from law en-
forcement. The gang also maintains safehouses and other places
members can use to flee from prosecution.
        The Gangster Disciples also employs literature coordinators
to ensure that its members are familiar with the knowledge, codes,
and rules of the gang. The “Number One Rule of the gang” is
“[s]ilence & secrecy.” Doc. 360 at 145. That rule means that no
Gangster Disciple “shall speak about the organization with anyone
who is not a member of the organization.” Doc. 362 at 197. Violat-
ing “Rule Number One” is “the most severe violation” of gang
rules, and it can result in a gang-sanctioned punishment of death.
Doc. 362 at 198; Doc. 360 at 146.
       The Gangster Disciples uses “enforcers” to enforce the rules
of the gang and to punish violators. As one might expect, the gang’s
enforcers are tasked with enforcing the rule of “silence & secrecy.”
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                         5

Doc. 360 at 150. According to a former national chief enforcer of
the gang, “enforcers” are also “known as trigger pullers” because
they “are willing to pull the trigger of a gun” for the gang. Doc. 361
at 103. Enforcers may also deal with external threats to the gang “if
it come[s] down to it.” Id. at 102.
                               B.

       The event that sparked the criminal prosecutions against
Green and Chambers was the murder of Walter Brown. Brown
was a member of the Gangster Disciples who lived in Athens-
Clarke County, Georgia. Brown was shot and killed after a drug
deal turned sour. This appeal is not about Brown’s murder; it is
about the three murders that followed shortly thereafter.
       Brown and Andrea Browner were fellow Gangster Disciples,
as well as cousins. The day after Brown’s murder, Browner posted
on her Facebook page: “Yo justice will be served. I love you!” Doc.
341-9 at 1; Doc. 362 at 235–36. The text of Browner’s post was over
a background that featured blue six-point stars, a primary symbol
of the Ganger Disciples. That symbol, also known as a “Star of Da-
vid,” pays homage to Barksdale.
       The Gangster Disciples “see themselves as their own nation
with their own justice.” Doc. 362 at 236. By “justice,” Browner did
not mean seeking justice in a courtroom. She meant retaliation,
and “the required retaliation for the murder of a Gangster Disciple”
is “[m]ore murder.” Doc. 361 at 127.
6                      Opinion of the Court                24-10657

        At that time, Chambers was Browner’s boyfriend, as well as
the Gangster Disciples’s chief enforcer for the state of Georgia. Af-
ter Brown’s murder, Chambers and Browner started looking for
the shooter. But if an enforcer cannot find a person responsible for
the murder of a Gangster Disciple, the family of the suspected killer
is “not off limits.” Doc. 361 at 128.
       Four days after Brown’s murder, Chambers and Browner
found a suitable target. Browner, who made money as a prostitute,
met Rodriguez Rucker at a hotel for sex. During their meeting,
Browner discovered that Rucker was the suspected shooter’s
cousin. Browner texted Chambers, “[g]et here so u can follow
him.” Doc. 359 at 25–26; Doc. 341-325 at 99. Browner knew that
Chambers had a gun, because earlier that day he texted her that he
had a “tool.” Doc. 359 at 20–21.
       Joshua Jackson was also at the hotel that day. Jackson was a
Gangster Disciple who, according to his father, had a mild mental
disability. Jackson had a “talkative” personality, and members of
the Gangster Disciples distrusted him because they had come to
believe that Jackson had “snitched” on the gang in the past.
Browner texted Chambers: “Don’t park where Josh can see[,]” fol-
lowed by, “He[] talk too damn much.” Doc. 359 at 26; Doc. 341-
325 at 99.
       Chambers arrived at the hotel in his black truck, and he
waited for Rucker to leave. A string of surveillance footage showed
that Chambers followed Rucker to his home. While Chambers was
stalking Rucker, Browner called Brown’s widow and asked her to
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                        7

remove their signatures from the wake attendance log that they
had just signed that day. Browner also told Brown’s widow that
they would not be able to make it to Brown’s funeral.
       Residents on Rucker’s street heard gunshots around 3 p.m.,
and they saw a black truck speeding away from the scene. Rucker
was lying dead in a neighbor’s front yard. He had been shot four
times in the back. Police found Rucker’s phone at the crime scene,
and when they reviewed its contents, they found his messages set-
ting up the meeting with Browner for paid sex.
       Browner and Chambers fled to a Gangster Disciples
safehouse. Police tracked the couple using cell phone location data,
and they arrested Browner the day after Rucker’s murder on a war-
rant for prostitution.
        Police searched Browner’s car and found cell phones, 70
grams of cocaine, and about 100 grams of a cutting agent. They
also found a briefcase that belonged to Chambers that contained
Gangster Disciples literature, including a handwritten list titled “E
Team Jan. 2016.” The E Team list named fifteen Gangster Disci-
ples, including Chambers and Green. One Gangster Disciple testi-
fied that he, Chambers, and Green all served on the G-Side enforce-
ment team, and Chambers was the leader of that team.
       Chambers suspected that Jackson had “snitched” and told
the police that he was Rucker’s killer. So Chambers told Green that
he needed to “handle the business . . . of the Nation”—the Gangster
Disciples—and deal with the snitch. See Doc. 360 at 181–82.
8                      Opinion of the Court                24-10657

       So Green gathered a fellow Gangster Disciple and another
man who was on friendly terms with the gang. Green told them
they were going to “hit a lick,” meaning commit a theft. Green ar-
ranged that his group of three would meet Jackson and Derrick
Ruff at a nearby Walmart. The five men smoked marijuana to-
gether in Green’s Jeep, and Green told them that he knew where
they could steal some marijuana from a storage unit and send “aid
& assistance” to Chambers in Texas. Nothing about Green’s plan
was out of the ordinary; Green and his group had broken into com-
mercial storage units multiple times before.
       The group snuck into the storage-unit facility through the
fence gate, and broke into a storage unit and all went inside. Once
inside, Green pulled out a pistol and shot Jackson twice in the head.
Ruff panicked, grabbed one of the other men, and begged Green
not to kill him. Green ordered the other man to move, and once he
complied, Green shot Ruff too.
        Right after Green killed Jackson and Ruff, he started “look-
ing for their phones” because he had texted them to set up the
meeting. Doc. 360 at 180. When the other men asked Green why
he did not tell them about his plan to kill Jackson and Ruff, Green
told them that he “couldn’t mess it up.” Id. at 184. Chambers tried
to call Green that same night, but Green had turned his phone off.
Green cancelled service for his phone number the next day.
       Police arrested Chambers about three months later in Texas
after wiretapped phone calls disclosed his plot to move Jackson’s
and Ruff’s bodies from the storage unit to a landfill. While
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                        9

Chambers was in detention, jail officials had come to believe that
he was trying to smuggle contraband into the jail, so they started
monitoring his mail. Jail officials intercepted a letter from Cham-
bers in which he explained how he had been reading discovery ma-
terial and was concerned that members of the Gangster Disciples
were cooperating with law enforcement. In his letter, Chambers
complained that “[i]f they would’ve stuck 2 da script in case things
went bad, then Grip [Green] . . . would be home. I would still be
here tho’. And J.T. too cuz da phone taps, but J.T. neva actually
committed a crime . . . .” Doc. 341-239 at 2. Chambers continued,
“Better yet if CLEAR instructions would’ve been followed by Grip
[Green], then it wouldn’t even be a case! They neva would’ve
placed him at da scene meeting dem n[***]az. . . . He didn’t tell
folks dem nothing about dis. Not even da onez ridin’ wit’ him.” Id.
Chambers was frustrated because Green “didn’t tell dem da in-
structions he was given. He just took it upon himself 2 do it his
way.” Id.
                               C.

      Chambers tried his best to delay the proceedings against
him. Chambers chose to represent himself at his arraignment, and
a magistrate judge held a Faretta hearing to ensure that his decision
was voluntary and intelligent. The district court appointed stand-
by counsel.
       At Chambers’s first pretrial conference, he made “sovereign
citizen arguments” and again told the district court that he had
“made the decision to not take an attorney because [he was] not
10                     Opinion of the Court                 24-10657

subject to the Court, but rather subject to treaty.” Doc. 119 at 8–9.
The district court informed Chambers that he had stand-by coun-
sel, to which Chambers responded, “She won’t be needed. I do not
consent to any of your attorneys. I’m not a ward of your state.” Id.
at 10–11. Chambers’s stand-by counsel told the district court that
she had offered her services to him, and that he had “asked [her] to
have no contact with him.” Id. at 19. She stated that she did not
plan to contact him “unless he reaches out to me.” Id. The district
court agreed with that plan.
       At the second pretrial conference, Chambers refused to fol-
low the district court’s instructions and again stated that he did not
consent to the district court’s jurisdiction. The district court re-
moved Chambers from the hearing because of his repeated disrup-
tions.
       At the final pretrial conference, Chambers informed the dis-
trict court that the “Moorish Science Temple of America” was
sending “someone” to represent him. Doc. 466 at 7. It was unclear
whether this hypothetical representative was an attorney. Cham-
bers asked the district court to continue the trial, and the district
court denied that request. The district court explained to Cham-
bers: “You have picked the path that you are on. You cannot come
in here less than a week before trial and seek to delay the proceed-
ings because you now wish to retain counsel or have somebody
represent you.” Id. at 8. The district court further observed that
“having, again, gone down this path, you cannot at the last minute
throw up a roadblock. So, there will be no continuance.” Id. at 9.
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                         11

