Source: https://openjurist.org/386/f3d/547/united-states-v-mclaughlin
Timestamp: 2017-09-20 02:27:13
Document Index: 719892886

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1623', '§ 439', '§ 439', '§ 1623', '§ 1001', '§ 439', '§ 1014', '§ 439', '§ 1001', '§ 1546', '§ 439', '§ 439', '§ 1001', '§ 431', '§ 3231', '§ 1291']

386 F3d 547 United States v. McLaughlin | OpenJurist
386 F. 3d 547 - United States v. McLaughlin
386 F3d 547 United States v. McLaughlin
386 F.3d 547
Steven McLAUGHLIN, Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Jan E. DuBois, J. Stephen James Binhak, Key Biscayne, for Appellant.
The principal issue presented is whether the District Court erred by instructing the jury that materiality was a question of law, rather than fact, for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 1623 and 29 U.S.C. § 439(b) and, if so, whether such error was harmless.1
McLaughlin served as President of the Eastern Montgomery County Area Local No. 2233 ("EMCAL"), an affiliate of the American Postal Worker's Union ("APWU"), from January 1992 until December 1994. APWU, a national labor union whose membership consists of various United States Postal Service employees, has five regional offices, which are further divided into approximately 1,300 geographically-based sections called "Locals." EMCAL is the Local for postal employees operating in Eastern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.2
The second element of the crime ... requires that the Government prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the LM2 report for 1993 contained false statements or representations of material facts or [ ]omitted material facts.
And I instruct you that the matters as to which it is charged that defendant, Steven McLaughlin made false statements... were material to the proceedings before the court. Thus, you need not decide the question of materiality.
Following the sentencing hearing, the Court sentenced McLaughlin to serve a total period of incarceration of twenty-four months. In addition, the District Court imposed a total of three years supervised release, restitution in the amount of $18,000, and a special assessment of $1,050.3
We generally review jury instructions under the abuse of discretion standard. Appellate review, however, is plenary when the question is whether a district court's instructions misstated the law. Walden v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 126 F.3d 506, 513 (3d Cir.1997).
Any person ... who knowingly fails to disclose a material fact, in any document [or] report ... required under ... this subchapter shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.
29 U.S.C. § 439(b) (emphasis added). As is true respecting 18 U.S.C. § 1623 and 18 U.S.C. § 1001, the statutory text of 29 U.S.C. § 439(b) expressly requires that the fact allegedly withheld be "material." Compare Johnson, 520 U.S. at 465, 117 S.Ct. 1544 ("The statutory text expressly requires that the false declaration be `material.' Gaudin therefore dictates that materiality be decided by the jury, not the court."), with United States v. Wells, 519 U.S. 482, 489-91, 117 S.Ct. 921, 137 L.Ed.2d 107 (1997) (holding that "materiality" is not element of 18 U.S.C. § 1014, a statute that does not contain materiality requirement in text). In other words, the logic of Gaudin and Johnson compels a finding that materiality is an element of 29 U.S.C. § 439(b). See United States v. W. Indies Transp., Inc., 127 F.3d 299, 305 (3d Cir.1997) ("Failure to submit the issue of materiality to the jury was error.... That Gaudin involved perjury under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 rather than 18 U.S.C. § 1546, the relevant statute here, is not significant given the identical character of the materiality element in both perjury statutes.") (emphasis added).
Although the defendant there (as here) had lodged a timely objection to the erroneous instructions regarding materiality, the Court distinguished the error at issue— a jury instruction that omitted materiality as an element of the offense—from the constitutional violations it had previously found were not subject to harmless-error review. See, e.g., Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963); Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510, 47 S.Ct. 437, 71 L.Ed. 749 (1927). Those cases contained a "`defect affecting the framework within which the trial proceeds, rather than simply an error in the trial process itself.'" Neder, 527 U.S. at 8, 119 S.Ct. 1827 (quoting Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U.S. 279, 310, 111 S.Ct. 1246, 113 L.Ed.2d 302 (1991)). Such errors "`infect the entire trial process,'" Neder, 527 U.S. at 8, 119 S.Ct. 1827 (quoting Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 630, 113 S.Ct. 1710, 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1993)), and "`necessarily render a trial fundamentally unfair.'" Neder, 527 U.S. at 8, 119 S.Ct. 1827 (quoting Rose v. Clark, 478 U.S. 570, 577, 106 S.Ct. 3101, 92 L.Ed.2d 460 (1986)).
