Opinion ID: 2995660
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: Britton challenges her convictions and sentence, arguing that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support a finding that she intended to defraud CCC’s clients. In addition, Britton contends that the district court erred by refusing to let one of her attorneys withdraw in order to testify. Finally, Britton asserts that the district court committed reversible error by excluding Kobussen from testifying as an expert witness. We address each of Britton’s claims in turn.
The elements of mail fraud include (1) the defendant’s participation in a scheme to defraud; (2) the defendant’s intent to defraud; and (3) the defendant’s use of the mail in furtherance of the fraudulent scheme. See United States v. Davuluri, 239 F.3d 902, 906 (7th Cir. 2001). Britton contends that the government failed to prove the intent to defraud element beyond a reasonable doubt. Intent to defraud requires a wilful act by the defendant with the specific intent to deceive or cheat, usually for the purpose of getting financial gain for one’s self or causing financial loss to another. See id. As direct evidence of a defendant’s fraudulent intent is typically unavailable, specific intent to defraud may be established by circumstantial evidence and by inferences drawn from examining the scheme itself that demonstrate that the scheme was reasonably calculated to deceive persons of ordinary prudence and comprehension. United States v. Paneras, 222 F.3d 406, 410 (7th Cir. 2000). Britton cannot prevail on her claim unless she demonstrates that no rational jury could have found an intent to defraud. See id. Britton asserts that lack of business acumen, not fraudulent intent, was the reason she improperly spent client funds. Britton contends that she did not realize that she was spending clients’ funds or that her actions were improper. Britton further argues that the evidence showed that she attempted to repay some of the misspent funds and that she kept track of many of the transactions, thus negating any criminal intent. However, a review of the record makes clear that Britton has not met the heavy burden she bears in making a sufficiency of the evidence argument on appeal. The jury’s conclusion that Britton knew she was spending clients’ funds is supported by Kerestes’ testimony. Kerestes, a CCC employee, testified that in January 1996, she told Britton that by paying CCC business expenses out of the trust account, Britton was spending money that belonged to CCC’s clients. Further, the jury’s conclusion that Britton knew that her actions were improper is supported by evidence that for three years after her conversation with Kerestes, Britton continued to spend clients’ funds on her personal expenses. Moreover, Britton continued to collect on clients’ debts long after Britton and her husband had stopped remitting funds to these clients. More importantly, Britton continued to mail CCC payment cards to debtors-- thus encouraging debtors to send her more money--even though CCC had stopped paying clients. The evidence also clearly establishes that Britton benefitted financially from her actions, and that these benefits werecontemporaneous with her misdeeds. See id. (finding an intent to defraud when misrepresentations were contemporaneous with benefits received by defendant). This evidence is more than adequate to establish Britton’s intent to defraud beyond a reasonable doubt, and we therefore conclude that Britton’s sufficiency of the evidence claim fails.
Britton next contends that the district court erred by denying DeRango’s motion to withdraw due to his conflict of interest. In the alternative, Britton contends that the district court erred by prohibiting DeRango from questioning Swanson. We have previously noted that [d]istrict courts have been given broad discretion to fashion remedies to avoid conflicts of interest. United States v. Messino, 181 F.3d 826, 830 (7th Cir. 1999). Further, [w]here evidence is easily available from other sources and absent ’extraordinary circumstances’ or ’compelling reasons,’ an attorney who participates in the case should not be called as a witness. United States v. Dack, 747 F.2d 1172, 1176 n.5 (7th Cir. 1984) (citation omitted). In Dack, the defendant subpoenaed the prosecutor to testify concerning the Supreme Court’s holding in a recent case. See id. We held that the district court properly quashed the subpoena because the defendant could have easily made the same point by entering the United States Reports into evidence. See id. In the present case, the government contends that the district court’s remedy was appropriate because DeRango’s proffered testimony was easily available through another source--a billing record. DeRango’s motion to withdraw was based upon knowledge that DeRango possessed and could be used to impeach government witness Swanson. DeRango told the district court that based upon his review of certain billing records, he knew that Swanson had paid his legal bill with more than $1,200 in cash. However, in his previous testimony Swanson had admitted stealing only $500 from CCC. Thus, the impeachment value of DeRango’s testimony consisted of the inference that Swanson was lying when he stated he did not steal more than $500 in cash from CCC. Based on DeRango’s proffer, the court denied DeRango’s motion on the ground that lead counsel Cain could obtain the impeachment information through a trial subpoena of DeRango’s former firm’s billing records, and thus, DeRango’s testimony was not necessary. We agree with the district court that the information that DeRango could have provided was easily provided by the billing record and through the cross-examination of Swanson./3 As in Dack, we see no err in the district court’s actions as the testimony that DeRango sought to give was easily available through another source, and we conclude that neither extraordinary circumstances nor compelling reasons existed to find otherwise./4 We also see no problem with the district court’s screening off of DeRango as we have previously approved the use of such measures in order to avoid potential ethical violations. See, e.g., United States v. Goot, 894 F.2d 231, 235-37 (7th Cir. 1990).
Testimony Finally, Britton contends that reversal is required because the district court erroneously found a Rule 16 violation and thus improperly excluded Kobussen from testifying as an expert. We review a decision to exclude expert testimony based upon a Rule 16 violation for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Yoon, 128 F.3d 515, 526 (7th Cir. 1997). Even if we find that the district court abused its discretion, we will affirm the jury’s verdict if the error is harmless. See United States v. Harvey, 117 F.3d 1044, 1048-49 (7th Cir. 1997). Under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, a defendant is required to disclose her expert testimony only if: (1) the defendant asks the government to disclose its experts; (2) the government complies with the defendant’s request; and (3) the government then asks the defendant to disclose her experts. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(b)(1)(C). On appeal, the government concedes that the second Rule 16 precondition for expert disclosure was not met, and that the district court erroneously excluded Kobussen’s testimony on notice grounds. However, the government contends that the exclusion of her testimony was harmless because that testimony would only have addressed counts on which Britton was acquitted. We faced a similar situation in United States v. Bolton, 977 F.2d 1196, 1199- 1200 (7th Cir. 1992). In Bolton, the defendant was convicted of three counts of extortion, and acquitted on one count of extortion. See id. at 1198. During the trial, the judge made a series of evidentiary rulings restricting the defendant’s use of photographic evidence. See id. at 1200. On appeal, the defendant argued that reversal was required because the government had violated Rule 16 in its handling of this evidence and that the judge’s rulings had compounded the problems. See id. We began by noting that the evidence at issue only addressed one count of the indictment. See id. As the defendant was acquitted on that one count, we held that any error by the trial court was therefore harmless. See id. Here, there is no dispute that Kobussen’s opinion testimony only addressed a collection agency’s general right to post-termination collections or legal fees. At trial, Britton presented evidence that several CCC clients owed CCC money for post-termination collections and legal fees, and Britton was acquitted of those counts. However, on the conviction counts, there was no evidence that the CCC clients associated with those counts owed CCC any post- termination collections or legal fees. Thus, because Kobussen’s testimony only addressed the counts on which she was acquitted, the exclusion of that testimony would not have affected the jury’s guilty verdicts on the other counts. See id. Therefore, as in Bolton, the exclusion of her testimony was harmless. See id.