Source: https://casetext.com/case/us-v-siegelman-8
Timestamp: 2020-07-10 10:19:36
Document Index: 77352206

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 666', '§ 1341', '§ 201', '§ 1861', '§ 1861', '§ 2', '§ 3553', '§ 2']

U.S. v. Siegelman, 561 F.3d 1215 | Casetext Search + Citator
A jury is presumed to have acted impartially. See United States v. Siegelman, 561 F.3d 1215, 1237 (11th Cir.…
U.S. v. Govereh
However, a jury is free to reject a defendant's testimony and instead believe the prosecution's witnesses.…
Full title:UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Don Eugene SIEGELMAN…
561 F.3d 1215 (11th Cir. 2009)
holding that a motion for recusal was properly denied because it was not timely made
Summary of this case from Walton v. Neptune Technology Group, Inc.
Arthur W. Leach, Atlanta, GA, Vincent F. Kilborn, III, Mobile, AL, Hiram Chester Eastland, Jr., Eastland Law Offices, PLLC, Greenwood, MS, G. Robert Blakey, Notre Dame, IN, David Allen McDonald, Kilborn, Roebuck McDonald, Mobile, AL, James K. Jenkins, Maloy Jenkins, Atlanta, GA, Leslie V. Moore, Moore Associates, Birmingham, AL, Bruce Rogow, Cynthia E. Gunther, Bruce S. Rogow, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, FL, Sam Heldman, Gardner Firm, Washington, DC, for Defendants-Appellants.
David A. Sifre, Stroock Stroock Lavan, LLP, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae.
The defendants' bribery convictions were based on allegations that they made and executed a corrupt agreement whereby Scrushy gave Siegelman $500,000 in exchange for Siegelman's appointing him to Alabama's Certificate of Need Review Board (the "CON" Board). The honest services mail fraud convictions incorporated the same bribery allegations, but also alleged that Scrushy used the CON Board seat obtained from Siegelman to further HealthSouth's interests. Siegelman's obstruction of justice conviction is based on allegations that he corruptly influenced another to create a series of sham check transactions to cover up a "pay-to-play" payment to him.
The obstruction of justice allegations involved conduct unrelated to the SiegelmanScrushy bribery, mail fraud and conspiracy charges.
Furthermore, to the extent that the jury's verdict rests upon their evaluations of the credibility of individual witnesses, and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from that testimony, we owe deference to those decisions. In our system, the jury decides what the facts are, by listening to the witnesses and making judgments about whom to believe. This they have done, and, though invited to do so, we shall not substitute our judgment for theirs.
The defendants assert that this is a case in which we owe no deference to the jury's findings of fact, but we disagree.
This is not to say that the judgment below is inviolable. Our duty as an appellate court is to answer properly presented questions from the parties in the case as to whether the law was correctly interpreted and applied by the district court. Juries apply the law as the judge instructs them, and the defendants' lawyers assert that there were errors in those instructions. Defendants also contend that there were other legal mistakes committed during the course of this trial. With this in mind, we have reviewed the claims of legal error in the proceedings below, and our opinion as to their merit follows. First, however, we recount the facts as the jury found them.
On March 9, 2000, the Foundation borrowed $730,789.29 from an Alabama bank in order to pay down debt incurred by the Alabama Democratic Party for get-out-the-vote expenses during the lottery campaign. This note was personally and unconditionally guaranteed by Siegelman.
There was another personal guarantor, but each was individually liable.
Richard Scrushy, the CEO of Health-South had served on the CON Board under three previous governors of Alabama. The CON Board is an arm of the State Health Planning and Development Agency and exists to prevent unnecessary duplication of healthcare services in Alabama. The Board determines the number of healthcare facilities in Alabama through a process that requires healthcare providers to apply for and obtain a certificate of a healthcare need before opening a new facility or offering a special healthcare service. The CON Board decides which healthcare applications will be approved for an announced healthcare need, choosing between competing applications and ruling on objections filed by an applicant's competitor. The Governor of Alabama has sole discretion to appoint the members of the CON Board, who serve at his pleasure. Scrushy had supported Siegelman's opponent in the just prior election.
Three of the nine seats on the Board are reserved for health care industry providers.
Nick Bailey was one of Siegelman's closest associates and had worked on Siegelman's campaign for governor. Cline testified that "whatever [Bailey] told me that the Governor wanted was what "the Governor said." Cline also testified that "if the Governor wanted to get something done, then [Bailey] went ahead — blindly went ahead and did it."
Martin also testified that Scrushy told him that HealthSouth could not make the payment to the lottery campaign, nor could he do it personally because "we [Health-South] had not supported that and that his wife, Leslie, was against the lottery, and it would just look bad if HealthSouth made a direct contribution to the lottery, so we needed to ask — he instructed me in particular to ask our investment banker, Bill McGahan, from [the Swiss bank] UBS, to make the contribution."
Some time later, Siegelman and Scrushy met in Siegelman's office. Bailey testified that after Scrushy left, Siegelman showed the IHS check to Bailey and told him that Scrushy was "halfway there." Bailey asked, "what in the world is he [Scrushy] going to want for that?" Siegel-man replied, "the CON Board." Bailey then asked, "I wouldn't think that would be a problem, would it?" Siegelman responded, "I wouldn't think so."
