FI L ED U.S. COURT OF A P P E A LS E LE V EN T H C IR C U IT MARCH 8, 2007 THOMAS K. KAH

N CL ERK

Honora ble J ohn R. Gibson, United States Circuit J udg e for the E i gh th Circuit, sit ting by * desig nation. [DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UN ITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FO R T HE EL EV EN TH CIRC UI T

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _ N o. 05- 1288 5

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _ D. C. Docket N o. 04-00008 -CR- 5-CA P-1 UNITED STAT ES OF AMERIC A, Plaintiff-Appellee,
ve rs us DAVID DEMETZ, D ef en dant- Appe llant.

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _ Appeal f rom the United State s District Court fo r the N orthe rnD istri ct

of G eo rg ia

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _ (M ar ch 8, 200 7) Be fo re E D MO N D SO N , Ch ie f Judg e, T JO FL A T , and G IB SO N , C ir cu it Judg es . * PE R CU RIA M:2

D av id D em et z (“ D em et z” ) ap pe al s hi s c onvi ct ionand s en te nc e fo r
co nspi ra cy

to co m m it w ir e an d m ortga ge f

ra ud, w ir e fr au d, m one y

launde ri ng, and
co nspi ra cy

to co m m it m one y

launde ri ng, in vio latio n of 18 U
. S. C. §§ 2 , 371 , 134 3, 1 9 5 6 ( h ) , an d1 9 5 7
. N o r e v e r s i b l e e rr o r h a s b e e ns h o w n ; w e a f

f i rm. T he G ove rnm en t i ndi ct ed D em et z on 2 4 c ount s of

w ir e an d m ortga ge f

ra ud and m oney

laundering. T he indictm ents alleged that Dem etz and others schem ed to defraud m ortgage com panies by arr anging to purchase previously -acquired
re sid en tia l pr ope rt ie s at i nf late d pr ic es , usi ng f

al se qua lif

y ing inf orm at ionor

f al se lie ns t o ob ta in l oans b as ed on the inf

late d purc ha se pr ic e, and the n f unne lin g th e
ex ce ss p ro ce ed s ba ck

to the m se lve s. T he j ur

y r et ur ne d agui lty

ve rd ic t on22
co unt s. Af ter hear ing addi tional argum ent by both th e G overnm ent and the defense, the j ur y r en de re d de ci sio ns o n sp ec ia l f ind ing s onpoi nts out lin ed in the ind ic tm en t inv olv ing D em et z’ s r ole in the f ra udul en t sc he m e an d th e am ount s invol ve d. T he dis tr ic t c ourt the n c ondu ct ed ase parate se nte nc ing he ar ing and s en te nc ed D em et z to a 108 m onths’ im

pr iso nm en t, thr ee y ears ’ sup er vis ed r el ea se , r es tit

uti on, and a fin e. De m etz ra ises four err ors on appeal. Fir st, he ar gues that the dis trict court abused its d iscretion in deny ing Dem etz’ s oral m otion for a continu ance, givenDemetz t es t i fied on his own beha lf. On cr oss-examination, when asked why his mother was 1 lis te d a s th e owne r o f D e me tz’ s b ro ke ra g e on the mor tg a g e br ok e r l ice ns e app lic atio n, De me tz reve aled that he had an ear lier felony conviction t hat he fea red would preve nt the l icense from being iss ue d. Th e de fe ns e ob

je c te d and mov e d fo r a mis tr ia l, arguin g that th e c onvic tio n w a s in a dmi ssi ble under both F ed. R. Evid. 6 0 9 and 404(b) . The c ourt overr uled the objec tion and allowed the g overnme nt to proce ed on the ground that the prior conviction showed that Demetz had lied about its ex istence on his initial mortga g e broke r application. 3 co unse l’ s a

ppoi ntm en t on ly

thr ee m onths b ef

or e tr ia l and the vol um ino us discovery invol ved in the case. Ne xt, D em etz asserts that the dis trict court abused its dis cr et ionby

a dm itt ing e vid en ce of

his 198 6 f

el ony dr ug c onvi ct ionf

or im pe ac hm en t purp ose s. A nd, D em et z ch al le nge s th e dis tr ic t c ourt’ s r ef usa l t o 1 allow defe nse counsel to ref erence a co-def

endant’ s plea agree m ent – which had be enintro duc ed

int o e vid en ce e ar lie r in the pr oc ee din gs – dur ing c los ing
ar gum en ts o n th e spe ci al f ind ing s. L as t, D em et z co nte nds that hi s 10 8- m onth
s en t en ce i s u n re as o n ab l e u n d erUn i t edSt at es v . B o o k er , 5 4 3 U.S . 2 2 0 (2 0 0 5 ). We conclude that these argum ents have no m erit. D em etz’ s convictio n and sentence
are therefore AFFIRMED.