Opinion ID: 668585
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Dennis Roberts

Text: 20 Roberts claims that his conviction and his sentence were the result of three separate reversible errors. After a thorough consideration of his claims, we affirm the decision of the trial court. 21 1. Sentencing. Roberts's first claim is that because the conspiracy charges in the indictment allege that the conspiracy lasted until March of 1988, his convictions qualify as straddle crimes for sentencing purposes. Straddle crimes are ongoing crimes which begin before, but end after, November 1, 1987, the date on which the United States Sentencing Guidelines took effect. The Guidelines apply to straddle crimes. United States v. Fazio, 914 F.2d 950 (7th Cir.1990). Roberts concludes that his sentence, calculated under pre-Guidelines law, was erroneous. The government defends the sentence on the grounds that the choice of a sentencing provision must be based on the factual basis supporting the verdict and not on the allegations contained in the indictment. 22 The Fourth Circuit in United States v. Bakker, 925 F.2d 728 (4th Cir.1991), had occasion to address the precise question now facing us. There, the court held that determining when the crime ended should not be governed by the date in the indictment. Id. at 739. Rather, the inquiry should be based on the evidence before the trial court. Id. The court offered two reasons for its conclusion. First, the court noted that at the time an indictment is drafted, the government's knowledge is limited and the ending dates are, therefore, often tentative and subject to change as more information comes to light. Id. Second, reliance on the allegations of the indictment would allow the government to manipulate the sentencing basis for the defendant. Id. 23 Roberts argues that Bakker does not apply to convictions such as Roberts's travel fraud conspiracy conviction which result from a plea. He contends that when a defendant's conviction results from a plea, the allegations in the indictment should determine whether the defendant should be sentenced under the Guidelines. As we see it, the reasoning set forth in Bakker holds true regardless of whether the conviction is obtained through a plea or through a jury verdict. Sentencing determinations are based on the factual basis of the charge to which the defendant pleads guilty. United States v. Morrison, 938 F.2d 168, 171 (10th Cir.1991). Though remand may be appropriate when the factual basis is unclear, see, e.g., United States v. Masters, 924 F.2d 1362 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 919, 111 S.Ct. 2019, 114 L.Ed.2d 105 (1991), that is not at issue in our case. The evidence presented at Roberts's plea hearing like the evidence offered at his trial indicates that the criminal acts at the heart of the Hiawatha conspiracy ceased when its building burned down in May of 1987. Consequently, sentencing Roberts according to the law as it existed before the Guidelines went into effect was not erroneous. 24 Roberts's response is that acts taken by the defendants to conceal Hiawatha's activities from detection constitute overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy. Because some of these acts occurred after November 1, 1987, Roberts concludes that the conspiracy qualifies as a straddle crime. 25 In Grunewald v. United States, 353 U.S. 391, 77 S.Ct. 963, 1 L.Ed.2d 931 (1957), the Supreme Court examined the effect of concealment on criminal conspiracies. Noting the inherently secretive nature of a criminal conspiracy, the Court recognized that relying on acts of concealment to determine the life of a conspiracy would render most conspiracies of indefinite duration. The Court believed it to be more sensible to draw a distinction between acts of concealment done in furtherance of the main criminal objectives of the conspiracy, and acts of concealment done after these central objectives have been attained, for the purpose only of covering up after the crime. Id. at 405, 77 S.Ct. at 974. 26 Based on its analysis, the Court in Grunewald held that the destruction of certain records and attempts to mislead the grand jury were desperate attempts to cover up after evidence of the crime began to surface. Id. at 403, 77 S.Ct. at 973. The underlying tax offenses which were the subject of the conspiracy had been completed and while it was necessary to keep the illegal activities a secret, these actions were not part of the conspiracy. 27 Roberts claims that actions taken by his coconspirators to impede the investigation of Hiawatha were evidence that the conspiracy remained active. We find, however, that in this respect, his case is indistinguishable from Grunewald. Measures taken to conceal records from detection and to impede the government's investigation were merely after-the-fact cover up measures taken long after the criminal objectives of the conspiracy had been accomplished. Thus, in light of Grunewald, we hold that the trial court's sentencing decision was proper. 