Siegelman appointed Scrushy to the CON Board on July 26, 1999 — one week after the date on the IHS check. Siegelman directed Bailey to contact the Board chair-designee to tell her that Siegelman wanted Scrushy to be vice-chair of the CON Board, and the Board so chose. Bailey testified that Siegelman made Scrushy vice-chair "[b]ecause [Scrushy] asked for it." Scrushy stayed on the Board until January of 2001, at which time Siegelman appointed Thorn Carman, HealthSouth's vice-president, to the remainder of Scrushy's term. Siegelman subsequently reappointed Carman to a full term. While Carman was on the Board, HealthSouth successfully applied for and received Certificates of Need for a mobile PET scanner and a rehabilitation hospital.
Darren Cline, the Foundation's fundraising director, testified that Siegelman gave him the IHS check and told him it was from Scrushy. Cline was concerned about the amount of the donation from one person, and Siegelman told him to hold the check. In November of 1999, however, at Siegelman's direction, Bailey retrieved the check and opened a new checking account in the Foundation's name at a Birmingham bank. Bailey made an initial deposit of $275,000 — the $250,000 IHS check and a $25,000 check from another company. Cline was never told.
In May, Siegelman and Bailey traveled to HealthSouth's headquarters in Birmingham, where Siegelman met privately with Scrushy in Scrushy's office. At that meeting, Scrushy gave Siegelman a check issued by HealthSouth for $250,000 payable to the Foundation. On May 23, 2000, the $250,000 check was applied directly against the Foundation's loan balance.
HealthSouth's political contributions coordinator testified that she did not know about the donation until she read about it in the newspaper. The Foundation's fundraising director testified that he was not present when Scrushy gave Siegelman either of the checks.
On December 12, 2005, a grand jury returned a second superseding indictment against Siegelman and Scrushy and two other defendants. Both Siegelman and Scrushy were charged with federal funds bribery, honest services conspiracy and honest services mail fraud. Siegelman was also charged with multiple counts of racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, honest services wire fraud, obstruction of justice and extortion.
The superseding indictment replaced an earlier version of the indictment.
The federal funds bribery statute criminalizes the taking of a bribe by an official of a state agency that receives over $10,000 in federal funds annually. 18 U.S.C. § 666. Honest services mail fraud criminalizes the mailing of a letter in connection with a scheme to defraud a state agency of an official's honest services in the performance of his official duties. 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1346.
Siegelman and Scrushy were each sentenced to approximately seven years in federal prison.
Siegelman and Scrushy were denied bond pending appeal, but a panel of this court subsequently released Siegelman pending resolution of this appeal.
The bribery, conspiracy and honest services mail fraud convictions in this case are based upon the donation Scrushy gave to Siegelman's education lottery campaign. As such, they impact the First Amendment's core values — protection of free political speech and the right to support issues of great public importance. It would be a particularly dangerous legal error from a civic point of view to instruct a jury that they may convict a defendant for his exercise of either of these constitutionally protected activities. In a political system that is based upon raising private contributions for campaigns for public office and for issue referenda, there is ample opportunity for that error to be committed.
Although the conspiracy and mail fraud counts alleged a broader scheme for Scrushy to self-deal once on the Board, these counts also incorporated the allegations of an agreement between Siegelman and Scrushy to exchange money for the seat on the Board.
Arguably, the potential negative impact of these statutes on issue-advocacy campaigns is even more dangerous than it is to candidate-election campaigns. Issue-advocacy campaigns are a fundamental right in a free and democratic society and contributions to them do not financially benefit the individual politician in the same way that a candidate-election campaign contribution does. Defendants assert, and we do not know otherwise, that this is the first case to be based upon issue-advocacy campaign contributions.
The Supreme Court has sought to protect against this possibility by requiring more for conviction than merely proof of a campaign donation followed by an act favorable toward the donor. McCormick v. United States, 500 U.S. 257, 111 S.Ct. 1807, 114 L.Ed.2d 307 (1991). In reviewing a Hobbs Act prosecution, the federal crime of extortion under color of official right — demanding a campaign donation in return for taking some favorable official action — the Court said:
Id. (quoting United States v. Dozier, 672 F.2d 531, 537 (5th Cir. 1982)).
While the Court has not yet considered whether the federal funds bribery, conspiracy or honest services mail fraud statutes require a similar "explicit promise," the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has observed that extortion and bribery are but "different sides of the same coin." United States v. Allen, 10 F.3d 405, 411 (7th Cir. 1993).
The instruction approved in Evans required that the acceptance of the campaign donation be in return for a specific official action — a quid pro quo. No generalized expectation of some future favorable action will do. The official must agree to take or forego some specific action in order for the doing of it to be criminal under Section 666. In the absence of such an agreement on a specific action, even a close-in-time relationship between the donation and the act will not suffice.
The Latin means "something for something," Black's Law Dictionary 1282 (8th ed. 2004).
