Opinion ID: 739316
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Prosecution's Honest Services Theory

Text: 35 The indictment alleged, and the jury was instructed to consider, a conspiracy and a fraudulent scheme with two objectives. The first goal was to obtain money or property through fraudulent means, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341. The second was to deprive Texas citizens of their right to the honest services of a state official, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1346. Because the jury convicted appellants by a general verdict, we cannot determine whether the jury embraced the first theory, the second, or both. 36 Appellants contend that this ambiguity compels reversal of their convictions for three reasons. First, they claim that the prosecution's honest services theory is legally invalid. Second, they claim that even if the theory is valid today, it did not become good law until the conspiracy was well under way, raising the possibility of an ex post facto violation. Finally, they contend that the evidence was insufficient to support their convictions based on the honest services theory. 37
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.
43 Appellants correctly observe that even if the honest services theory is valid today, it did not become good law until November 18, 1988, when Section 1346 took effect. They complain that the jury may have relied on events predating Section 1346 to convict them on the honest services theory, in violation of the ex post facto clause. U.S. CONST. art. I, § 9, cl. 3. 44 Myers' and Shanklin's mail fraud convictions do not violate the ex post facto clause. Mail fraud is a discrete offense; the crime is completed when the offending letter is mailed. See United States v. Pazos, 24 F.3d 660, 665 (5th Cir.1994) (Each separate use of the mails to further a scheme to defraud is a separate offense. (citation omitted)). In this case, the predicate mailing occurred on September 19, 1989--ten months and one day after Section 1346 took effect. Reliance for this purpose on the GLO letter is not inappropriate, given the evidence that Myers submitted a false affidavit to the GLO on July 31, 1989, and that Shanklin falsified field reports as late as July 27, 1989. The Section 1341 scheme or artifice to defraud extended well beyond the effective date of Section 1346. 45 Unlike mail fraud, conspiracy is a continuing offense. United States v. Bermea, 30 F.3d 1539, 1577 (5th Cir.1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1156, 115 S.Ct. 1113, 130 L.Ed.2d 1077 (1995). The conspiracy in this case straddled the effective date of Section 1346. Two of the alleged overt acts occurred before November 18, 1988; most of appellants' criminal conduct, including the two payments to Jack Giberson charged in the indictment as overt acts, occurred after that date. Because there is substantial evidence that appellants participated in the conspiracy after Section 1346 took effect, their prosecution under the honest services theory did not violate the ex post facto clause. See Bermea, 30 F.3d at 1577-78 (5th Cir.1994) (citation omitted) (affirming sentence imposed under increased statutory maximum that took effect during conspiracy). Accord United States v. Garfinkel, 29 F.3d 1253 (8th Cir.1994) (construing 18 U.S.C. § 1346). 46
47 Among numerous evidentiary challenges, appellants claim that the facts adduced at trial were insufficient to support conviction on the honest services theory. Because the jury may have relied on that theory, appellants urge reversal of their convictions. 48 There is no need for this court to decide whether the evidence adequately supports the prosecution's honest services theory. The case was submitted to the jury on two alternative, legally valid theories. If either theory was supported by sufficient evidence, we are bound to affirm. Griffin, 502 U.S. at 56-60, 112 S.Ct. at 472-74, cited in United States v. Fisher, 22 F.3d 574, 576 (5th Cir.1994). As we discuss in the next section, the evidence was sufficient to support appellants' convictions on the theory that they schemed to obtain money or property through false means.