Opinion ID: 522863
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: pattern of jury verdicts

Text: 79 Felci next argues that the pattern of jury verdicts--guilty on the conspiracy, guilty on the two automobile counts, no verdict on one check count, and not guilty on six check counts--shows that the jury rejected the government's theory and convicted Felci for conduct which is not an offense. Even assuming an inconsistency, this would not warrant a reversal of the convictions. Inconsistency in a verdict is not a sufficient reason for setting it aside. Harris v. Rivera, 454 U.S. 339, 345, 102 S.Ct. 460, 464, 70 L.Ed.2d 530 (1981) (per curiam). This is true even when there is an inconsistency between verdicts on separate charges against one defendant. Id. (citing Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390, 52 S.Ct. 189, 76 L.Ed. 356 (1932)). Realizing this, Felci argues that the pattern was such that the jury must have convicted Felci on a theory which is not a crime under the Medicare Fraud statute or on a theory that was not charged. Such a conviction would, of course, require reversal. See Eaton v. Tulsa, 415 U.S. 697, 699, 94 S.Ct. 1228, 1230, 39 L.Ed.2d 693 (1974) (per curiam); United States v. Varoz, 740 F.2d 772, 775 (10th Cir.1984); United States v. Porter, 591 F.2d 1048, 1054 (5th Cir.1979). But that is not the situation here. 80 Each payment was a separate count in the indictment. The government sought to prove that each payment was made primarily for an illegal purpose. In rejecting the theory that all the payments were for illegal purposes, the jury showed a careful discrimination among the evidence presented. The counts on which Felci was acquitted involved checks from Bay State 25 to EMSTAT after the contract was awarded and during a period in which EMSTAT and Felci were in fact providing or attempting to provide services to Bay State. The jury could have decided that these check payments, which were disclosed clearly in Bay State's books, were meant only as compensation and not to induce a recommendation on a contract that was already awarded. The substantive counts on which Felci was found guilty involved two automobiles. Both were purchased by companies other than Bay State and then given to Felci. The Buick 26 was given prior to the contract being awarded and the Mazda was given on the day after the contract was signed. The jury could have decided that these two payments, made in such a way as to not be shown on Bay State's books, were primarily meant as inducements, with the Buick being an advance and the Mazda being the final payment upon completion of the deal. The count on which the jury reached no verdict involved a hybrid of these two situations: a check from Bay State but made prior to the awarding of the contract. 81 The pattern of jury verdicts was not inconsistent with either the government's or the defendants' theories of the case but shows rather that the jury believed the government in part and the defense in part. That the jury did not believe the government with respect to the checks does not make the automobile payments legal. It is axiomatic that a jury has the right to pick and choose the evidence it believes.