But there is no requirement that this agreement be memorialized in a writing, or even, as defendants suggest, be overheard by a third party. Since the agreement is for some specific action or inaction, the agreement must be explicit, but there is no requirement that it be express. To hold otherwise, as Justice Kennedy noted in Evans, would allow defendants to escape criminal liability through "knowing winks and nods." 504 U.S. at 274, 112 S.Ct. 1881 (Kennedy, J. concurring). See also United States v. Blandford, 33 F.3d 685, 696 (6th Cir. 1994) (" Evans instructed that by `explicit' McCormick did not mean express"); United States v. Giles, 246 F.3d 966, 972 (7th Cir. 2001); United States v. Tucker, 133 F.3d 1208, 1215 (9th Cir. 1998); United States v. Hairston, 46 F.3d 361, 365 (4th Cir. 1995).
Nor is this court's prior holding in United States v. Davis, 30 F.3d 108 (11th Cir. 1994), to the contrary. In Davis, we acknowledged that, after McCormick, "an explicit promise by a public official to act or not act is an essential element of Hobbs Act extortion, and the defendant is entitled to a reasonably clear jury instruction to that effect." Id. at 108. We reversed Davis' conviction not only because his jury did not receive a reasonably clear instruction, but because the court in that case "informed the jury that `a specific quid pro quo is not always necessary for a public official to be guilty of extortion.'" Id.
Id. See also United States v. Massey, 89 F.3d 1433, 1439 (11th Cir. 1996) (holding that bribery conviction under general federal bribery statute, 18 U.S.C. § 201, may be supported by "inferences drawn from relevant and competent circumstantial evidence").
In this case, the jury was instructed that they could not convict the defendants of bribery unless "the Defendant and official agree that the official will take specific action in exchange for the thing of value." This instruction required the jury to find an agreement to exchange a specific official action for a campaign contribution. Finding these facts would satisfy McCormick's requirement for an explicit agreement involving a quid pro quo. Therefore, assuming a quid pro quo instruction was required in this case, we find no reversible error.
Because the conduct charged in the conspiracy and honest services mail fraud counts incorporates the conduct alleged in the federal funds bribery counts, on which the jury was instructed to find a quid pro quo, any failure to adequately instruct the jury on a quid pro quo requirement for the conspiracy and honest services counts was harmless. See Cupp v. Naughten, 414 U.S. 141, 148-48, 94 S.Ct. 396, 38 L.Ed.2d 368 (1973) (jury instructions must be evaluated as a whole).
1. The Bribery, Conspiracy and Related Mail Fraud Counts
Counts 6 and 7 charge Mail Fraud in connection with the mailings of the letters appointing (Count 6) and reappointing (Count 7) Thom Carman as Scrushy's replacement on the CON Board in connection with the bribery scheme.
Governor Siegelman knew, or at least thought, that Scrushy wanted a C.O.N. Board appointment in recognition of the contribution — and that Governor Siegelman didn't think that making such an appointment would present a problem.
What is missing in this record, according to defendants, is any evidence of a discussion between Governor Siegelman and Scrushy to the effect of "I will make this contribution, and in exchange for this contribution you will appoint me. Are we agreed on that?" "Yes we are." In the absence of such evidence, according to the defendants, no reasonable juror could infer an explicit agreement between Siegelman and Scrushy.
This suggestion as to the evidence that would be sufficient is asserted in Siegelman's brief.
We disagree. Inferring actors' states of mind from the circumstances surrounding their conversation, from their actions, and from their words spoken at the time is precisely the province of the jury. As we noted above, "the [jury] is quite capable of deciding the intent with which words were spoken or actions taken as well as the reasonable construction given to them by the official and the payor." See Evans, 504 U.S. at 274, 112 S.Ct. 1881 (Kennedy, J., concurring). In making these judgments, jurors are presumed to use their common sense and are free to choose among reasonable constructions of the evidence. See United States v. Mosquera, 779 F.2d 628, 630 (11th Cir. 1986). Bailey's testimony was competent evidence that Siegelman and Scrushy had agreed to a deal in which Scrushy's donation would be rewarded with a seat on the CON Board. The jurors were free to give it a different construction, but they did not.
For example, Bailey repeatedly testified, without qualification, that Siegelman and Scrushy had an explicit agreement to exchange money for a seat on the CON Board. Bailey also testified that Siegelman met with Eric Hanson, an outside lobbyist for HealthSouth, and told him that because Scrushy had contributed at least $350,000 to Siegelman's opponent in the general election that Scrushy needed to "do" at least $500,000 in order to "make it right" with the Siegelman campaign. Bailey testified that Siegelman was referring to the campaign for the lottery initiative, and that Hanson was to relay this conversation to Scrushy. Bailey also testified that, in another conversation, Hanson told Bailey that Scrushy wanted control of the CON Board.
Defense counsel also recognized this fact. Scrushy's counsel said to Bailey on cross-examination, "I'm talking about your testimony that there was some exchange of official action for the payments that Mr. Scrushy gave, all right."
Cline testified that Siegelman told him that Scrushy was responsible for the first $250,000 check and that "there was another $250,000 that would be coming." Cline also testified that the receipt of the checks by the Foundation was not reported until after newspaper articles questioning the Foundation's finances.
There was testimony that all other contributions to the Foundation were similarly not reported, but the jury was free to choose the reasonable inference that the failure to report the licit contributions was to conceal the illicit ones.
In sum, the evidence was sufficient such that a reasonable juror could have concluded that Siegelman and Scrushy explicitly agreed to a corrupt quid, pro quo, thereby proving the bribery, conspiracy and the two related mail fraud counts (Counts 6 and 7).