Turning first to McLaughlin's conviction under 29 U.S.C. § 439(b), we note that the United States must prove that the defendant submitted a required document or report in which he "`knowingly fail[ed] to disclose a material fact.'" A fact is "material" if it has "`a natural tendency to influence, or [is] capable of influencing, the decision of the decision-making body to which it was addressed.'" Gaudin, 515 U.S. at 509, 115 S.Ct. 2310 (quoting Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759, 770, 108 S.Ct. 1537, 99 L.Ed.2d 839 (1988)). Moreover, the issue is whether an omission was capable of influencing and not whether the omission actually exerted any influence on the factfinder. Thus, an omission can be material even if no one actually relied on it. In re Cohn, 54 F.3d 1108, 1114 (3d Cir.1995).
McLaughlin was charged under 29 U.S.C. § 439(b) with failing to disclose certain items on a required annual public disclosure report, known as an "LM2 report," which he had prepared and filed on EMCAL's behalf with the DOL. Such reports are the means by which the DOL, union members, and the general public obtain financial information about a particular union. In an LM2 report, a union must disclose, among other things, disbursements it has made to its officers— including salaries, reimbursed expenses, and direct or indirect payments. Here, the Government alleged that McLaughlin had omitted $11,099.04 on the 1993 LM2 report—$6,547.62 in alleged reimbursements McLaughlin received from EMCAL for meals, mileage, parking and tolls, and $4,551.42 in alleged life, health, and retirement benefits.
Hughes v. United States, 899 F.2d 1495, 1499 (6th Cir.1990); see also United States v. Norris, 749 F.2d 1116, 1122 (4th Cir. 1984) (stating, in context of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, "it is not the size of the payments but it is the act of making a false statement about the payments that is material"). Certainly, the undisclosed information in the LM2 report was capable of influencing the decision of the decision-making body to which it was addressed. Gaudin, 515 U.S. at 509, 115 S.Ct. 2310. Under 29 U.S.C. § 431(b)(3), McLaughlin was required to disclose all of the reimbursements and benefits he received from EMCAL. His omissions were therefore material.
In sum, it is patent that McLaughlin's false testimony respecting Martello's use of the charge card had a natural tendency to influence and was capable of influencing the decision of the decisionmaking body to which it was addressed, Gaudin, 515 U.S. at 509, 115 S.Ct. 2310. We are satisfied that a properly instructed jury could not have found otherwise. Thus, although the District Court incorrectly instructed the jury, we conclude that the record shows "beyond a reasonable doubt that th[is] error ... did not contribute to the verdict obtained." Chapman, 386 U.S. at 24, 87 S.Ct. 824.
It is well settled in this court that Sixth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel claims under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), are generally not entertained on a direct appeal. See, e.g., United States v. Headley, 923 F.2d 1079, 1083 (3d Cir.1991). This refusal to entertain Strickland claims on direct review stems from the reality that "such claims frequently involve questions regarding conduct that occurred outside the purview of the district court and therefore can be resolved only after a factual development at an appropriate hearing." Gov't of Virgin Islands v. Zepp, 748 F.2d 125, 133 (3d Cir.1984) (internal quotations and citations omitted); see also United States v. Theodoropoulos, 866 F.2d 587, 598 (3d Cir.1989) ("[T]he proper avenue for pursuing such a claim is through a collateral proceeding.").
The District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231; this court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291
The indictment also charged Nancy Zemo, the former Secretary/Treasurer of EMCAL, with conspiracy to steal and embezzle funds from the union and multiple counts of stealing and embezzling union funds. She was acquitted of four of the substantive counts and convicted of all the other charges. Her convictions are not at issue on this appeal
McLaughlin has completed his service of the period of incarceration, and is currently serving his period of supervised release