7-Week Crime Spree Gets 22-Year-Old 35 Years

NASHVILLE, TN — A seven-week crime spree in and around J.C. Napier Homes in 2014 will have 22-year-old Calvin Starks in federal prison until 2052, teaching him the hard way that the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause applies to illegitimate businesses just as it does to legal ones.

Starks pleaded guilty in June to a cavalcade of crimes including using a firearm to commit a crime of violence resulting in death; conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and extortion; and conspiracy to tamper with a witness. A federal judge sentenced him Monday.

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Starks' spree began Oct. 16. 2014 when he and his cousin, Darryl Starks, shot Joshua Woods a total of 16 times. Woods survived the assault and identified the Starks as the shooters. Later, he was threatened and bribed by Ivy Starks, Calvin's mother, in an attempt to keep him from testifying truthfully. Ivy Starks pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

On Nov. 26, 2014, Calvin Starks planned to rob Brendon Leggs, an alleged street-level drug dealer, of drugs and money at a market on Lewis Street. Leggs was shot multiple times and later died. Terrance Kimbrough is alleged to have been Starks accomplice in the Leggs shooting.

On Dec, 3, 2014, Monte Watson was shot and killed, allegedly by Starks and Kimbrough, as the pair apparently believed he saw them kill Leggs.

It's the charges related to the Leggs shooting which are most intriguing. Starks was charged under the Hobbs Act, a 1946 law that makes it a federal crime to interfere in commerce via robbery or extortion. The law was aimed at rackets that took advantage of labor disputes or that tried to extort business owners for protection, but has since been applied in a number of other ways. Appellate courts have held that even the slightest interference in interstate commerce is enough to grant federal jurisdiction in these cases under the Constitution's Commerce Clause, but they have limited, in most instances, prosecutions to robberies or extortion efforts made against businesses rather than individuals acting in a personal capacity, as the courts have determined Congress did not intend to create an all-encompassing federal robbery and extortion law.

That said, because Leggs was dealing drugs and was shot in an attempt to robbed him of the proceeds thereof, he was engaging in commerce — even though it was illicit — sufficient enough to meet the test for a Hobbs Act charge.

"The Hobbs Act extends to violations targeting legitimate and illegitimate businesses," a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney told Patch.

Darryl Starks has also pleaded guilty to charges related to this case and is awaiting sentencing.

Terrance Kimbrough is still awaiting trial.

Image via Metro Nashville Police