Siegelman separately challenges his mail fraud convictions on Counts 8 and 9 of the indictment, each of which charged that he caused a mailing that helped to execute a scheme between himself and Scrushy to deprive the State of Alabama of its right to their honest services as the Governor and as a member of the CON Board. Counts 8 and 9 alleged that the scheme included not only the exchange of the seat on the CON Board for the $500,000 lottery campaign, but also that Scrushy "would and did use his seat on the CON Board to attempt to affect the interests of HealthSouth and its competitors," and that Scrushy "would and did offer things of value to another Board member to attempt to affect the interests of HealthSouth and its competitors." Although Scrushy was not on the Board when the alleged self-dealing occurred, the indictment charged that it was part of the scheme that Siegelman and Scrushy "orchestrated Scrushy's replacement on the Board by another person employed by HealthSouth." The mailings charged in connection with these allegations were letters sent by the Board to HealthSouth, notifying it that it had been awarded Certificates of Need in connection with the rehabilitation hospital (Count 8) and the PET scanner (Count 9). Siegelman claims that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support his knowing participation in this alleged scheme.
Scrushy does not make this argument.
The evidence at trial was that Scrushy resigned from his seat on the Board in January of 2001 and that, the next day, Siegelman appointed Thorn Carman, HealthSouth vice-president, to the remainder of the term. When Scrushy's term expired in July, Siegelman reappointed Carman.
While on the Board, Carman employed another member of the Board, Tim Adams, to prepare the application for the PET scanner, paying him $8000 to do so. There was also testimony that Adams was paid another $3000 for "additional work he apparently had done on the PET scanner application" in return for his agreement to attend the CON Board meeting at which HealthSouth's application for a rehabilitation hospital in Phoenix City was considered. At the meeting, Carman recused himself from voting on the application. Adams attended, and although he abstained from voting, under the Board's rules, his abstention did not affect the quorum his presence established, thus permitting a vote to be taken. There was no opposition to the application and the Board unanimously approved the application.
It is the law of this circuit, as well as others, that all who with criminal intent join themselves to the principal scheme may be guilty of a violation of the mail fraud statute. United States v. Toney, 598 F.2d 1349, 1355 (5th Cir. 1979). See also United States v. Stapleton, 293 F.3d 1111, 1117 (9th Cir. 2002) ("Like co-conspirators, `knowing participants in the scheme are legally liable' for their co-schemers use of the mails or wires"); United States v. Leahy, 445 F.3d 634, 656 (3d Cir. 2006); United States v. Stull, 743 F.2d 439 (6th Cir. 1984); United States v. Sedovic, 679 F.2d 1233 (8th Cir. 1982); United States v. Read, 658 F.2d 1225 (7th Cir. 1981). Each person who is knowingly a party to the principal scheme is liable for the acts of other schemers in pursuance of that scheme. Toney, 598 F.2d at 1355.
Recently, in United States v. Ward, 486 F.3d 1212 (11th Cir. 2007), we reiterated this long-standing principle that, if one participant in a fraudulent scheme causes a use of the mails in execution of the fraud, all other knowing participants in the scheme are legally liable for that use of the mails:
The question regarding these counts is whether the criminal scheme charged in the indictment was broader than the initial pay-to-play agreement between Siegelman and Scrushy, but also included agreement on the broader objective of permitting or promoting Scrushy's self-dealing while on the Board. If so, it is immaterial that Siegelman may not have known about each particular success in that scheme or caused to be mailed the CON Board letters that furthered that scheme. "A partnership in crime being established against both appellants, the acts of [Scrushy] in furtherance of the common criminal enterprise were in law the acts of [Siegelman] also." See Belt v. United States, 73 F.2d 888, 889 (5th Cir. 1934).
Just as in Ward, where the defendant denied knowledge of both the mailing and the circumstances prompting it, Siegel-man's lack of involvement in causing a specific mailing and the circumstances prompting it are immaterial so long as there is sufficient evidence to show that he was a knowing participant in the broader fraudulent scheme, which involved the use of the mails. See Ward, 486 F.3d at 1223 (citing United State v. Bright, 588 F.2d 504 (5th Cir. 1979)).
Defendants do not dispute that they first raised this limitations claim in motions for judgment of acquittal under Fed.R.Crim.P. 29(c), over one month after the jury rendered its verdict. We have previously rejected such attempts to challenge the sufficiency of the indictment after the trial. United States v. Ramirez, 324 F.3d 1225 (11th Cir. 2003). In Ramirez, we rejected a limitations defense raised by way of a post-trial Rule 29 motion. Id. We held that "when a statute of limitations defense is clear on the face of the indictment and requires no further development of facts at trial, a defendant waives his right to raise that defense by failing to raise it in a pretrial motion." Id. at 1228-29.
Even where the facts are at issue regarding the limitations period, this court and its predecessor have long held that "the statute of limitations is a matter of defense that must be asserted at trial by the defendant" and that failure to do so results in a waiver. United States v. Najjar, 283 F.3d 1306, 1308 (11th Cir. 2002); accord Capone v. Aderhold, 65 F.2d 130, 131 (5th Cir. 1933). Other circuits agree. See, e.g., United States v. Gallup, 812 F.2d 1271 (10th Cir. 1987); United States v. Karlin, 785 F.2d 90, 92-93 (3d Cir. 1986).