The district court again had to remove Chambers from the court-
room after he continued to disrupt the proceedings. On his way
out, Chambers said, “let the record reflect I do not consent to being
represented by any of your attorneys.” Id. at 16.
       After the pretrial conference ended, the district court re-
turned Chambers to the courtroom for an ex parte conference that
Chambers had requested. Chambers again asked for a continuance,
and again, the district court made it clear that it would “not con-
tinue this trial.” Id. at 106–08. The district court told Chambers that
he had made the decision to proceed in the way he had chosen, and
that it had explained to him “the potential consequences of that
decision.” Id. at 108–09. The district court continued, “And now
that we’re on the verge of trial, I am not going to upset that because
you may be having second thoughts or you may feel you need
more time.” Id. at 109. The district court informed Chambers that
“counsel is free to enter an appearance in this case, but they will
have to understand that their entry in the case will not delay the
case.” Id. The next day, the district court relieved Chambers’s
stand-by counsel due to a conflict of interest and appointed new
stand-by counsel for Chambers.
        On the morning of jury selection, Chambers maintained
that he did not want to be represented. Chambers’s new stand-by
counsel felt it was his “obligation to ask” the district court “for a
week or some amount of time” to prepare. Doc. 357 at 76. The
district court responded to Chambers’s stand-by counsel: “[Y]ou
12                      Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

are free to do what you feel like you need to do in your role as
stand-by counsel, but there will be no delay.” Id. at 77.
        The next day, just before opening statements, Chambers
asked the district court to appoint his stand-by counsel as trial coun-
sel. Chambers’s counsel renewed his request for a continuance to
prepare for the case. The district court saw two possible options:
“[W]e release this jury and we start over with a trial setting or we
start the trial today.” Doc. 358 at 27. Green opposed any continu-
ance, and the government opposed any severance. The district
court found that Chambers had waged a “clear campaign . . . to
delay the proceedings.” Id. at 29–30. After balancing the interests of
all parties, the district court found it was “clear . . . that Mr. Cham-
bers ha[d] in a calculated way operated to delay and disrupt these
proceedings.” Id. at 30. Accordingly, the district court chose the
“one course of action that [was] appropriate under the circum-
stances, and that [was] to proceed with the trial.” Id.
       The government presented its case against Green, Cham-
bers, and Browner over the course of a two-and-a-half-week trial.
Neither Green nor Chambers elected to testify or present evidence.
       The jury convicted Green of participation in a RICO con-
spiracy (18 U.S.C. § 1962(d)), the only count charged against him.
The jury also found that Green either murdered or unlawfully
aided, abetted, advised, encouraged, or counseled another to mur-
der Jackson and Ruff.
       The jury convicted Chambers on all counts. As to count one,
the jury found that Chambers participated in a RICO conspiracy
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                        13

(18 U.S.C. § 1962(d)), and that he murdered Rucker as part of that
conspiracy. The jury also found that he aided, abetted, advised, en-
couraged, or counseled another to murder Jackson and Ruff as part
of the conspiracy. As to count two, the jury found that Chambers
was guilty of violent crime in aid of racketeering, specifically
VICAR murder (18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(1)). As to count three, the jury
found that Chambers was guilty of using or carrying a firearm dur-
ing and in relation to a crime of violence (18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)).
And as to count four, the jury found that Chambers was guilty of
causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm (18
U.S.C. § 924(j)(1)).
       Chambers moved for a new trial, in part because the district
court denied his motion for a continuance. The district court held
a hearing on the motion, and the government introduced evidence
of a jailhouse phone call between Chambers and his father the
night before opening statements. In that call, Chambers’s father
coached Chambers to ask the district court the following morning
to appoint his stand-by counsel as counsel. Chambers’s father ex-
plained to him that action would delay the case, or, if the district
court denied his request, it might give Chambers grounds to have
the case thrown out down the road. The district court concluded
that Chambers’s predicament “was entirely of his own making. It
was clear that . . . his calculation for months had been to delay,
delay, delay.” Doc. 479 at 38. So the district court denied Cham-
bers’s motion for a new trial.
14                      Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

       In the same hearing, the district court addressed a merger
issue for sentencing purposes. The government had moved to
merge Browner’s and Chambers’s convictions on count four (sec-
tion 924(j)(1)) into their convictions on count two (section
1959(a)(1)). The government asked the district court to merge the
convictions in that direction because Congress decided that the
only appropriate penalties for a conviction of VICAR murder
(count two) were life imprisonment or death. Browner, but not
Chambers, objected. She argued that, based on her actions, the dis-
trict court should instead merge count two into count four, and
have the discretion to sentence her to a term of imprisonment less
than life. The district court initially agreed with Browner’s argu-
ment and stated that it would merge count two into count four for
both Browner and Chambers.
        After a short recess, the government raised the possibility
that, if the district court merged count two into count four, sen-
tencing Chambers on counts three (section 924(c)(1)(A)) and four
might raise double jeopardy concerns. The government proposed
two options for the district court to consider. One option was for
the district court to merge count two into count four, vacate count
three, and sentence Chambers on counts one and four. The other
option was for the district court to revisit its earlier decision, merge
count four into count two, and sentence Chambers on counts one,
two, and three.
      The district court acknowledged that the question of how to
handle the merging of convictions was a matter of discretion. So it
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                       15

considered the specific factual circumstances underlying Cham-
bers’s convictions and also took into account the effect of merger
on Chambers’s punishment. Ultimately, the district court opted to
accept the second option and merged Chambers’s conviction on
count four into his conviction on count two.
       The district court sentenced Green to a term of life impris-
onment. The district court sentenced Chambers to two consecu-
tive terms of life imprisonment on counts one and two, and a con-
secutive term of 120 months’ imprisonment on count three.
       At a later restitution hearing, the government presented ev-
idence that Derrick Ruff Sr., the father of victim Ruff, lost $952.80
in income when he missed work to attend court proceedings
against Chambers. Chambers objected on the grounds that Ruff Sr.
was not a “victim” under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act,
but the district court overruled that objection
     Green, Chambers, and Browner appealed. We dismissed
Browner’s appeal for want of prosecution. This is Green’s and
Chambers’s consolidated appeal.
                               II.

       Several standards of review govern this consolidated appeal.
As to the issues Green raises, we review a preserved challenge to
the sufficiency of the evidence de novo. United States v. Azmat, 805
F.3d 1018, 1035 (11th Cir. 2015). “We examine whether the evi-
dence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the government,
and accepting reasonable inferences and credibility choices by the
16                     Opinion of the Court                 24-10657

fact-finder, would enable the trier of fact to find the defendant
guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (citation modified). And we
will affirm the conviction “unless there is no reasonable construc-
tion of the evidence from which the jury could have found the de-
fendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (citation modified).
        “When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress wire-
tapped communications, we review legal conclusions de novo and
factual findings for clear error.” United States v. Caldwell, 81 F.4th
1160, 1175 (11th Cir. 2023). We review preserved challenges to a
district court’s evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion, and re-
view underlying factual findings for clear error. United States v.
Dickerson, 248 F.3d 1036, 1046 (11th Cir. 2001). “[W]hen employing
an abuse-of-discretion standard, we must affirm unless we find that
the district court has made a clear error of judgment, or has applied
the wrong legal standard.” United States v. Frazier, 387 F.3d 1244,
1259 (11th Cir. 2004).
        As to the issues Chambers raises, we review a district court’s
“disposition of requests for trial continuances for abuse of discre-
tion.” United States v. Graham, 643 F.3d 885, 893 (11th Cir. 2011)
(citation modified). We ordinarily review a district court’s decision
to empanel an anonymous jury for an abuse of discretion, but we
review unpreserved challenges to a district court’s precautionary
explanation to an anonymous jury for plain error. See United States
v. Ochoa-Vasquez, 428 F.3d 1015, 1033 n.24, 1035 (11th Cir. 2005).
We review unpreserved challenges to a district court’s shackling
determination for plain error. United States v. Ahmed, 73 F.4th 1363,
24-10657                Opinion of the Court                           17

1373 (11th Cir. 2023). “Plain error requires (1) error, (2) that is plain,
and (3) that affects substantial rights.” Id. (citation modified). “And
we may notice the error only if it seriously affects the fairness, in-
tegrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” Id. (citation
modified).
        We review an argument of cumulative error de novo. United
States v. Pendergrass, 995 F.3d 858, 881 (11th Cir. 2021). “The cumu-
lative-error doctrine calls for reversal of a conviction if, in total, the
non-reversible errors result in a denial of the constitutional right to
a fair trial.” Id.
        We review preserved sentencing errors for harmless error.
United States v. Paz, 405 F.3d 946, 948 (11th Cir. 2005). Under the
harmless error standard, “[a]ny error, defect, irregularity, or vari-
ance that does not affect substantial rights must be disregarded.”
Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(a). Finally, we review “the legality of an order
of restitution” de novo. United States v. Keelan, 786 F.3d 865, 869 (11th
Cir. 2015) (citation modified).
                                 III.

       Green presents four arguments challenging his conviction.
Chambers presents four arguments challenging his convictions,
two arguments challenging his sentencing, and one challenging the
restitution award entered against him. We address each in turn.
18                     Opinion of the Court                 24-10657

                               A.

                               1.

