Opinion ID: 739316
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Validity of the Honest Services Theory

Text: 38 Appellants claim that the prosecution's honest services theory is invalid as a matter of law, and that the jury may have convicted them on this unsound basis. They demand that their convictions be vacated under the rationale of Griffin v. United States, 502 U.S. 46, 112 S.Ct. 466, 116 L.Ed.2d 371 (1991). 4 Because appellants did not raise this objection in the district court, the scope of our review is limited. The issue is whether the district court committed plain error by submitting the honest services theory to the jury. See generally FED. R.CRIM. P. 52(b); United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993); United States v. Calverley, 37 F.3d 160, 162-164 (5th Cir.1994). 39 Appellants' attack on the validity of the honest services theory rests entirely on the panel opinion in United States v. Brumley (Brumley II), 79 F.3d 1430 (5th Cir.1996), opinion vacated and reh'g en banc granted, 91 F.3d 676 (5th Cir.1996). The panel in Brumley II held that the federal mail fraud statute does not proscribe conduct which deprives the citizens of a state of the honest and impartial services of state officials. Id. at 1440. This was the view of the Supreme Court prior to the passage, in 1988, of 18 U.S.C. § 1346. In McNally v. United States, 483 U.S. 350, 107 S.Ct. 2875, 97 L.Ed.2d 292 (1987), the Court held that the mail fraud statute was limited in scope to the protection of property rights, and did not reach the intangible right to honest services. Id. at 360, 107 S.Ct. at 2882 (construing 18 U.S.C. § 1341). The Court in McNally perceived no constitutional obstacle to a broader statute, but stated: If Congress desires to go further, it must speak more clearly than it has. 483 U.S. at 360, 107 S.Ct. at 2882. 40 Congress subsequently enacted Section 1346, which explicitly brings within the ambit of mail fraud a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services. In a legislative history that has been described as clear but sparse, 5 members of Congress explained that the purpose of Section 1346 was to undo the Supreme Court's statutory interpretation in McNally. In Brumley, the en banc court is considering whether the amended mail fraud statute reaches the deprivation of citizens' right to the honest services of public officials. 41 We need not answer that question today. It is enough to observe that numerous courts and commentators have interpreted Section 1346 as validating the honest services theory in the context of official corruption. See, e.g., United States v. Paradies, 98 F.3d 1266, 1283 n. 30 (11th Cir.1996), pet. for cert. filed, 65 USLW 3599 (Feb. 21, 1997) (No. 96-1346); United States v. Frega, 933 F.Supp. 1536, 1546-47 (S.D.Cal.1996) (collecting cases). 42 Based on the overwhelming weight of authority recognizing the validity of the honest government services theory, we hold that it was not plain error to submit that theory to the jury in this case.