Requiring the defendant to assert a limitations defense at trial gives the prosecution a fair opportunity to rebut the defense through additional evidence or during summation. See United States v. Arky, 938 F.2d 579, 582 (5th Cir. 1991); United States v. Oliva, 46 F.3d 320, 324-25 (3d Cir. 1995). Furthermore, the "determination of when the crime has been committed for statute of limitations purposes . . . is ordinarily a question of fact for the jury." Oliva, 46 F.3d at 324-25.
Allowing a defendant to raise a limitations defense for the first time in a post-verdict Rule 29 motion "is inconsistent with the characterization of the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense and would unfairly sandbag the government." United States v. Thurston, 358 F.3d 51, 63 (1st Cir. 2004), vacated on other grounds, 543 U.S. 1097, 125 S.Ct. 984, 160 L.Ed.2d 988 (2005).
Siegelman was charged with two counts of obstruction of justice. The indictment alleged and the government undertook to prove that eighteen months after the $9200 pay-to-play payment to Siegelman from Lanny Young, Siegelman and Bailey became aware of the federal-state corruption investigation and instigated a series of sham check transactions in an effort to coverup the payment, The coverup was designed to make it appear that Bailey had borrowed the $9200 from Young so that he could buy a motorcycle from Siegelman.
Section 1512(b)(3) provides in pertinent part:
Count 16 alleged that Siegelman corruptly persuaded Bailey to write a check for $10,503 to Young with the notation "repayment of loan plus interest." Count 17 alleged that Siegelman corruptly persuaded Bailey to write and give him a check for $2973.35 with the notation on it that it was the "balance due on m/c" Count 17 also alleged that Siegelman engaged in misleading Bailey's attorney with the intent to hinder or prevent the attorney's communication of information regarding these transactions to the FBI.
The jury acquitted Siegelman of Count 16, but convicted him on Count 17. Siegel-man contends that the evidence was insufficient to show that he persuaded Bailey to write the check charged in Count 17 or that he misled Bailey's attorney. We turn now to the evidence.
At trial, Young testified that in January of 2000, Siegelman asked him for $9200 to buy a motorcycle and that he gave it to Siegelman as part of the pay-to-play, ongoing agreement he had with Siegelman. He also testified that, eighteen months later, after the federal-state corruption investigation began, he and Bailey had the following conversation:
Young: Right after the investigation started, Nick [Bailey] called me and asked me if I could recall how I made out the check for the motorcycle. And I said — on what account I had written the check for the motorcycle. And I said no, why? He said because if it's on one of your personal accounts, you are going to have a motorcycle in your driveway tonight.
Bailey: I found out about the investigation that was going on with Lanny — could have involved others; we weren't sure at the time. I wanted to repay Lanny's $9200. I did it in the form of a check. Did a promissory note with Lanny to repay this $9200 plus interest, $10,503.
The jury considered all of this testimony and found Siegelman guilty of the obstruction of justice charged in Count 17, but not in Count 16. This means that the jury decided, as a matter of fact, that Siegel-man persuaded Bailey to write the check for $2973.35, but not the initial check for $10,500.
In evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's verdict, we are required to "view the evidence in the light most favorable to the government and resolve all reasonable inferences and credibility evaluations in favor of the jury's verdict." United States v. Robertson, 493 F.3d 1322, 1329 (11th Cir. 2007). The evidence needs not "be wholly inconsistent with every conclusion except that of guilt, provided that a reasonable trier of fact could find that the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
A reasonable juror could have concluded that Siegelman persuaded Bailey (he asked and Bailey agreed) to take the final step in the cover up by giving him a $2793.35 check with the notation that it was final payment for the motorcycle. See United States v. Tocco, 135 F.3d 116, 126-27 (2d Cir. 1998) (affirming jury inference of persuasion from defendant's strong influence over witness who was employee); United States v. Morrison, 98 F.3d 619, 629-30 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (making a request sufficient persuasion). The testimony was that Siegelman knew and agreed that Bailey would disguise Young's payment to Siegelman as a loan to Bailey to buy the motorcycle by "paying back" Young with his own check. The evidence further showed that Siegel-man accepted and cashed the $2973.35 check from Bailey with the notation that it was final payment for the motorcycle. Finally, the jury had heard testimony that Bailey always did what Siegelman asked him to do.
This sort of split verdict is itself evidence that the jury considered the charges carefully and individually, addressed the strength of the evidence on each charge, and reached a reasoned conclusion. See United States v. Dominguez, 226 F.3d 1235, 1248 (11th Cir. 2000) (making these comments in the context of allegations of premature jury deliberations).
Siegelman's argument against the sufficiency of this evidence mirrors that he made against his convictions on virtually all the other counts — that the evidence in this case was not perfect, that it relied too heavily on circumstances and required the jury to draw inferences from those circumstances that might have been drawn differently by different jurors.