        Green argues that the government failed to prove all the el-
ements underlying his RICO conspiracy conviction. According to
Green, although the government may have established that he
murdered Jackson and Ruff, it did not establish that he murdered
them “in furtherance of the G-side Gangster Disciples . . . enter-
prise.” Green’s Br. at 23–24. Green made this same argument that
slices and dices the Gangster Disciples into independent geographic
territories to the jury, and the jury rejected it. So do we.
        “To establish a RICO conspiracy violation under 18 U.S.C. §
1962(d), the government must prove that the defendants objec-
tively manifested, through words or actions, an agreement to par-
ticipate in the conduct of the affairs of the enterprise through the
commission of two or more predicate crimes.” United States v. Star-
rett, 55 F.3d 1525, 1543 (11th Cir. 1995) (citation modified). An “en-
terprise need not be a legal entity such as a corporation or partner-
ship; it may also be a group of persons associated together for a
common purpose of engaging in a course of conduct.” United States
v. To, 144 F.3d 737, 744 (11th Cir. 1998) (citation modified). The
government must establish “the vital element of agreeing to com-
mit the predicate acts,” but if it supplies “proof of the commission
of racketeering activity, the inference of an agreement to do so is
unmistakable.” United States v. Martino, 648 F.2d 367, 383 (5th Cir.
June 1981) (citation modified).
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                         19

        Here, like one of the appellants in Starrett, Green argues that
the government’s evidence connects him only to a local chapter of
a national gang, but that it does not provide a nexus between the
murders and the national racketeering enterprise. See Starrett, 55
F.3d at 1547–48. The evidence, however, is sufficient for a rational
jury to have concluded otherwise. At trial, the government pre-
sented evidence that established that the Gangster Disciples is a na-
tional organization that operates under a “pyramid-like” structure.
Green was a member of the national gang, and he furthered the
Gangster Disciples enterprise by holding the position of “enforcer,”
a position of authority within the enterprise. Green killed Jackson
and Ruff to enforce “silence & secrecy,” Rule Number One of the
Gangster Disciples. Green committed those murders after Cham-
bers, the enforcement team leader, told him that he needed to go
“handle the business . . . of the Nation,” meaning the Gangster Dis-
ciples.
       Green also contends that he murdered Jackson and Ruff “in
furtherance of Chambers’[s] personal motivations,” not in further-
ance of the Gangster Disciples enterprise. Green’s Br. at 23. The
government supplied plenty of evidence—Green’s enforcer posi-
tion, the rule against “snitching,” and Chambers telling Green that
he needed to go “handle the business . . . of the Nation”—to allow
a reasonable jury to reject that view. We reject it as well, because
a “rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of
the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Hernandez,
433 F.3d 1328, 1335 (11th Cir. 2005) (citation modified).
20                      Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

                                2.

       Green next argues that the government introduced illegally
obtained wiretap evidence over his motion to suppress, and that
this evidence prejudiced him. The government complied with fed-
eral and Georgia state law in intercepting the phone calls, and there
was no error in their admission.
        “Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act
regulates the interception of wire, oral, and electronic communica-
tions.” United States v. Stowers, 32 F.4th 1054, 1063 (11th Cir. 2022)
(citation modified). The Act allows “[t]he principal prosecuting at-
torney of any State, or the principal prosecuting attorney of any
political subdivision thereof, if such attorney is authorized by a stat-
ute of that State to” apply “to a State court judge of competent ju-
risdiction for an order authorizing or approving the interception of
wire, oral, or electronic communications.” 18 U.S.C. § 2516(2). A
state judge “may grant” the order so long as the order complies
with 18 U.S.C. § 2518 and applicable state law. Id. If the judge
wishes to approve a wiretap order, the judge “may enter an ex
parte order” approving the application “within the territorial juris-
diction of the court in which the judge is sitting.” 18 U.S.C. §
2518(3).
        We look to state law to determine “[t]he territorial jurisdic-
tion over which a court has authority.” Stowers, 32 F.4th at 1069
(citation modified). Georgia law allows the Attorney General or
“the district attorney having jurisdiction over prosecution of the
crime under investigation” to submit a sworn “written application”
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                         21

to “a judge of superior court having jurisdiction over the crime un-
der investigation” for a wiretap order. Ga. Code Ann. § 16-11-64(c).
Georgia law is in accord with the federal law, as any wiretap order
must comply with “18 U.S.C. Chapter 119”—Title III. Id. Further,
Georgia law provides that any wiretap order “shall have state-wide
application and interception of communications shall be permitted
in any location in this state.” Id. Read together, then, federal law
and Georgia law allow Georgia state judges to grant wiretap orders
that apply across the state.
        The wiretap order here allowed for interception of commu-
nications at any location in Georgia. But Green argues that the
wiretapped calls that the government introduced as evidence were
not “intercepted” within Georgia. Green argues that an FBI agent’s
testimony at trial established that the relevant calls were first inter-
cepted in the telephone company’s switch (at an unknown loca-
tion), and then the audio for 4G or 5G calls was sent to Quantico,
Virginia, and only then was the audio forwarded to Athens-Clarke
County, Georgia. All agree that law enforcement first listened to
the relevant phone calls in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia.
       That last fact is dispositive. Under Title III, “‘intercept’
means the aural or other acquisition of the contents of any wire,
electronic, or oral communication through the use of any elec-
tronic, mechanical, or other device.” 18 U.S.C. § 2510(4). And
“[u]nder Georgia law and consistent with Title III,” an “‘intercep-
tion’ occurs both at the ‘listening post’ where the call is heard and
at the location of the targeted phone when it makes or receives a
22                      Opinion of the Court                   24-10657

call.” Stowers, 32 F.4th at 1070 (quoting Luangkhot v. State, 736 S.E.2d
397, 400 (Ga. 2013)). All of our sister circuits that have considered
the question have reached the same conclusion we reach today: an
interception occurs both where the wiretapped phone is located
and where a listener first hears the communications. See, e.g., United
States v. Rodriguez, 968 F.2d 130, 136 (2d Cir. 1992); United States v.
Jackson, 849 F.3d 540, 551–52 (3d Cir. 2017); United States v. Denman,
100 F.3d 399, 403 (5th Cir. 1996); United States v. Ramirez, 112 F.3d
849, 852 (7th Cir. 1997); United States v. Henley, 766 F.3d 893, 911–12
(8th Cir. 2014); United States v. Luong, 471 F.3d 1107, 1109 (9th Cir.
2006); United States v. Dahda, 853 F.3d 1101, 1112 (10th Cir. 2017),
aff’d, 584 U.S. 440 (2018); United States v. Cano-Flores, 796 F.3d 83, 86–
87 (D.C. Cir. 2015).
      So it makes no difference that data first traveled through the
telephone switch in parts unknown and then traveled to Virginia
before making its way to Georgia; because the calls were first lis-
tened to in Georgia, they were intercepted in Georgia. That inter-
ception complied with the wiretap order, and thus the district court
did not err by admitting the calls as evidence.
                                3.

        Having addressed the wiretap, we turn to Green’s hearsay
argument. Specifically, Green argues that the government unlaw-
fully introduced Chambers’s jailhouse letter in violation of the rule
against admission of hearsay evidence and his Confrontation
Clause rights under the Sixth Amendment. The district court was
within its discretion to admit the jailhouse letter as a co-conspirator
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                         23

statement, and its underlying factual findings on the issue of
whether Green withdrew from the conspiracy were not clearly er-
roneous. And under our precedent, Chambers’s statements in the
letter were not testimonial, so there was no Confrontation Clause
problem with their admission.
       Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, a statement “made by
the party’s coconspirator during and in furtherance of the conspir-
acy” is not hearsay. Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E); see also United States
v. Diaz, 248 F.3d 1065, 1087 (11th Cir. 2001). To introduce a co-
conspirator statement under Rule 801(d)(2)(E), “the government
must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that (1) a conspir-
acy existed, (2) the conspiracy included the declarant and the de-
fendant against whom the statement is offered, and (3) the state-
ment was made during the course of and in furtherance of the con-
spiracy.” United States v. Underwood, 446 F.3d 1340, 1345–46 (11th
Cir. 2006).
       Green contends that the government failed to establish the
third element—that Chambers’s jailhouse letter was written dur-
ing the course of the conspiracy. Green argues that, by the time
Chambers had written the letter, Green had already withdrawn
from the conspiracy. “Withdrawal . . . is an affirmative defense,
which the defendant has the burden of proving.” United States v.
Finestone, 816 F.2d 583, 589 (11th Cir. 1987). And “[t]he defendant’s
burden in this regard is substantial.” Id. To establish withdrawal
from a conspiracy, a defendant must prove “(1) that he has taken
affirmative steps, inconsistent with the objectives of the
24                      Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

conspiracy, to disavow or to defeat the objectives of the conspiracy;
and (2) that he made a reasonable effort to communicate those acts
to his co-conspirators or that he disclosed the scheme to law en-
forcement authorities.” Starrett, 55 F.3d at 1550. Further, “[t]he
conspirator’s break with the other conspirators . . . must be both
clean and permanent.” Morton’s Mkt., Inc. v. Gustafson’s Dairy, Inc.,
198 F.3d 823, 839 (11th Cir. 1999).
        Green argues that he withdrew from the conspiracy. The
district court’s conclusion that he did not withdraw is based on fac-
tual determinations, which we review for clear error. See Bourjaily
v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 175 (1987); Lamonica v. Safe Hurricane
Shutters, Inc., 711 F.3d 1299, 1317 (11th Cir. 2013); Fed. R. Evid. 104.
And we must affirm the district court’s factual findings unless “a
review of the entire record leaves us with the definite and firm con-
viction that a mistake has been committed.” Cuenca v. Rojas, 99
F.4th 1344, 1350 (11th Cir. 2024) (quoting Berenguela-Alvarado v.
Castanos, 950 F.3d 1352, 1357 (11th Cir. 2020)).
       Green nonetheless argues that the district court’s finding
that he did not withdraw from the conspiracy was clearly errone-
ous for three reasons. But his arguments fall well short of convinc-
ing us that the district court was mistaken. See id.
       First, he says that he was already in custody at the time
Chambers wrote his jailhouse letter, so the government cannot
contend that he was furthering the conspiracy. But “neither arrest
nor incarceration automatically triggers withdrawal from a con-
spiracy.” United States v. Gonzalez, 940 F.2d 1413, 1427 (11th Cir.
24-10657                Opinion of the Court                         25

