Opinion ID: 199256
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Illegal Gratuities

Text: 47 Nonetheless, Sawyer makes several arguments in support of his claim that the information required a violation of section three. For example, he attaches significance to the government's use of the phrase illegal gratuities at the plea hearing and to the inclusion of this language in the Prepleading Report (PPR), to which the government referred at that hearing. 14 In explaining to the court the factual basis for Sawyer's guilty plea, the prosecution stated that it was relying on illegal gratuities Sawyer gave to various Massachusetts legislators. Sawyer contends that illegal gratuities can only be interpreted to mean gifts or gratuities given in violation of Massachusetts state law, a position accepted by the district court. Accordingly, Sawyer concludes that the government effectively incorporated violations of section three into the proof required in the information. 48 We reject this argument for two reasons. The government's reference to illegal gratuities does not necessarily mean that such gratuities were illegal under § 1341 only because they were illegal under state law. We had already made clear in Sawyer that proof of federal honest services fraud does not require proof of a violation of state law. As the government argues, the phrase illegal gratuities also describes conduct that is illegal because, without reference to state law, it constitutes the federal crime of honest services mail fraud. Sawyer does not contend that the government ever specifically referenced the Massachusetts gratuity statute at the plea hearing. In the absence of contextual evidence giving additional meaning to the words illegal gratuities, it was an error for the district court to read the state law predicate into the phrase. 49 Sawyer posits further that we should interpret illegal gratuities to mean in violation of chapter 268A, section three because the government referred to the Prepleading Report at the plea hearing. When the district court asked the government to identify the factual basis for Sawyer's guilty plea, the assistant United States attorney referenced paragraphs 10 through 30 of the Presentence Report, 15 indicating that the conduct described therein constituted the basis for the plea. Because the PPR referred to Sawyer's alleged violations of the Massachusetts gift and gratuity statutes, Sawyer claims that such violations became a part of the proof necessary for the government's prosecution of Sawyer under the information. However, the PPR explicitly disavows any notion that violations of the state laws were necessary to find Sawyer guilty under the one count of mail fraud contained in the information. In introducing the discussion of the Massachusetts gift and gratuity statues, the PPR states, [d]espite his detailed knowledge of both laws, Sawyer repeatedly violated the laws throughout the time period of the scheme and conspiracy, which is evidence (although not exclusive evidence) of his intent to violate the federal statutes. (Emphasis added). Therefore, the PPR treats the alleged violations of state law not as conclusive proof that Sawyer violated § 1341, but rather as part of a body of evidence demonstrating his intent to deprive the public of the honest services of certain Massachusetts legislators. This characterization of the evidence is consistent with the structure of the information and the government's theory of its prosecution asserted both in the district court and on appeal. 50 Sawyer also claims that the government was required to prove his violation of the Massachusetts gratuity law because Judge Harrington accepted his guilty plea on that theory of the prosecution. Accordingly, Sawyer argues, Judge Harrington properly granted the writ of coram nobis because he, as the district court judge who took Sawyer's plea, understood that the factual basis of that plea involved a theory of the prosecution invalidated by Sun-Diamond. We reject this argument. 51 In the opinion granting Sawyer the writ of coram nobis, Judge Harrington stated: [t]hat the conviction would stand or fall on the basis of proof of the state statute violation was a fact understood by the parties, the original District Court Judge [a reference to the judge who presided at Sawyer's trial], the Circuit Court of Appeals, and this Court at the time of the Plea Hearing. Sawyer, 74 F. Supp. 2d at 98 (emphasis added). For reasons we have already explained, the understandings of the original district court judge and this Court on Sawyer's first appeal are irrelevant to the instant inquiry because the charging document at that time was the indictment, not the information. Because the indictment is so clearly premised on a violation of state law and the information is not, the court's reliance on interpretations of the indictment is misplaced. 52 We also find Judge Harrington's reliance on his own understanding of the factual basis for the government's prosecution of Sawyer to be similarly misplaced. We do not question the reality of that understanding. However, to the extent Judge Harrington concluded that the government could prove its case against Sawyer only by proving a violation of state law, his conclusion was incorrect legally and was at odds with the unmistakable basis of the government's prosecution at the time of the plea to the information. In short, even if Judge Harrington relied on his understanding that the government had undertaken to prove a violation of state law when he issued the writ of coram nobis, that reliance could not change the reality of the basis for the government's prosecution.