With respect to the "misleading" prong of the statute, the evidence was more than sufficient to support the jury's finding that the delivery of the final check in the presence of the two lawyers and the use of the lawyers to "finalize" the sale of the motorcycle to Bailey was an attempt to "create witnesses as part of a cover-up and to use unwitting third parties or entities to deflect the efforts of law enforcement agents in discovering the truth," United States v. Veal, 153 F.3d 1233, 1247 (11th Cir. 1998) (statute satisfied by "the possibility or likelihood that [the defendants'] false and misleading information would be transferred to federal authorities . . ."). The jury was entitled to infer from the sham check transaction in Bailey's lawyer's presence that Siegelman intended to mislead the lawyer into believing that the transaction was legitimate, that Bailey had, indeed, purchased the motorcycle from him, and that the check was final payment. As the "unwitting third party," the lawyer would be in a position factually to support the cover up since Siegelman clearly knew that there was a "possibility" that the federal investigators would come asking.
Indeed, the "bill of sale" for the motorcycle, prepared by the attorneys, was introduced at this trial. Similarly, Bailey had also delivered the "loan repayment" check for $10,503.39 to Young in the office of Young's lawyer.
Under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E), a court has the discretion to admit coconspirator statements made during and in furtherance of the conspiracy. The court's admission of such statements is an abuse of its discretion to do so if the statements do not meet this legal standard. United States v. Magluta, 418 F.3d 1166 (11th Cir. 2005).
This court applies a liberal standard in determining whether a statement was in furtherance of a conspiracy. United States v. Santiago, 837 F.2d 1545, 1549 (11th Cir. 1988). "The statement need not be necessary to the conspiracy, but must only further the interests of the conspiracy in some way." United States v. Miles, 290 F.3d 1341, 1351 (11th Cir. 2002). "[I]f the statement `could have been intended to affect future dealings between the parties,' then the statement is in furtherance of a conspiracy." United States v. Caraza, 843 F.2d 432, 436 (11th Cir. 1988) (quoting United States v. Patton, 594 F.2d 444, 447 (5th Cir. 1979)). Finally, "[statements between conspirators which provide reassurance, serve to maintain trust and cohesiveness among them, or inform each other of the current status of the conspiracy further the ends of the conspiracy. . . ." United States v. Ammar, 714 F.2d 238, 252 (3d Cir. 1983). Even defendants concede that boasting or bragging is in furtherance of a conspiracy if the statements are directed at obtaining the confidence or allaying the suspicions of coconspirators. Santiago, 837 F.2d at 1549.
Hanson's statement at the HealthSouth retreat furthered the conspiracy. We agree with the government that, given Martin's own involvement in the conspiracy (obtaining the IHS check), Hanson's bragging to him about purchasing the CON Board seat "with the help of the IHS check informed Martin that their plan had worked and that Martin's involvement had helped. This alone is sufficient to permit its introduction under Ammar, 714 F.2d at 252. Additionally, however, the statement is easily seen to affect the co-conspirators future dealings because Martin's assistance might be needed in connection with the second $250,000 donation and Hanson knew this. Thus, Hanson's statement easily meets the Caraza standard. 843 F.2d at 436 (approving statement admitted after several acts of conspiracy helping to ensure final acts). The district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting this evidence.
Defendants filed a joint motion for a new trial under Fed.R.Crim.P. 33(a), alleging juror misconduct by way of both juror exposure to extraneous information as well as by improper juror deliberation and that each impropriety violated the Sixth Amendment and requires a new trial. After conducting two evidentiary hearings on this issue, the district court held that no substantial violation of the Sixth Amendment occurred that required a new trial. We review the denial of a motion for new trial based on alleged juror misconduct for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Venske, 296 F.3d 1284, 1290 (11th Cir. 2002). We will consider each of the claims of misconduct in turn.
Scrushy has moved this court to appoint a special master under Fed.R.App. R. 48 to investigate the matter. The request is denied.
In the first of these hearing, the court considered the affidavit of Juror 5 to determine whether it established sufficient reason to conduct further inquiry, concluding that it did.
Of course, the district court's findings of facts supporting its legal conclusion are reviewed only for clear error. United States v. Cuthel, 903 F.2d 1381, 1383 (11th Cir. 1990).
We presume, however, that the jury has been impartial. United States v. Winkle, 587 F.2d 705, 714 (5th Cir. 1979). A defendant who alleges denial of this right resulting from juror exposure to extraneous information has the burden of making a colorable showing that the exposure has, in fact, occurred. Id. See also United States v. Ayarza-Garcia, 819 F.2d 1043, 1051 (11th Cir. 1987). If the defendant does so, prejudice to the defendant is presumed and the burden shifts to the government to show "that the jurors' consideration of extrinsic evidence was harmless to the defendant." Remmer v. United States, 347 U.S. 227, 74 S.Ct. 450, 98 L.Ed. 654 (1954); United States v. Rondo, 455 F.3d 1273, 1299 (11th Cir. 2006).
All decisions of the Fifth Circuit prior to October 1, 1981, when this court was established, have been adopted as decisions of this court. Bonner v. Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981).
Ronda recognized that there has been some inconsistency in our application of Remmer, but, as in Ronda, we decline to consider this issue because it has no bearing on the outcome. 455 F.3d at 1299 n. 36.