1991). Indeed, neither arrest nor confinement does anything to ad-
vance a defendant’s withdrawal argument because neither action
is affirmative, nor does it communicate anything to the other mem-
bers of the conspiracy.
        Second, Green contends that after his arrest and confine-
ment, he could not further contribute to Chambers’s activities,
meaning that he had effectively withdrawn from the conspiracy.
But “[a] mere cessation of activity in the conspiracy is not” enough.
Finestone, 816 F.2d at 589. So a conspirator who sits idly by—even
in a jail cell—has not withdrawn.
       Third, Green says that he “plainly met with the [g]overn-
ment to share information regarding the prior activities of the par-
ties that defeated the objectives of Chambers’[s] conspiracy.”
Green’s Br. at 40. But meeting with and supplying the government
with information does not automatically “defeat or disavow the
purpose of the conspiracy.” United States v. Rosenthal, 793 F.2d 1214,
1244 (11th Cir. 1986). Here, the district court found that Green’s
asserted “break” from the conspiracy fell short of the “clean and
permanent” break that is necessary to withdraw from a conspiracy,
and we see no clear error in that finding. Morton’s Mkt., 198 F.3d at
839.
       The district court acknowledged that Green had made a
“largely true” proffer to the government. Critically, though,
Green’s proffer was not “completely true in perhaps its most criti-
cal respect, and that is the killing of Ruff and Jackson; specifically .
. . who killed them and how they were killed.” Doc. 367 at 215.
26                     Opinion of the Court                 24-10657

Green could not have “disclosed the scheme to law enforcement
authorities” if he actively deceived or hid a critical element of the
scheme from law enforcement authorities. Starrett, 55 F.3d at 1550.
       The district court also found it relevant that after Green
made a less-than-completely-true proffer to the government, he
“signed [a] statement with his co-conspirators disavowing” the
proffer he had made. Doc. 367 at 215. To be sure, the district court
acknowledged that “evidence of duress” existed as to Green’s disa-
vowal statement. Id. But that did not “change the fact that the state-
ment was made.” Id. Further, Green supplied no evidence “sug-
gest[ing] that [he] communicated any disavowal of the conspirator
objectives, including the cover-up of the conspiracy, in a manner
reasonably calculated to reach his co-conspirators.” Id. On this rec-
ord, we cannot say that the district court’s factual finding that
Green failed to withdraw from the conspiracy was clearly errone-
ous. Because we agree with the district court’s factual finding that
Green did not withdraw from the conspiracy, that means that
Green and Chambers were co-conspirators at the time Chambers
wrote the jailhouse letter. Accordingly, the district court acted
within its discretion by admitting Chambers’s jailhouse letter as a
co-conspirator statement under Rule 801(d)(2)(E).
        We also see no issue with the jailhouse letter’s admission
under the Confrontation Clause. “The Confrontation Clause pro-
hibits the admission of only ‘testimonial’ hearsay—‘solemn decla-
rations or affirmations made for the purpose of establishing or
proving some fact.’” United States v. Brown, 125 F.4th 1043, 1056
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                        27

(11th Cir. 2025) (citation modified) (quoting Crawford v. Washing-
ton, 541 U.S. 36, 51 (2004)). “Statements are testimonial if in light
of all the circumstances, viewed objectively, the primary purpose
of the conversation was to create an out-of-court substitute for trial
testimony.” Id. (citation modified).
        A co-conspirator’s statement admitted under Rule
801(d)(2)(E) poses no Confrontation Clause issue if the statement
was “not made under circumstances which would have led [the de-
clarant] reasonably to believe that his statement would be available
for use at a later trial.” Underwood, 446 F.3d at 1347. Just so here.
Chambers’s jailhouse letter to a friend about his concerns that
Gangster Disciples were violating the “silence & secrecy” rule does
not fall within “the core class of ‘testimonial’ statements,” such as
“ex parte in-court testimony or its functional equivalent,” “extraju-
dicial statements contained in formalized testimonial materials,” or
“statements that were made under circumstances which would
lead an objective witness reasonably to believe that the statement
would be available for use at a later trial.” Id. (citation modified).
Because the statements in the letter are nontestimonial, they do
not implicate the Confrontation Clause, and thus there is no re-
versible error.
                               4.

      Next, Green challenges some of the government’s exhibits.
Green contends that the government unlawfully introduced the “E
Team Jan. 2016” list and four photos of ballistic vests and plates as
evidence. According to Green, the evidence was irrelevant under
28                      Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

Federal Rule of Evidence 401, and was unduly prejudicial under
Federal Rule of Evidence 403. Because the evidence was both rele-
vant and not unduly prejudicial, we find the district court acted
within its discretion by admitting it.
       “The standard for what constitutes relevant evidence is a
low one . . . .” United States v. Tinoco, 304 F.3d 1088, 1120 (11th Cir.
2002). Under Rule 401, “[e]vidence is relevant if: (a) it has any ten-
dency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be with-
out the evidence; and (b) the fact is of consequence in determining
the action.” Fed. R. Evid. 401.
        Green argues that the “E Team Jan. 2016” list was irrelevant
because “beyond the writing itself, which is not self-evident as to
its meaning or purpose, no lawfully admissible evidence exists to
explain it.” Green’s Br. at 42–43. But as Green concedes, Cham-
bers’s jailhouse letter, which we have concluded was admissible ev-
idence, explains its significance. Chambers wrote: “I took my brief-
case wit’ me. I had my book of knowledge, my Moorish National
documents, [and] a notebook that had a list of da G Side E-team in
2016.” Doc. 341-239 at 6. Therefore, the “E Team Jan. 2016” list
itself was relevant evidence, as it tended to establish that Green was
a member of the enforcement team that punished Gangster Disci-
ples who violated gang rules, and that he committed the murders
of Jackson and Ruff as part of his role in the gang.
      As to the ballistic vests and plates, Green argues that the gov-
ernment did not introduce any evidence that connected those
items to his role on the enforcement team. To be sure, that
24-10657                Opinion of the Court                         29

evidence could support other inferences as well—Green could
have hypothetically used those items while moonlighting as a
bouncer, or he could have worn the vest regularly out of fear. But
to pass Rule 401’s relevancy test, “a single relevant inference suf-
fices,” even if that inference is not the best one or most likely one.
22 Wright & Miller’s Federal Practice & Procedure Evidence § 5165
(2d ed. 2025). That relevant inference exists on this record; Green’s
possession of those items could lead the jury to infer that Green
used those items to carry out dangerous enforcement team tasks
like the murders the government attributed to him.
        Now that we have established that the evidence was rele-
vant, we turn to Rule 403, which allows a court to “exclude rele-
vant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by
a danger of . . . unfair prejudice.” Fed. R. Evid. 403. “In criminal
trials relevant evidence is inherently prejudicial.” United States v.
Betancourt, 734 F.2d 750, 757 (11th Cir. 1984). That is why “[t]he
balance under Rule 403 should be struck in favor of admission.”
Finestone, 816 F.2d at 585 (citation modified). We “must look at the
evidence in a light most favorable to its proponent, maximizing its
probative value and minimizing its prejudicial effect.” Id. (quoting
United States v. Jamil, 707 F.2d 638, 642 (2d Cir. 1983)). Indeed, “Rule
403 is an extraordinary remedy which should be used only spar-
ingly since it permits the trial court to exclude concededly proba-
tive evidence.” Id. (quoting United States v. Betancourt, 734 F.2d 750,
757 (11th Cir. 1984)).
30                    Opinion of the Court                24-10657

       Turning first to the “E Team Jan. 2016” list, Green argues
that the admission of the list was unfairly prejudicial because the
evidence established that Chambers possessed the list right after
Green committed the murders, which proves “an active connec-
tion between . . . Green and the G-side E-Team.” Green’s Br. at 45.
That evidence was probative on the relevant question of whether
Green was an enforcer within the Gangster Disciples. And alt-
hough that evidence certainly prejudiced Green, that prejudice was
due to its probative value to the government’s case. The evidence
does not even approach Rule 403’s exclusionary territory reserved
for unfairly prejudicial evidence.
       The same is true for the photos of the ballistic vests and
plates. Green says it was “unfair and misleading” for the govern-
ment to have introduced those photos, because it could have
“lure[d]” the jury into finding that “Green [was] engaged in unlaw-
ful violence.” Id. The government presented a mountain of evi-
dence that established that Green did in fact engage in unlawful
violence and murdered two men in a storage unit out of allegiance
to the Gangster Disciples. So Green’s possession of a ballistic vest
and plates does support the idea that he was engaged in unlawful
violence: that is exactly what the government needed to prove. It
was fair game for the government to introduce that evidence, and
the evidence did not mislead the jury—it just led the jury to a con-
clusion that Green did not prefer.
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                         31

       The district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting
the evidence as relevant under Rule 401, nor did it abuse its discre-
tion by refusing to exclude the evidence under Rule 403.
                               B.

