Opinion ID: 854417
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: This matter comes on before this Court on an appeal from a final judgment of conviction and sentence entered against appellant Barry Sussman (―Sussman‖) on October 8, 2009. The government initiated this criminal case on May 12, 2008, when 2 it filed a complaint against Sussman in the District Court. The charges stemmed from an underlying civil action in which the Federal Trade Commission (―FTC‖) secured a judgment against Sussman and his co-defendants in the amount of $10,204,445, as well as equitable relief by reason of their abusive debt collection activities. On December 9, 2008, a grand jury in the District of New Jersey returned a two-count indictment against Sussman in these criminal proceedings. After a five-day trial in May 2009 the jury found him guilty on one count of theft of government property, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641, and one count of obstruction of justice, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1503(a). On October 5, 2009, the District Court sentenced Sussman to an imprisonment term of 41 months on each count, to be served concurrently, followed by three years of supervised release. The Court also imposed a $15,000 fine and a $200 special assessment. The Court entered a judgment of conviction and sentence reflecting the sentence it imposed on October 8, 2009. On October 15, 2009, Sussman filed a timely notice of appeal. He now challenges the jury‘s verdict on insufficiency of the evidence grounds. In an alternative argument Sussman contends that he should be afforded a new trial because a portion of the trial transcript is unavailable, apparently because a court reporter lost the transcript. He also contends that the District Court erred in admitting redacted documents from the FTC‘s prior civil case against him into evidence. Finally, he argues that the District Court improperly instructed the jury on the elements of Count Two, obstruction of justice, and failed to include his proposed ―theory of defense‖ instruction in its jury charge. For the reasons discussed below, we will affirm. 3