Finding that the defendants had made a colorable showing of extrinsic influence on the jury, the district court held a hearing to which all twelve jurors were summoned and told to bring with them any material related to outside information that they or any other juror considered during trial or deliberations. At the hearing, the court asked each juror a series of twelve questions designed to reveal the nature and extent of any extrinsic evidence to which the jurors were exposed. Each juror testified under oath in response to the twelve questions and follow-up questions.
These questions are attached as Exhibit "A" to this opinion.
We agree. In substantially similar circumstances, we affirmed a district court's decision that a new trial was not required in a case where the jury foreman went to the library and checked out a book entitled What You Need to Know for Jury Duty, and then exposed the jury to it. United States v. De La Vega, 913 F.2d 861, 869 (11th Cir. 1990). In that case, the fore-person read the book, implemented suggestions for jury procedures outlined in the book, brought the book to the jury room, and showed some other jurors a page in the book that outlined organizational steps for deliberation. Id. at 869-70. We held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that there was no reasonable possibility that the introduction of this extrinsic information prejudiced the defendants such that a new trial was required. Id. at 870-71.
During trial, the district court granted the government's motion to cure what the court had determined was mutiplicitous charging of the federal funds bribery counts by removing reference to Siegelman in Count 4 and to Scrushy in Count 3 of the Second Superseding Indictment. The district court provided the jury with a copy of the resulting redacted Second Superseding Indictment for its deliberations.
Furthermore, the jury was repeatedly instructed that the indictment was not evidence of guilt, and that it must decide the case solely on the evidence properly admitted during the trial. The jury is presumed to follow the district court's instructions. See United States v. Shenberg, 89 F.3d 1461, 1472 (11th Cir. 1996). Based upon the district court's investigation of this claim, its careful review of the nature, source and use of the extrinsic information in the context of the substantial evidence of defendants' guilt, we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendants a new trial for this reason.
The Court has repeatedly emphasized the important policy considerations that require the shielding of juries from public scrutiny of their deliberations. Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 100, 90 S.Ct. 1893, 26 L.Ed.2d 446 (1970). "The essential feature of a jury obviously lies in the interposition between the accused and his accuser of the commonsense judgment of a group of laymen, and in the community participation and shared responsibility that results from that group's determination of guilt or innocence." Id. Because our system of justice so prizes this unique and essential feature of our criminal justice system, it both anticipates and tolerates some level of imperfection in the system. United States v. D'Angelo, 598 F.2d 1002, 1004-05 n. 4 (5th Cir. 1979). As the Supreme Court has explained:
By disallowing a juror to impeach the jury's verdict by testimony about their deliberations, the rule operates to protect jurors from postverdict investigation and to protect the verdict from endless attack.
The only exception to the rule is to permit the sort of examination of jurors conducted by the district court in this case to determine whether the jury considered extrinsic information to the defendant's prejudice, as discussed in the immediately preceding portion of this opinion. The district court found as a matter of fact that it had "no doubt whatsoever that the documents purporting to be juror emails on which the Defendants rely are wholly unrelated to any evidence of jury exposure to extraneous information or outside influence." We conclude that this finding of fact is not clearly erroneous. In addition, we see no abuse of discretion in the way the district court dealt with the three other emails called to its attention after the evidentiary hearings.
We have previously affirmed district courts that have denied motions for a new trial while declining to conduct investigations into jury deliberations. Cuthel, 903 F.2d at 1381. In Cuthel, we held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in failing to conduct an evidentiary hearing despite evidence of premature deliberations by the jury and evidence of intrajury pressure to reach a verdict. Id. at 1383; see also United States v. Barshov, 733 F.2d 842, 852 (11th Cir. 1984) (duty to investigate arises only in the context of extrinsic influence); McElroy by McElroy v. Firestone Tire Rubber Co., 894 F.2d 1504, 1511 (11th Cir. 1990) (denying defendant's requests to interview the jury members based on allegations of improper deliberations).
The district court said that it had serious reservations about the authenticity of these purported emails, but concluded that the law barred it from questioning the jurors about their deliberations, or about the emails purporting to suggest that the jurors deliberated improperly. Instead, it stated that "[e]ven if the Court were to assume arguendo the authenticity of these documents," it would not find that the emails established that the jury either deliberated prematurely or without all its members in any significant measure.
Defendants urged the court to obtain information regarding the emails from the jurors' internet providers but provided the court with no legal authority in support of this "unusual and intrusive investigation of jurors." In view of the law governing postverdict investigation of jurors, the court denied the request.
We agree. Additionally, we note that the verdict in this case was split in that Siegelman was acquitted of many of the charges. Such a split verdict lends supports to a conclusion that the jury carefully weighed the evidence and reached a reasoned verdict free of undue influence and did not decide the case prematurely. United States v. Dominguez, 226 F.3d 1235, 1248 (11th Cir. 2000); Cuthel, 903 F.2d at 1383.
Scrushy argues that because he was convicted on all counts against him, that the verdict was not split as to him. The law, however, is to the contrary. See United States v. Baker, 432 F.3d 1189, 1237 (11th Cir. 2005) (a split verdict is one in which the jury finds "guilt as to some defendants or charges but not as to others").
We conclude, therefore, that the district court did not abuse its discretion in deciding that the purported emails, assuming they are authentic, do not entitle defendants to a new trial. The district court applied the relevant factors to the email evidence, and was well within its discretion to conclude that they did not demonstrate premature deliberation or deliberation with fewer than all jury members sufficient to arise to a constitutional violation.