                               1.

      We now address Chambers’s arguments, starting with the
motion for continuance. Chambers contends that the district court
abused its discretion when it denied his motion for a continuance.
We disagree.
       “The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Consti-
tution guarantee that any person brought to trial in any state or
federal court must be afforded the right to assistance of counsel be-
fore he or she can be validly convicted and punished by imprison-
ment.” United States v. Verderame, 51 F.3d 249, 251 (11th Cir. 1995).
And “[u]nder certain circumstances, denial of a motion for contin-
uance of trial may vitiate the effect of this fundamental right.” Id.
       But “[t]he right to assistance of counsel, cherished and fun-
damental though it be, may not be put to service as a means of
delaying or trifling with the court.” United States v. Fowler, 605 F.2d
181, 183 (5th Cir. 1979). A defendant may not “use the right to
counsel as a means to manipulate the court and cause delay.”
United States v. Graham, 643 F.3d 885, 894 (11th Cir. 2011). And we
have cautioned that “[j]udges must be vigilant that requests for ap-
pointment of a new attorney on the eve of trial should not become
a vehicle for achieving delay.” Bowman v. United States, 409 F.2d
32                      Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

225, 227 (5th Cir. 1969) (quoting United States v. Llanes, 374 F.2d
712, 717 (2d Cir. 1967)). Accordingly, our rule is that “[d]enial of a
continuance, requested by a defendant in order to permit addi-
tional preparation for trial, must be upheld unless the defendant
can show an abuse of discretion and specific, substantial prejudice.”
United States v. Saget, 991 F.2d 702, 708 (11th Cir. 1993).
        Chambers contends that the district court abused its discre-
tion because the issue “was not that counsel needed additional time
to prepare, but that he had no ability to prepare at all.” Chambers’s
Br. at 44. But the blame for that fact is not on the district court, but
on Chambers. Chambers’s delay tactics in this case are well-docu-
mented. He routinely disrupted proceedings and insisted on mak-
ing frivolous “sovereign citizen” arguments. And he repeatedly ex-
pressed his desire to the trial court to represent himself and dis-
claimed any need for counsel for over a year. It was not until a
week before the trial was scheduled to begin that Chambers first
mentioned the possibility that counsel would represent him—and
the counsel that Chambers referenced never made an appearance.
Chambers asked the district court to appoint his stand-by counsel
as his counsel on the morning of opening statements after being
coached to do so as a delay tactic by his father.
       The district court’s denial of Chambers’s obvious attempt to
delay the proceedings against him “did not result in the loss of [his]
right to counsel.” Graham, 643 F.3d at 894. Although Chambers’s
stand-by counsel had little time to prepare for the case, that circum-
stance     was     created—indeed,       invited     by—Chambers’s
24-10657                Opinion of the Court                         33

“manipulative conduct and his repeated insistence on representing
himself ” until the last possible moment. Id.; see also United States v.
Ross, 131 F.3d 970, 988 (11th Cir.1997) (“It is a cardinal rule of ap-
pellate review that a party may not challenge as error a ruling or
other trial proceeding invited by that party.” (quotation marks
omitted)).
        Apart from Chambers’s delay tactics, he has failed to estab-
lish any “specific, substantial prejudice” that resulted from the de-
nial of his motion for a continuance. Saget, 991 F.2d at 708. “To
make such a showing, [the defendant] must identify relevant, non-
cumulative evidence that would have been presented if his request
for a continuance had been granted.” Id. All Chambers can do is
point to the difficulty his counsel had in wading through the pile of
evidence pointing to his guilt. He supplies no reason for this Court
to believe that the outcome of his trial would have been different
had the district court granted his motion for a continuance. United
States v. Valladares, 544 F.3d 1257, 1264 (11th Cir. 2008).
       The denial was within the district court’s discretion.
                                2.

       Chambers next argues that the district court erred in the way
it empaneled an anonymous jury. To be clear, Chambers does not
challenge the district court’s decision to use an anonymous jury.
Instead, he contends that the district court failed to give a precau-
tionary instruction to the jury to explain why it used numbers in-
stead of names for juror identification, and why it had jurors trans-
ported to the courthouse from an off-site location each day.
34                     Opinion of the Court                 24-10657

        Chambers did not object to any of the district court’s anon-
ymous jury procedures, so we review this argument for plain error.
“An error cannot be plain unless the issue has been specifically and
directly resolved by the explicit language of a statute or rule or on
point precedent from the Supreme Court or this Court.” United
States v. Sanchez, 940 F.3d 526, 537 (11th Cir. 2019). Chambers can-
not establish plain error here because no binding authority explic-
itly requires the precautionary instruction that Chambers favors. In
fact, two of our precedents hold that the failure to issue a special
precautionary instruction on the use of anonymous jury proce-
dures was not plain error. See United States v. Bowman, 302 F.3d 1228,
1239 (11th Cir. 2002); United States v. Ochoa-Vasquez, 428 F.3d 1015,
1035 (11th Cir. 2005).
                               3.

       Chambers argues that the district court’s shackling proce-
dure was improper. Although Chambers concedes that the jury
never viewed his shackles, he argues that the courtroom proce-
dures reflected that he was not free to move about the courtroom,
which unnecessarily prejudiced him. He contrasts the free move-
ment of the attorneys against the movement of his codefendant
Browner, who proceeded pro se at trial and had to examine wit-
nesses from her table.
       Once again, Chambers did not object to the district court’s
shackling procedure, so we review this issue for plain error. Our
precedent confirms that there is no error, plain or otherwise, when
the jury is unable to view the defendant’s shackles. Caldwell, 81
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                         35

F.4th at 1178–79; Ahmed, 73 F.4th at 1377–78; see also Moon v. Head,
285 F.3d 1301, 1318 (11th Cir. 2002); United States v. Mayes, 158 F.3d
1215, 1226 (11th Cir. 1998).
                               4.

        Chambers argues that the cumulative effect of the district
court’s errors in denying the continuance, of the anonymous jury
procedure, and of the shackling procedure, deprived him of a fair
trial. But “[w]here there is no error or only a single error, there can
be no cumulative error.” United States v. Daniels, 91 F.4th 1083, 1101
(11th Cir. 2024) (quoting United States v. Gamory, 635 F.3d 480, 497
(11th Cir. 2011)). Because we find no error on those individual is-
sues, there is no basis for reversal on cumulative error grounds.
                               5.

       Chambers contends that the district court erred during sen-
tencing by relying on a higher mandatory minimum sentence than
the jury verdict authorized for his conviction under 18 U.S.C. §
924(c)(1)(A). Chambers says that the district court should have re-
lied on the five-year mandatory minimum provision under section
924(c)(1)(A)(i) instead of the ten-year provision under section
924(c)(1)(A)(iii). That change could have resulted in Chambers re-
ceiving two consecutive life sentences plus a consecutive five-year
sentence instead of two consecutive life sentences plus a consecu-
tive ten-year sentence. We decline to review Chambers’s chal-
lenge—the error was harmless because Chambers’s term of impris-
onment would not change.
36                     Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

        Chambers correctly asserts, and the government concedes,
that the jury found that Chambers “[u]sed or [c]arried” a firearm
for his section 924(c)(1)(A) conviction, and it did not find that he
“[d]ischarged” a firearm. Chambers’s Br. at 22–25; see Gov’t’s Br. at
57 n.19. The mandatory minimum sentence for using or carrying a
firearm “during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug
trafficking crime” is five years. 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i). The man-
datory minimum sentence for discharging a firearm under those
circumstances is ten years. Id. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii). So both parties
agree that the presentencing report was incorrect when it stated
that Chambers’s mandatory-minimum sentence for his section
924(c) conviction was ten years instead of five, because the jury
found only that Chambers used or carried a firearm, not that he
discharged it.
        That error, though, was harmless and does not require re-
versal because any sentence Chambers received for his section
924(c) conviction would run consecutive to his two consecutive life
sentences on his other convictions, including the unchallenged life
sentence on count one. The principles behind our concurrent sen-
tence doctrine explain why reversal is not warranted. “The concur-
rent sentence doctrine provides that, if a defendant is given concur-
rent sentences on several counts and the conviction on one count
is found to be valid, an appellate court need not consider the valid-
ity of the convictions on the other counts.” United States v. Bradley,
644 F.3d 1213, 1293 (11th Cir. 2011) (quoting United States v.
Fuentes–Jimenez, 750 F.2d 1495, 1497 (11th Cir. 1985)). “Only when
the defendant would suffer adverse collateral consequences from
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                        37

the unreviewed conviction does the doctrine not apply.” Id. (cita-
tion modified).
       Our decision in Bradley explains why the concurrent sen-
tence doctrine applies in cases like these. There, the district court
sentenced the defendant to 240 months of imprisonment on one
count, a concurrent 240 months on a second count, and a concur-
rent 60 months on a third count. Id. We upheld the defendant’s
convictions on all three counts, and we upheld one of his 240-
month sentences. Id. at 1293–94. We observed that the defendant’s
“ultimate term of imprisonment would not change even were we
to find error in the district court.” Id. at 1294. So we declined to
review the defendant’s challenge to his sixty-month sentence and
his other 240-month sentence on the grounds that he “would suffer
no adverse collateral consequences from our refusal to review.” Id.
        As its name suggests, the concurrent sentence doctrine usu-
ally applies when a defendant challenges a sentence that runs con-
current to, and is shorter than or equal to, another lawful sentence.
But it applies just the same to a defendant in Chambers’s position
who is contesting a sentence that runs consecutive to a life sen-
tence. The logic holds because “given the abolition of parole in the
federal system ‘life’ and ‘life plus x years’ come to the same thing.”
Harris v. Warden, 425 F.3d 386, 387 (7th Cir. 2005). So if a defendant
is sentenced to life on at least one count, and a term of years (or
life) on another count, it makes no difference whether the term of
years (or another term of life) runs concurrent with or consecutive
to the term of life. Either way, the defendant will never leave
38                     Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

