United States v. Dr. Luther Lewis Ashley, Jr., and John Franklin Roper

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

This is a direct criminal appeal. The appellants, Dr. Luther Ashley and John Roper were convicted under a four count indictment alleging various Hobbs Act violations. 1 The indictment charged that Ashley, Roper, and Loren Ralph Fossum attempted to extort $300,000 from Eastern Airlines. The government contends that Ashley and Fossum, while visiting Atlanta on March 31 and April 1, 1976, sent a letter to Eastern Airlines, via taxicab stating that a bomb had been placed in an Eastern Airlines terminal at a major southeastern airport. The letter stated that if Eastern…