Opinion ID: 76294
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of the Indictment/Constructive Amendment

Text: 30 Defendants argue that the indictment improperly based the criminal violations on state ethics statutes which have not been similarly applied and have no criminal or civil penalties. Defendants further argue that the district court constructively amended the indictment by not requiring the government to prove a violation of state ethics law. 31 A constructive amendment to the indictment occurs where the jury instructions so modify the elements of the offense charged that the defendant may have been convicted on a ground not alleged by the indictment. United States v. Descent, 292 F.3d 703, 706 (11th Cir.2002) (quoting United States v. Poarch, 878 F.2d 1355, 1358 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1132, 123 S.Ct. 913, 154 L.Ed.2d 820 (2003)). Mere surplusage, however, may be deleted from an indictment without error. United States v. Cancelliere, 69 F.3d 1116, 1121 (11th Cir.1995), as amended on clarification (2 February 1996). 32 To establish a violation of sections 1341 and 1346, the Government must prove that the defendants (1) intentionally participated in a scheme or artifice to defraud and (2) used the United States mails to carry out that scheme or artifice. United States v. Lopez-Lukis, 102 F.3d 1164, 1168 (11th Cir.1997) (internal quotations omitted). Proof of a state law violation is not required for a conviction of honest services fraud. Cf. Langford v. Rite Aid of Alabama, Inc., 231 F.3d 1308, 1312-13 (11th Cir.2000) (concluding that duty to disclose information for purposes of mail fraud statute can be found even in the absence of a statute or regulation); see also United States v. deVegter, 198 F.3d 1324, 1328 (11th Cir.1999) (private-sector, honest services fraud). 33 Although the indictment listed the state ethics statutes which purportedly prohibited Hasner from receiving the Chelsea Commons commission, the indictment did not rely upon violations of these state statutes as a basis for the honest services charges. Instead, the indictment focused on Hasner's unjust enrichment while he served as chairman of the HFA and on the concealment of Hasner's financial relationship with Fisher. Because the inclusion of the state statutes in the indictment was mere surplusage, the district court's redaction of these statutes did not result in an impermissible broadening of the indictment. 4