prison. And that remains true regardless of whether any sentence
concurrent with or consecutive to a life sentence is maintained, va-
cated, or modified.
       Chambers would not suffer any other “adverse collateral
consequences” from our refusal to review his challenge either.
Bradley, 644 F.3d at 1294. The Supreme Court has cautioned us that
one consequence we must consider is monetary fees associated
with a conviction. See Ray v. United States, 481 U.S. 736, 737 (1987).
In Ray, the Fifth Circuit invoked the concurrent-sentence doctrine
after a defendant challenged three convictions and three identical
sentences that ran concurrent to one another. Id. at 737. The Su-
preme Court vacated and remanded because the defendant owed
a $50 special assessment fee per conviction. Id.; see 18 U.S.C. § 3013.
Because the defendant’s obligation to pay the special assessment
fee depended on the validity of each conviction, the sentences were
not truly concurrent. Ray, 481 U.S. at 737. But here, Chambers is
not challenging the validity of his section 924(c) conviction. Even
if Chambers were resentenced with a different mandatory mini-
mum term of imprisonment—which is the relief he seeks—he
would still owe the now $100 special assessment fee attached to
every felony conviction. See 18 U.S.C. § 3013(a)(2)(A).
       So we join our sister circuits today in holding that the con-
current sentence doctrine applies to a challenge to a sentence that
runs concurrent with or consecutive to a valid life sentence. See Al-
’Owhali v. United States, 36 F.4th 461, 467 (2d Cir. 2022); Duka v.
United States, 27 F.4th 189, 194 (3d Cir. 2022); Ruiz v. United States,
24-10657                Opinion of the Court                         39

990 F.3d 1025, 1033–34 (7th Cir. 2021); Oslund v. United States, 944
F.3d 743, 746 (8th Cir. 2019). “This common-sense approach pre-
serves valuable and limited judicial resources for deciding those
cases which might actually result in practical changes for the liti-
gants.” Duka, 27 F.4th at 194. There is no reason to entertain Cham-
bers’s arguments about his ten-year sentence when he will serve
two consecutive life sentences, as any change to his ten-year sen-
tence “will have no effect on the time he must serve in prison.” Al-
’Owhali, 36 F.4th at 467; see also United States v. Campa, 529 F.3d 980,
1018 (11th Cir. 2008) (holding that we “need not remand for resen-
tencing” because a defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment
on one conviction, so any error on the district court’s calculation
of his other sentence was “irrelevant to the time he will serve in
prison.” (quoting United States v. Rivera, 282 F.3d 74, 77–78 (2d Cir.
2000)). Further, Chambers will not suffer any other collateral con-
sequences, such as a special assessment fee, from our refusal to re-
mand. See Ray, 481 U.S. at 737. Accordingly, we find the district
court’s error to be a harmless one, which does not require reversal.
United States v. Pon, 963 F.3d 1207, 1227 (11th Cir. 2020).
                                6.

        Chambers also argues that the district court procedurally
erred during sentencing because it relied on the government’s le-
gally incorrect double jeopardy argument to decide to merge count
four into count two instead of count two into count four. We af-
firm on two alternative grounds. First, we believe that the district
court committed no error and properly exercised its discretion to
40                     Opinion of the Court                24-10657

avoid a potential constitutional issue when it merged Chambers’s
conviction on count four into his conviction on count two. Second,
even if there were error, we conclude that any error was harmless
in light of the life sentence that Chambers received on count one.
                                 a.

        We begin by addressing the district court’s exercise of dis-
cretion in merging Chambers’s conviction on count four into count
two. The Double Jeopardy Clause “protects against multiple pun-
ishments for the same offense.” Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 165
(1977) (citation modified). When a district court encounters what
would be a double jeopardy violation, it must “exercise its discre-
tion to vacate one of the underlying convictions.” Ball v. United
States, 470 U.S. 856, 864 (1985).
        Here, all parties agreed that Chambers could not be con-
victed of both count four (use of the firearm to cause the death of
another person) and count two (VICAR murder). The government
asked the district court to resolve this double jeopardy issue by va-
cating Chambers’s conviction on count four and sentencing him
on count two, which carried a mandatory life sentence. Browner
convinced the district court to merge her convictions in the oppo-
site direction—dropping count two and leaving count four. After-
ward, the government raised the possibility that doing the same
thing in Chambers’s case could create a second, separate cumula-
tive punishment problem for Chambers, who had a 924(c) convic-
tion that Browner did not. Specifically, the government suggested
that punishing Chambers under count three (section 924(c)) and
24-10657                Opinion of the Court                          41

count four (section 924(j)) might amount to more cumulative pun-
ishment, requiring the vacatur of one of those convictions as well.
       Chambers contends that the government’s argument was
wrong, and that sentencing him for violating both section 924(c)
and section 924(j) does not pose a cumulative punishment prob-
lem. For support, he cites our observation in United States v. Julian,
633 F.3d 1250, 1256 (11th Cir. 2011), in which we said that we were
“unpersuaded by the argument of the United States that the impo-
sition of sentences under both section 924(c) and section 924(j)
would violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amend-
ment.” He says that the government’s contrary argument tainted
the district court’s discretionary decision to merge count four into
count two, resulting in a mandatory life sentence under the VICAR
murder statute.
       We disagree. The district court acted within its discretion to
avoid raising an additional constitutional question. See Pittman v.
Cole, 267 F.3d 1269, 1285 (11th Cir. 2001) (“It is axiomatic that the
federal courts should, where possible, avoid reaching constitu-
tional questions.” (quoting Allstate Ins. Co. v. Serio, 261 F.3d 143, 149
(2d Cir. 2001)). We meant what we said in Julian—we have serious
doubts that punishments under both sections 924(c) and 924(j) vio-
late the Double Jeopardy Clause. See Julian, 633 F.3d at 1256. Still,
“[o]ur holding” in that decision, “as always, is limited to the facts.”
Licciardello v. Lovelady, 544 F.3d 1280, 1288 n.8 (11th Cir. 2008). The
issue on appeal in Julian was whether section 924(c)(1)(D)’s prohi-
bition on concurrent imprisonment applied to two convictions
42                      Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

under section 924(j). See Julian, 633 F.3d at 1252. Because the ques-
tion before us in Julian was about whether section 924(j) sentences
had to run consecutive to one another, we did not hold anything
regarding the interplay between sections 924(c) and 924(j). See id.
        Moreover, the district court expressly relied on other con-
siderations when it chose to drop count four and leave count two.
Specifically, the district court examined the factual circumstances
of Chambers’s conduct and considered how any potential merger
would impact the just punishment for Chambers’s crimes. See 18
U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)(A). For instance, the district court explained
that it had merged Browner’s VICAR murder conviction into her
924(j) conviction, in part, because she was not as culpable as Cham-
bers; “she followed [his] orders.” Doc. 479 at 90; see id. at 50–51, 73.
But Chambers was more culpable. As the district court put it, “All
of what happened here is entirely because of you.” Id. at 90. Cham-
bers “clearly orchestrated all” of the criminal activity in this case,
took comfort in the fact that no one ever saw him commit a crime,
and he had no remorse. Id. Because of Chambers’s great culpabil-
ity, the district court chose to merge Chambers’s convictions in a
way that left his VICAR murder conviction intact, resulting in a
mandatory life sentence.
                                  b.

       In any event, even if the district court erred by considering
the government’s argument in deciding how to merge the convic-
tions, any error was harmless. See Pon, 963 F.3d at 1227. No matter
how the district court merged counts two and four, any sentence
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                        43

Chambers received on the remaining count would run either con-
current with or consecutive to his unchallenged, non-mandatory,
within-guidelines life sentence that the district court imposed on
count one. Again, it will make no difference to Chambers whether
he serves one or two life sentences, or life plus a term of years; he
will be incarcerated until his death. See Harris, 425 F.3d at 387. Nor
will Chambers suffer any other consequence, such as an additional
special assessment fee. See Ray, 481 U.S. at 737; 18 U.S.C. §
3013(a)(2)(A). In Chambers’s view, he should have been sentenced
on counts one, three, and four instead of counts one, two, and
three. Either way, he would owe the same $300 special assessment
fee that the district court imposed here. 18 U.S.C. § 3013(a)(2)(A).
Because this issue “will have no effect on the time” Chambers
“must serve in prison,” Al-’Owhali, 36 F.4th at 467, and Chambers
will not suffer any other “adverse collateral consequences,” Bradley,
644 F.3d at 1294, we “need not remand for resentencing” because
any error is harmless, Campa, 529 F.3d at 1018.
                               7.

