Opinion ID: 730854
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Joint Sufficiency of Evidence Challenges--Count 1 and Count 2

Text: 78 Having declined to exercise our discretion to correct any alleged Gaudin error in Count 1, the only remaining challenge to the convictions for conspiracy to commit bank fraud suggests that the evidence against Novoa, Taylor, and Stanley Jobe is insufficient to support these convictions. In order to establish a conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 371, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of an agreement between two or more people to violate a law of the United States and that any one of the conspirators committed an overt act in furtherance of that agreement. See, e.g., United States v. Faulkner, 17 F.3d 745, 768 (5th Cir.1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 870, 115 S.Ct. 193, 130 L.Ed.2d 125 (1994); United States v. Chaney, 964 F.2d 437, 449 (5th Cir.1992). The government must also prove that the defendant knew of the conspiracy and voluntarily participated in it. Chaney, 964 F.2d at 449. 79 Given the extensive evidence in this case, the challenges raised by Novoa, Taylor, and Stanley Jobe to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting their convictions is thoroughly meritless. The standard which guides this court's review is whether, viewing the evidence and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the government, a reasonable trier of fact could have found that the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Mergerson, 4 F.3d 337, 341 (5th Cir.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1198, 114 S.Ct. 1310, 127 L.Ed.2d 660 (1994). We have above described the extensive evidence supporting the convictions of Novoa, Taylor, and Stanley Jobe. From all of the evidence and testimony presented to the jury in this case, a rational trier of fact could easily have decided that Novoa, Taylor, and Stanley Jobe conspired to commit bank fraud with Billie Mac. Put differently, a rational jury could have concluded that Novoa, Taylor, and Stanley Jobe were knowing, voluntary participants in an agreement to commit bank fraud and that overt acts were committed in furtherance of that agreement; their convictions under Count 1 are affirmed. 21 80 To aid and abet an offense, as charged in Count 2, the appellants must share in the criminal intent of the principal and assist the principal's perpetration of a crime. Sutton, Taylor, Novoa and Stanley argue that the government did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant[s] willingly associated [themselves] with a criminal venture and participated therein as something [they] wanted to bring about. United States v. Cloud, 872 F.2d 846, at 850 (9th Cir.1989). From all of the evidence and testimony presented to the jury in this case, however, a rational trier of fact could have decided that the appellants aided and abetted Billie Mac's bank fraud. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The jury could have rationally concluded that these appellants had an intent to defraud the banks by facilitating Billie Mac's bank fraud. In United States v. Knipp, 963 F.2d 839, 846 (6th Cir.1992), the Sixth Circuit affirmed the defendant's aiding and abetting bank fraud conviction where the defendant allowed ... [the] overdrafts to continue and that he facilitated the kite to cover them because the overdrafts amounted to huge, unauthorized loans beyond the single customer legal lending limits.... The evidence in the instant case demonstrates that the remaining appellants facilitated Billie Mac's kite in similar and, indeed, more extensive ways. See also, United States v. Sims, 895 F.2d 326 (7th Cir.1990) (finding that the defendant acted with the intent to defraud was sufficient to sustain his conviction for aiding and abetting attempts to commit a wire fraud against a bank). Accordingly, the Count 2 convictions must be affirmed against these appellants.