A motion for recusal based upon the appearance of partiality must be timely made when the facts upon which it relies are known. The untimeliness of such a motion is itself a basis upon which to deny it. Phillips v. Amoco Oil Co., 799 F.2d 1464, 1472 (11th Cir. 1986). The rule has been applied when the facts upon which the motion relies are public knowledge, even if the movant does not know them. See National Auto Brokers Corp. v. General Motors Corp., 572 F.2d 953, 957-59 (2d Cir. 1978). The purpose of the rule is to "conserve judicial resources and prevent a litigant from waiting until an adverse decision has been handed down before moving to disqualify the judge." Summers v. Singletary, 119 F.3d 917, 921 (11th Cir. 1997).
Federal criminal defendants have both a statutory and a constitutional right to a grand and a petit jury selected at random from a fair cross-section of their community. Juror Selection and Service Act of 1968, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1861- 1869 (the "JSSA"); U.S. Const. amend. VI. By its terms, the JSSA provides remedies for only a "substantial failure to comply" with its requirements for jury selection procedures that are random, objective, and that produce a jury that is a fair-cross section of the community. 28 U.S.C. § 1861 and 1867(d). Mere technical deviations from the JSSA's requirements do not violate the JSSA if they do not result in impermissible discrimination in the jury selection process. United States v. Gregory, 730 F.2d 692, 699 (11th Cir. 1984).
Recently, a panel of this court has upheld the jury selection procedures of the Middle District of Alabama in a case raising virtually the same claims as those asserted here. United States v. Carmichael, 560 F.3d 1270, No. 07-11400, 2009 WL 539953 (11th Cir. March 5, 2009). Carmichael held that the Middle District's jury selection procedures — including the liberal deferral policy and the procedures for summoning previously deferred jurors — did not substantially violate the JSSA. Additionally, Carmichael held that the Middle District's jury selection procedures did not result in the systematic under-representation of African-American jurors on the 2001 Qualified Jury Wheel or in the jury pools selected from that wheel. 560 F.3d at 1276.
In his brief, which Siegelman adopted, Scrushy acknowledges the identity between the claims presented in Carmichael and his claims presented here, conceding that "[b]ut for the fact that only the petit jury which was drawn from the 2001 jury wheel was challenged there [the petit jury was drawn from the 2005 wheel here], the issues presented overlap." This is not surprising since the same expert who opined in Carmichael about alleged violations of the JSSA and the Constitution is relied upon here, using the same evidence in support of those claims. At the time defendants filed their pretrial motion, however, Carmichael had not yet been decided. Now that it has, it disposes of their claims as to the 2001 jury wheel.
With respect to the 2005 wheel, the district court in this case held that defendants were not entitled to any relief because the challenged objectivity and randomness practices did not apply to that wheel. Additionally, the district court found that defendants had not shown the absolute racial disparity between the composition of his juries and the community at-large of over 10% that is required to establish a statutory or constitutional violation. See Carmichael, 560 F.3d at 1280; see also United States v. Grisham, 63 F.3d 1074, 1078-79 (11th Cir. 1995). We agree.
Siegelman contends that the district court's decision to grant an upward departure under U.S.S.G. §§ 2C1.1 cmt. n. 5, 5K2.0 (2002) violated the First Amendment and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) because it was allegedly based on Siegelman's statements criticizing the prosecutors in and the prosecution of this case. If this were true, we might agree. It does not, however, accurately describe the district court's reasons for the upward departure.
The government argues persuasively that, even if there was error here, it was harmless as the departure did not affect Siegelman's ultimate sentence. As we need not, we do not reach this argument.
In both its written motion for an upward departure and its arguments at sentencing, the government maintained that Siegel-man's criminal conduct reflected such a systematic and pervasive corruption of the office of Governor and Lieutenant Governor, as well as various state agencies, such as the CON Board, as to cause a loss of public confidence in the government of the State of Alabama. The government's motion focused on this allegation of systematic and pervasive corruption of state government. The government contended that Siegelman "for over six years abused the Executive Branch of the state of Alabama."
The statute permits and the cases relied upon by the government uphold upward departures where the district court finds that there was pervasive corruption of a governmental function resulting in a loss of public confidence in state or local government. See U.S.S.G. §§ 2C1.1 cmt. n. 5, 5K2.0; United States v. Shenberg, 89 F.3d 1461, 1476-77 (11th Cir. 1996); United States v. Reyes, 239 F.3d 722, 744-45 (5th Cir. 2001).
Fifth question: During the time that you were serving as a juror did you view any materials from any books, newspapers, Internet sites or any other
source relating to any witness, any legal issue, or any factual issue related to this case?
finding that reviewing courts must respect a jury's credibility determinations
Summary of this case from U.S. v. Govereh
affirming conviction where jury found that defendant intended to mislead private lawyer into believing that defendant's financial transaction was legitimate, and where defendant "clearly knew that there was a `possibility' that the federal investigators would come asking"
Summary of this case from U.S. v. Ring
stating untimeliness of motion for recusal is basis on which to deny it
Summary of this case from King v. Farris
explaining that we defer to the jury's credibility determinations