       Lastly, Chambers argues that the district court lacked the au-
thority to order that he pay restitution to Ruff’s father under the
Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. See 18 U.S.C. § 3663A (2020)
(amended 2024). This issue presents a close question of statutory
interpretation that has divided our sister circuits. Although the text
is ambiguous, we think that the text of the Act favors the district
court’s interpretation. And the district court’s interpretation of the
Act is in line with Congress’s recent amendment resolving the
44                     Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

circuit split. Under our precedent, we see Congress’s amendment
as a clarification of the Act’s original meaning.
        Under the Act, when a defendant is convicted of “a crime of
violence,” the district court “shall order . . . that the defendant
make restitution to the victim of the offense.” Id. § 3663A(a)(1),
(c)(1)(A)(i). “The order of restitution shall require” that the defend-
ant “reimburse the victim for lost income . . . incurred during . . .
attendance at proceedings related to the offense.” Id. § 3663A(b)(4).
The statute defines “victim” as “a person directly and proximately
harmed as a result of the commission of an offense.” Id. §
3663A(a)(2). But, if the victim “is under 18 years of age, incompe-
tent, incapacitated, or deceased, the legal guardian of the victim or
representative of the victim’s estate, another family member, or
any other person appointed as suitable by the court, may assume
the victim’s rights under this section.” Id. § 3663A(a)(2).
        Here, the district court ordered Chambers to pay $952.80 in
restitution to Ruff’s father for income that he lost while he attended
court proceedings. At the time the district court issued the restitu-
tion order, our sister circuits were split on whether the Act allowed
restitution to compensate the family member of a deceased victim
for the family member’s lost income or related costs of attending
proceedings. The Eighth and Tenth Circuits held that the family
member could not recover under those circumstances. See United
States v. Wilcox, 487 F.3d 1163, 1176–78 (8th Cir. 2007); United States
v. Casados, 26 F.4th 845, 848–54 (10th Cir. 2022). The Second,
Third, and Ninth Circuits held that the family member could
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                         45

recover. United States v. Douglas, 525 F.3d 225, 252–54 (2d Cir. 2008);
United States v. Hayward, 359 F.3d 631, 642 (3d Cir. 2004); United
States v. Pizzichiello, 272 F.3d 1232, 1240–41 (9th Cir. 2001).
        The government argues that, in a case with a deceased vic-
tim, a family member may step into the victim’s shoes and recover
the same kind of costs that the victim could have recovered if he
had lived. Chambers contends that we should follow the Eighth
and Tenth Circuits and hold that, because Ruff the deceased victim
did not have “lost income” during a trial for his own murder, his
living family member is ineligible to collect his lost income for at-
tending the trial.
       Congress has since passed a clarifying amendment that re-
solves the circuit split over the meaning of this language in the gov-
ernment’s favor. One month after the district court entered its res-
titution order, Congress added a subsection titled, “Clarification.”
18 U.S.C. § 3663A(a)(4) (2024). That section says that “[i]n ordering
restitution under this section, a court shall order the defendant to
make restitution to a person who has assumed the victim’s rights
under paragraph (2) to reimburse that person’s necessary and rea-
sonable . . . lost income.” Id. § 3663A(a)(4)(A). Congress’s clarifying
amendment makes plain that the person who assumes the victim’s
rights under the statute is entitled to recover his or her own lost
income.
       We believe Congress’s clarifying amendment cinches the
case in favor of the government’s position. Our precedents hold
that when there is “a conflict among the courts in construing [a]
46                      Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

statute[],” as was the case here, that gives us “an indication that a
subsequent amendment is intended to clarify, rather than change,
the existing law.” In re Fielder, 799 F.2d 656, 660 (11th Cir. 1986)
(citation modified); see also United States v. Sepulveda, 115 F.3d 882,
885 n.5 (11th Cir. 1997) (“Congress may, however, amend a statute
to clarify existing law, to correct a misinterpretation, or to overrule
wrongly decided cases. Thus, an amendment to a statute does not
necessarily indicate that the unamended statute meant the oppo-
site.” (citation modified)); Piamba Cortes v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 177
F.3d 1272, 1283–84 (11th Cir. 1999) (observing that when “a conflict
or ambiguity exist[s] . . . courts view this as an indication that a
subsequent amendment is intended to clarify, rather than change,
the existing law”). Moreover, Congress expressly declared that the
amendment was a clarification in the text of the amendment. We
“may rely upon a declaration by the enacting body that its intent is
to clarify the prior enactment.” Piamba Cortes, 177 F.3d at 1284; see
also Red Lion Broad. Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 380–81 (1969) (“Subse-
quent legislation declaring the intent of an earlier statute is entitled
to great weight in statutory construction.”).
         We think that principle applies here because two conditions
are satisfied: (1) the interpretation of the prior law is fairly debata-
ble, and (2) Congress’s stated intention is in the text of the statute
itself. See Piamba Cortes, 177 F.3d at 1283–84.
       As to the first condition, we think the interpretation of the
prior law was fairly debatable, as reflected by the three-to-two cir-
cuit split. The statute said that, when a crime is committed against
24-10657               Opinion of the Court                         47

a certain type of victim (minors, incapacitated, incompetent, or de-
ceased), “another family member . . . may assume the victim’s
rights.” 18 U.S.C. § 3663A(a)(2). The statute also defined those
rights: the defendant shall “reimburse the victim for . . . transpor-
tation” and “for . . . other expenses incurred during participation in
the investigation or prosecution of the offense.” Id. § 3663A(b)(4).
But, under the Eighth and Tenth Circuit’s reading, an adult family
member who transports a child victim to court cannot get his costs
reimbursed—precisely because the victim is a child who could not
incur his own costs. The same is true for incompetent and incapac-
itated victims who—by their very nature—will not incur their own
expenses to participate in the investigation or prosecution. Alt-
hough the Eighth and Tenth Circuit’s reading is not without some
support in the statute’s text, we ordinarily reject interpretations of
statutes that render the language of the statute meaningless. See
United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1, 65 (1936) (“These words cannot
be meaningless, else they would not have been used.”). And we
favor a “textually permissible interpretation that furthers rather
than obstructs the document’s purpose.” Antonin Scalia & Bryan
A. Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts § 4, at 63
(2012); see also Belevich v. Thomas, 17 F.4th 1048, 1053 (11th Cir.
2021). Because the meaning of the prior text was at least fairly de-
batable, we give considerable weight to Congress’s position that it
merely clarified what the law has always been.
      On the second condition, Congress stated that the amend-
ment was a clarification in the statute’s text, not legislative history
or the like. “Congress has proceeded formally through the
48                      Opinion of the Court                  24-10657

legislative process.” Consumer Prod. Safety Comm’n v. GTE Sylvania,
Inc., 447 U.S. 102, 118 n.13 (1980). This is not a “mere statement in
a conference report of such legislation as to what the Committee
believes an earlier statute meant.” Id.; see United States v. Thigpen, 4
F.3d 1573, 1577 (11th Cir. 1993) (en banc) (“A committee report
does not have the force of law . . . .”). Instead, Congress’s view of
the proper interpretation of the prior text is the text of the new law
itself.
        Finally, although Chambers raises the prospect of an Ex Post
Facto Clause problem, there is no ex post facto issue here. The Ex
Post Facto Clause “prohibits the imposition of punishment more
severe than the punishment assigned by law when the act to be
punished occurred.” United States v. Colon, 707 F.3d 1255, 1258 (11th
Cir. 2013) (citation modified). Here, there is no imposition of more
severe punishment because there is no new law. Congress merely
clarified what was already true: the version of the Act in effect at
the time the district court issued Chambers’s restitution order al-
lowed for the payment of lost income to Ruff’s father.
                                IV.

       We AFFIRM.
24-10657 LUCK, J., Concurring in Part & Dissenting in Part         1

LUCK, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part:
      I join all but parts III.B.6.a and III.B.7 of the thorough and
thoughtful majority opinion. I do not join part III.B.6.a because, as
the majority opinion explains in part III.B.6.b, any sentencing error
would be harmless under the concurrent sentence doctrine.
       As to part III.B.7, the issue is whether the pre-amendment
version of the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act allows restitu-
tion to compensate a deceased victim’s family member for the fam-
ily member’s lost income while she attends court. The majority
opinion holds that the relevant language of the Act is ambiguous
and resolves the ambiguity by looking to Congress’s post-judgment
amendment of the Act.
       I respectfully dissent because the Act is not ambiguous. As
the Tenth Circuit explained in United States v. Casados, 26 F.4th 845
(10th Cir. 2022), the Act unambiguously does not allow restitution
for the wages a deceased victim’s family member misses out on
while attending court—so we don’t have to look anywhere else to
understand the Act’s meaning.
      [T]he [Act] requires restitution when a defendant
      commits a “crime of violence” for which there is an
      “identifiable victim or victims” who “suffered a phys-
      ical injury or pecuniary loss” because of the defend-
      ant’s crime. [18 U.S.C.] § 3663A(c)(1); see also
      § 3663A(a)(1). The [Act] further provides a specific
      definition of the term “victim,” explaining that a “vic-
      tim” is “a person directly and proximately harmed as a
      result of the commission of an offense for which
2 LUCK, J., Concurring in Part & Dissenting in Part        24-10657

      restitution may be ordered.” § 3663A(a)(2) (emphasis
      added). In the next sentence, the statute additionally
      explains that when the victim “is under 18 years of
      age, incompetent, incapacitated, or deceased, the le-
      gal guardian of the victim or representative of the vic-
      tim’s estate, another family member, or any other
      person appointed as suitable by the court, may as-
      sume the victim’s rights under this section.” Id.

