FI L ED
U.S. COURT OF APPEAL S

EL EVENTH CI RCUI T
J UNE 28, 2010

J OHN L EY
CL ERK [ D O N O T P U B L I S H ]

I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S C O U R T O F A P P E A L S

F O R T H E E L E V E N T H C I R C U I T

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

N o

. 0 8

- 1 0 1 1 7

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

D

. C

. D o c k e t N o

. 0 5

- 0 0 1 3 1

- C R

- O R L

- 2 8 J G G

U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A

,

P l a i n t i f f

- A p p e l l e e ,

v e r s u s

C

. K E I T H L A M O N D A

, J E S S E W

. L A M O N D A

, J O H N L

. M A Y N A R D

,

D e f e n d a n t s

- A p p e l l a n t s

.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A p p e a l s f

r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t
f o r t h e M i d d l e D i s t r i c t o f F l o r i d a

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ( J u n e 2 8

, 2 0 1 0 )

B e f o r e E D M O N D S O N

, B A R K E T T a n d R O T H

, * C i r c u i t J u d g e s

.

*Honora ble J ane R. Roth, United States Circuit J udg e for the Third Circuit, sitting by desig nation.P E R C U R I A M :

A p p e l l a n t s K e i t h L a M o n d a , J e s s e L a M o n d a , a n d J o h n M a y n a r d w e r e

c o n v i c t e d o f d e f

r a u d i n g a n d c o n s p i r i n g t o d e f r a u d i n v e s t o r s a n d l i f

e i n s u r a n c e

c o m p a n i e s

. N o r e v e r s i b l e e r r o r h a s b e e n s h o w n , s o w e w i l l a f f i r m t h e i r

c o n v i c t i o n s a n d s e n t e n c e s

.

B e c a u s e w e w r i t e p r i m a r i l y f o r t h e p a r t i e s , w e a s s u m e t h e i r f a m i l i a r i t y w i t h

t h e u n d e r l y i n g f

a c t s

. D e f

e n d a n t s o p e r a t e d a c o m p a n y t h a t s o l d v i a t i c a l s e t t l e m e n t s ,

w h i c h a r e f

i n a n c i a l i n s t r u m e n t s c r e a t e d b y t h e i n t e r v i v o s c o n v e y a n c e o f a l i f e

i n s u r a n c e d e a t h b e n e f

i t

. D u r i n g t h e s e v e n

- m o n t h t r i a l

, t h e G o v e r n m e n t p r e s e n t e d

e v i d e n c e t h a t d e f

e n d a n t s ( 1 ) k n o w i n g l y p r o c u r e d l i f e i n s u r a n c e p o l i c i e s a c q u i r e d

b y f r a u d f o r t h e p u r p o s e o f s e l l i n g v i a t i c a l s e t t l e m e n t s , ( 2 ) l i e d t o i n v e s t o r s w h o

p u r c h a s e d f

r a u d

- t a i n t e d v i a t i c a l s e t t l e m e n t s , ( 3 ) s e c r e t l y m i s a p p r o p r i a t e d i n v e s t o r

f u n d s f o r p e r s o n a l u s e , a n d ( 4 ) c o n s p i r e d t o c o n c e a l t a x a b l e i n c o m e f r o m t h e s a l e

o f v i a t i c a l s e t t l e m e n t s

.

D e f e n d a n t s , a s s e r t i n g e l e v e n i s s u e s f o r a p p e a l

, c l a i m t h e D i s t r i c t C o u r t

c o m m i t t e d r e v e r s i b l e e r r o r

. W e d i s a g r e e

. F e d e r a l R u l e o f C r i m i n a l P r o c e d u r e

5 2 ( a ) p r e c l u d e s c o n v i c t i o n r e v e r s a l b a s e d o n “ [ a ] n y e r r o r , d e f e c t

, i r r e g u l a r i t y , o r

v a r i a n c e t h a t d o e s n o t a f f e c t s u b s t a n t i a l r i g h t s

. ” “ [ R ] e v i e w i n g c o u r t s m u s t a p p l y

R u l e 5 2 ( a ) ’ s h a r m l e s s

- e r r o r a n a l y s i s a n d m u s t d i s r e g a r d e r r o r s t h a t a r e h a r m l e s s

2b e y o n d a r e a s o n a b l e d o u b t

. ” N e d e r v

. U n i t e d S t a t e s , 5 2 7 U

. S

. 1

, 7 ( 1 9 9 9 ) ( i n t e r n a l

q u o t a t i o n s o m i t t e d )

. T h e h a r m l e s s

- e r r o r r u l e a s s u r e s c r i m i n a l d e f e n d a n t s a f

a i r

t r i a l

, n o t a p e r f

e c t o n e

. S e e , e

. g

. , D e l a w a r e v

. V a n A r s d a l l

, 4 7 5 U

. S

. 6 7 3

, 6 8 1

( 1 9 8 6 )

.

D u r i n g t h e c o u r s e o f e v e r y l o n g t r i a l

, i m p e r f e c t i o n s a r e b o u n d t o a r i s e

b e c a u s e e x i g e n c i e s o f l i v e l i t i g a t i o n r e q u i r e i n s t a n t a n e o u s r u l i n g s o n m a t t e r s o f

w h i c h d e f

e n d a n t s c o m p l a i n ( e

. g

. , a d m i s s i b i l i t y o f e v i d e n c e , s c o p e o f c r o s s

e x a m i n a t i o n )

. D e f

e n d a n t s , h o w e v e r , h a v e n o t s h o w n a n y e r r o r c o m m i t t e d b y t h e

D i s t r i c t C o u r t

, w h i c h h a n d l e d t h i s c o m p l e x c r i m i n a l m a t t e r a d m i r a b l y

. T h e a l l e g e d

t r i a l i m p e r f

e c t i o n s , e v e n h a d t h e y a m o u n t e d t o e r r o r ( a n d t h e y d o n o t )

, w e r e

h a r m l e s s a s t o t h e o u t c o m e b e y o n d a r e a s o n a b l e d o u b t

. 1

A F F I R M E D

.

We have c onsidered a

nd reje cted e ach a

rg ument raised by

defe ndants on appe al. To ensur e 1 completene ss of the re cord, those a rg uments and their pr oponents are as follows: (1) the District
Court erre d when it denied de fenda nts’ suppression motions (Keith L aMonda) , (2) the D istrict
Court erre d by

restric ting de fense counsel fr om objecting during the Gover nment’s re buttal closing arg ument (Ke ith L aMonda) , (3) the D istrict Court erre d when it admitted testimony of May nard’ s disbarment (Ke ith L aMonda) , (4) the D istrict Court erre d by unfairly limit ing
defe ndants’ cr oss-examination of Governme nt witnesses and de fenda nts’ prese ntation of their

case (Jesse L aMonda) , (5) the e vidence was insuffic ient to support J esse L aMonda’ s conviction (Jesse L aMonda) , (6) the G overnme nt unfairly criminalized conduct involving mere ly bad business judgme nt (J esse L aMonda) , (7) the D istrict Court improperly admitted evidenc e of c ivil
and re g ulatory

violations (J esse L aMonda) , (8) the D istrict Court erre d in deny ing de fense

reque sts for jury

instructions, (9) the e vidence was insuffic ient to support May nard’ s conviction on Count Thirteen (John May nard) , (10) the e vidence was insuffic ient to support May nard’ s conviction on Count Fourtee n (John M ay nard) , and (11) May

nard’ s sentence was unre asonable
beca use the District Court fa iled to acc ount for sente ncing disparities among co-de fenda nts (John M ay

nard)

.

3