28 2. Similar Acts Evidence. Roberts's second allegation of error concerns the admission into evidence of proof that during the course of the Hiawatha conspiracy, an audit conducted by the Internal Revenue Service revealed that Roberts owed approximately $2,000,000 in unpaid taxes. At issue here is not whether evidence of the obligation was admissible but rather whether evidence of the exact amount was admissible. We review a trial court's evidentiary decisions under an abuse of discretion standard. United States v. Allen, 930 F.2d 1270, 1273 (7th Cir.1991). 29 In his trial for the tax-related offenses, Roberts's defense was that he never wilfully or knowingly evaded any of his obligations. He claimed that all the acts that he had taken with respect to income and profits received from Hiawatha were done on the advice of Hiawatha's bookkeeper under the belief that the actions were legal. Knowing that the government would bring up his prior tax obligation to rebut his alleged lack of knowledge, Roberts's attorney chose to elicit Roberts's testimony regarding the prior obligation in his direct examination. By design, Roberts did not testify as to the precise amount of the previous obligation but stated merely that it was a significant amount. The government sought to introduce the fact that Roberts owed $2,000,000, and over Roberts's objection, the evidence was admitted. 30 Roberts contends that the admission into evidence of the amount owed to the government was minimally probative and unduly prejudicial. We do not agree. As Roberts readily concedes, his prior tax liabilities were relevant under Rule 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Huddleston v. United States, 485 U.S. 681, 685, 108 S.Ct. 1496, 1499, 99 L.Ed.2d 771 (1988). The amount owed bears directly on one's motive to evade taxes because the larger the obligation, the greater the incentive to avoid payment. Thus, the relevance of the $2,000,000 figure was that it made it more probable that the prior obligation was the result of intentional evasion rather than simple mistake. Describing the amount owed as significant could be perceived differently by different people and would do little to clarify whether the liability was the product of deliberate action or inadvertence. We hold, therefore, that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting into evidence the extent of Roberts's prior tax obligation. 31 3. Jury Instructions. Roberts's final claim is that the trial court made two errors of omission in instructing the jury. First, he alleges that the trial court failed to instruct the jury that the presumption of innocence, to which Roberts was entitled, attached to each element of the charge against him. Second, Roberts claims that the trial court erred when it refused to tender a set of proposed instructions advising the jury on how to review evidence provided by coconspirators. A defendant is entitled to an instruction on his theory of the case if he proposes a correct statement of the law, his theory is supported by the evidence, his theory of defense is not part of the charge, and the failure to include an instruction on his theory of defense in the jury charge denied him a fair trial. United States v. Boykins, 9 F.3d 1278, 1285 (7th Cir.1993). 32 Roberts's first allegation of error can be easily disposed of. Instruction # 20, after setting forth the elements of conspiracy to wilfully attempt to evade a tax and wilfully make and subscribe to false tax returns, reads: If you find from your consideration of all the evidence that each of these elements has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, then you should find the defendant guilty. It is difficult to see how an instruction could more properly address Roberts's concerns. We find therefore that Roberts's first claim of error is unavailing. 33 Roberts's second objection to the trial court's jury charge concerns a set of instructions submitted by Roberts but rejected by the court. The instructions in question purport to offer guidance on how the jury ought to treat testimony offered by coconspirators, and in particular Michael Ellis. 2 There is some dispute over whether Roberts properly objected to the trial court's refusal to tender these instructions and therefore whether he is entitled to review under any standard other than plain error. We need not resolve this issue because even under the more lenient standard set forth above, the trial court's refusal to tender these instructions was not erroneous. 34 Our review of the charge as a whole reveals that the jury was adequately informed as to the potential biases inherent in coconspirator testimony. Instruction # 10 reads: In determining the credibility of the witnesses, you may take into consideration their interest or lack of interest in the result of this suit.... Instruction # 13 states, You have heard testimony from a witness who has entered a plea of guilty to a crime arising out of the same occurrence for which the defendants are now on trial.... You may give this testimony such weight as you feel it deserves, keeping in mind that such testimony is always to be received with caution and weighed with great care. Roberts's proposed instructions fail to provide any additional guidance on construing this evidence. Offering them to the jury would have been redundant. For this reason, we hold that the trial court did not err in refusing to tender these instructions to the jury.