             The [Act] then lists several categories of ex-
      penses that qualify for restitution: property loss, med-
      ical expenses for injured victims, funeral expenses for
      deceased victims, and transportation and other ex-
      penses related to investigation and prosecution.
      § 3663A(b). Set out in full, these four categories re-
      quire the defendant to:

            (1) in the case of an offense resulting in
            damage to or loss or destruction of
            property of a victim of the offense—

            (A) return the property to the owner of
            the property or someone designated by
            the owner; or

            (B) if return of the property under sub-
            paragraph (A) is impossible, impractica-
            ble, or inadequate, pay an amount equal
            to—

            (i) the greater of—
24-10657 LUCK, J., Concurring in Part & Dissenting in Part   3

             (I) the value of the property on the date
             of the damage, loss, or destruction; or

             (II) the value of the property on the date
             of sentencing, less

             (ii) the value (as of the date the property
             is returned) of any part of the property
             that is returned;

             (2) in the case of an offense resulting in
             bodily injury to a victim—

             (A) pay an amount equal to the cost of
             necessary medical and related profes-
             sional services and devices relating to
             physical, psychiatric, and psychological
             care, including nonmedical care and
             treatment rendered in accordance with
             a method of healing recognized by the
             law of the place of treatment;

             (B) pay an amount equal to the cost of
             necessary physical and occupational
             therapy and rehabilitation; and

             (C) reimburse the victim for income lost
             by such victim as a result of such of-
             fense;

             (3) in the case of an offense resulting in
             bodily injury that results in the death of
             the victim, pay an amount equal to the
4 LUCK, J., Concurring in Part & Dissenting in Part         24-10657

             cost of necessary funeral and related
             services; and

             (4) in any case, reimburse the victim for
             lost income and necessary child[]care,
             transportation, and other expenses in-
             curred during participation in the inves-
             tigation or prosecution of the offense or
             attendance at proceedings related to the
             offense.

      § 3663A(b)(1)–(4).

              On appeal, [the defendant] argues that the dis-
      trict court exceeded its authority in awarding restitu-
      tion to [the deceased victim’s son] under
      § 3663A(b)(4) for transportation expenses he and his
      family incurred to attend [the defendant]’s detention
      hearing. In this regard, [the defendant] recognizes
      that [the son] could “assume the . . . rights” of his de-
      ceased mother under § 3663A(a)(2). But she contends
      that the assumption-of-rights provision only permits
      [the son] to seek restitution on behalf of his mother
      for his mother’s qualified expenses. In other words, ac-
      cording to [the defendant], the [Act] does not permit
      the district court to substitute the representative’s ex-
      penses for the victim’s expenses or make the victim’s
      representative into a victim in his or her own right.
      Thus, [the defendant] asserts, the district court erred
      in ordering her to pay the travel expenses incurred by
      [the son] and his wife and two children.
24-10657 LUCK, J., Concurring in Part & Dissenting in Part      5

             The government, on the other hand, argues
      that by assuming the victim’s rights, [the son] as-
      sumed all the rights the victim “would have had if she
      were able to exercise them.” . . .

              The parties’ opposing positions require us to
      consider the scope of the phrase “assume the victim’s
      rights under this section” in § 3663A(a)(2) in conjunc-
      tion with the operative language of § 3663A(b)(4),
      which governs the specific category of restitution at
      issue here, transportation expenses incurred to attend
      a proceeding related to the offense. Beginning with
      the phrase “assume the victim’s rights under this sec-
      tion,” we first consider the definition of the word “as-
      sume.” As [the defendant] points out, the term
      “‘[a]ssume’ means to take over the rights or obliga-
      tions of someone else.” [S]ee also Assumption, Black’s
      Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019) (“The act of taking
      (esp. someone else's debt or other obligation) for or
      on oneself . . . .”); Assume, Merriam-Webster.com,
      https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/as-
      sume (last visited Jan. 15, 2022) (“[T]o take over (the
      debts of another) as one’s own.”). Next, the statute
      tells us that the individual whose rights are assumed
      by the representative is the “victim,” defined in the
      preceding sentence as “a person directly and proxi-
      mately harmed as a result of the commission of an
      offense for which restitution may be ordered.”
      § 3663A(a)(2).

           That leaves the question of what “rights” are
      assumed. The statute tells us it is the “rights under
6 LUCK, J., Concurring in Part & Dissenting in Part          24-10657

      this section”—that is, the right to receive the types of
      restitution outlined in § 3663A. We therefore look to
      the remainder of the statute, and more specifically, to
      § 3663A(b), which lists the categories of restitution
      that are compensable. As [the defendant] points out,
      the plain language of the statute expressly limits these
      categories of expenses to the victim’s specific losses, a
      limitation that makes sense in light of the express def-
      inition of a victim as someone “directly and proxi-
      mately harmed as a result of the commission of [the]
      offense.” § 3663A(a)(2); see also § 3663A(b)(1)–(4). For
      instance, the [Act] mandates restitution for the costs
      of funeral expenses for a deceased victim or medical
      costs for an injured victim—costs that could only be
      incurred by the victim. See § 3663A(b)(2)(A)–(B),
      (b)(3). Likewise, the property-loss category focuses
      on restitution for damage or loss caused by the of-
      fense to “property of a victim.” § 3663A(b)(1) (empha-
      sis added). And the other categories of loss subject to
      restitution are also directly limited to the victim’s own
      losses by the statute’s plain language: They are pref-
      aced with the phrase “reimburse the victim.”
      § 3663A(b)(2)(C), (b)(4) (emphasis added). Indeed, as
      relevant here, the [Act] requires restitution to “reim-
      burse the victim for . . . transportation[ ] and other ex-
      penses incurred during . . . attendance at proceedings
      related to the offense.” § 3663A(b)(4) (emphasis
      added). Thus, the [Act] specifically limits restitution
      to reimbursement of the victim’s covered losses. Ac-
      cordingly, when a representative assumes the victim’s
24-10657 LUCK, J., Concurring in Part & Dissenting in Part       7

      right to restitution, he or she assumes the right to re-
      ceive restitution for the victim’s covered losses.

              In arguing for a broader interpretation, the
      government acknowledges that § 3663A(a)(2) merely
      permits a family member or other individual to “rep-
      resent the victim” and does not cause the representa-
      tive to “become the victim.” Nevertheless, the gov-
      ernment contends that in assuming the victim’s
      rights, [the son] assumed all the rights that the victim
      “would have had if she were able to exercise them,”
      reasoning that had the victim here lived, she would
      have been entitled to restitution for transportation ex-
      penses incurred to attend [the defendant’s] detention
      hearing. The government therefore maintains that
      the district court acted within its authority by award-
      ing [the son] travel expenses he incurred to attend the
      hearing. But this interpretation fundamentally mis-
      reads § 3663A(a)(2) and effectively adds text to the
      statute, which is something we cannot do. Section
      3663A(a)(2) does not state that a victim’s representa-
      tive assumes the rights the victim would have had if
      the victim were able to exercise them; it simply per-
      mits the representative to assume “the victim’s rights.”
      Thus, the representative’s assumption of the victim’s
      rights does not permit the representative to receive
      reimbursement of his or her own expenses because
      the representative only assumes the victim’s rights—
      that is, the restitution owed to the victim. . . .

      ....
8 LUCK, J., Concurring in Part & Dissenting in Part            24-10657

       . . . . [T]he phrase “assume the victim’s rights” does
       not permit a victim’s representative to transform the
       [Act] from a victim-compensation statute into a vehi-
       cle for reimbursing the representative’s own expenses.
       Even if there might be “good policy reasons for allow-
       ing a court to order reimbursement” of the repre-
       sentative’s lost income, childcare, or travel expenses,
       we “do not think the present statutory language en-
       compasses that policy.”

               Further, as the government itself points out,
       “the [Act]’s core purpose . . . is ‘to ensure that victims,
       to the greatest extent possible, are made whole for
       their losses.’” But the government does not explain
       how the victim is made whole by a restitution order
       to be paid to someone other than the victim for that
       person’s expenses. Contrary to the government’s as-
       sertion, there is no reason in this case to conclude that
       [the victim] or her estate will be made whole by the
       district court’s order of restitution to pay for [the
       son]’s personal travel expenses, or those of his family,
       which were not incurred by either [the victim] or her
       estate. And because the [Act] is intended to be com-
       pensatory, it should not be interpreted to require the
       defendant “to pay a sum of money to another entity”
       such that it “punishes the defendant without in any
       way compensating the victim.”

Casados, 26 F.4th at 848–53 (footnotes and some citations omitted;
some alterations in original); see also United States v. Wilcox, 487 F.3d
1163 (8th Cir. 2007).
24-10657 LUCK, J., Concurring in Part & Dissenting in Part          9

       Because the relevant language of the Act is unambiguous,
“we need look no further and our inquiry ends.” Ga. State Conf. of
the NAACP v. City of LaGrange, Ga., 940 F.3d 627, 631 (11th Cir.
2019). (The government does not argue, and the majority opinion
does not hold, that Congress’s post-judgment amendment of the
Act applies retroactively.) The Act does not allow restitution to the
victim’s father for his lost wages to attend court proceedings, and
the district court did not have the authority to order the lost wages
as restitution unless “explicitly empowered by statute.” United
States v. Dickerson, 370 F.3d 1330, 1335 (11th Cir. 2004) (quoting
United States v. Hensley, 91 F.3d 274, 276 (1st Cir. 1996)). Because
the district court exceeded its authority, I would vacate that part of
the restitution award. Otherwise, I would affirm the defendants’
convictions and sentences.