Opinion ID: 460360
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: 5 In reviewing a conviction, the factfinder's role as weigher of the evidence is preserved through a legal conclusion that upon judicial review all of the evidence is to be considered in the light most favorable to the prosecution. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) (footnote omitted) (emphasis in original). Therefore, the decision facing this court is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. (emphasis in original). Only when the record contains no evidence, regardless of how it is weighed, from which a jury could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt may an appellate court overturn a verdict. E.g., United States v. Brown, 739 F.2d 1136, 1149 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 331, 83 L.Ed.2d 268 (1984). In applying this standard, the court must leave to the jury the weighing of the evidence, the drawing of reasonable inferences and determinations of credibility.
6 We first examine the issue of underreporting of rat mortality in the TCC study. Accurate mortality data is important because it provides evidence of a substance's impact on test animals and also because it can provide evidence of environmental problems which might compromise the validity of a study. Apparently, the TCC study was plagued from the outset by a high death rate, which, the government contended, defendants attempted to conceal. 7 The government's proof that the mortality rate was falsified included evidence that the first draft of the TCC report and the version eventually forwarded to the FDA reported different mortality data for the same period of time. Another IBT document, an interim status report, contained still another set of mortality data for the same time period. The mortality shown in all of the documents made the subject of the charges in the indictment is lower than that shown in internal IBT documents from which mortality can be calculated. Further, laboratory technician Smith testified that during the first six months of the TCC study, he specifically observed animal deaths which were not accurately recorded. Laboratory technician Penner also testified that he observed deaths which were not reported during the same time period. Particularly when buttressed with contradictions in other data, these facts provide sufficient basis for the jury to find that the mortality data was false. 8 The defendants argue that these facts do not provide adequate proof of fraud and that the government must prove the true rate of animal mortality in order to establish that the mortality figures in the TCC final report are false. Defendants argue that there was no testimony which established that the data substantially underreported mortality. They contend that the testimony of technicians Smith and Penner did not specifically tie the mortality rate in the problematic animal watering room (the AWR) to the TCC study and that the witnesses' recollections of deaths were speculative. Defendants attempt to discount the contradictions in the data reported in the first draft, an interim status report and the version supplied to the FDA by focusing on the mortality rate over the entire course of the study, suggesting that there was no substantial intentional underreporting. 9 The government contends that it does not have to prove the true rate of mortality, but rather only that the reported mortality rate was too low and the defendants' reports must have been false. Holdings in similar cases support the government's position that there is no need to show the true figures. See, e.g., Coil v. United States, 343 F.2d 573, 576 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 821, 86 S.Ct. 48, 15 L.Ed.2d 67 (1965). And defendants cite no authority for their proposition that the government must prove the real rate of mortality. The very nature of the allegations suggests the inherent impossibility of showing the true rate of mortality, since the accurate underlying data was never recorded. Smith and Penner, who worked on the TCC study, testified that they observed more deaths than were listed in the reports. In challenging the testimony given by Smith and Penner by characterizing it as recollection, impression and speculation, defendants attempt to reweigh credibility determinations that were properly left to the jury. We think that these technicians' testimony supports the inference that the mortality data supplied by the defendants was falsified, even if these witnesses cannot establish the true mortality rate. If totals for some periods were false (6 and 12 month status reports showing no deaths), then the tables including this data are necessarily false, at least in part. At the conclusion of the TCC study, the report included mortality data that was different from the 6 and 12 month status reports. The final report, submitted to the FDA, had still another set of mortality data. All three of these sets of data substantially underreported mortality. This evidence adequately supports a jury determination that the mortality data supplied by the defendants were false. 10 The high mortality of rats in the TCC study presented concerns going beyond the alleged underreporting of mortality data, however. If an insufficient number of rats survived to the end of the study, IBT would be unable to make any valid evaluation of the safety of the tested substances. Given the unusually high mortality rate, the government charged, defendants therefore chose to commingle with existing research animals new animals which had not been fed the test material for as long a period as the original animals. This obviously is not an acceptable procedure, for it compromises the validity of a study. 11 In the instant case, adding together the number of animals that were sacrificed during the study and the number of animals that died while the study was in progress produced a total of more animals than there were at the start of the study, thereby implying that commingling occurred. Defendants' subsequent knowledge of that commingling was established by both direct and circumstantial evidence, and the commingling was concealed from the FDA. Intent to defraud may be inferred from the totality of the circumstances surrounding the actions of the defendants. E.g., United States v. Brown, 739 F.2d at 1149. 12 The government proved four incidents of commingling in two ways: 1) through the accumulated testimony about the acts of individual lab technicians, and 2) by a documentary review of the number of animals used in the study. The first incident of commingling was established by technician Garrett who testified that early in the study he filled up empty cages with fresh rats. Defendants assert that this early instance of commingling of control rats was not significant since the indictment focuses on the alleged commingling of late-started research animals. But this argument overlooks the fact that the control commingling alone establishes the falsity of assertions in the final report about the length of time animals were on the study. Additionally, this first incident, specifically ordered by defendant Plank, establishes his knowledge that at least some commingling was occurring and evidences a scheme to respond to high mortality by commingling new animals. Further, this early commingling rebuts defendants' claims that technicians later in the study could have distinguished still newer animals from purportedly older ones already in the cages. 13 A second incident of commingling took place about March 1972 when technician Penner added new animals to the gang cages. Subsequently, other technicians under the direction of technician Thompson placed some of those animals into the individual cages to fill vacancies caused by deaths. No starting study dates were entered on the relevant cage cards, a fact which partially accounts for the fact that the technicians seemed to have been unaware of the commingling. In August 1972 Thompson observed the addition of more animals to the study. The starting dates were in this case marked on the cage cards of this group of research rats. Records of animals on the study about March 1972 also established that Garrett commingled the animals and other technicians commingled animals added by Penner. 14 A third instance of commingling involved the necropsy log and blood data, which were used by pathologists and toxicologists to draw conclusions about the effect of TCC. Among other things, after August 1972 Thompson sent dead animals to the laboratory for analysis without distinguishing between animals that started in August and those that had started earlier. 15 The fourth instance of commingling involved the final sacrifice when all the animals were killed. For the study to have validity, a required number of male and female rats in each study group had to be available for examination at the end of the study. As it turned out, precisely the right number of male rats were available in each group. Either this was a remarkable coincidence or late-started animals were added to the group cages when necessary to provide the requisite number of males. The third and fourth cited instances of commingling suggest that the data from animals started in August 1972 found its way into the final version of the TCC report submitted in 1976 by IBT to Monsanto. The commingling evidence is sufficient to support the jury's determination that the TCC final report was false. 16 Defendants challenge the validity of the commingling evidence by noting that each of the technicians denied intentional commingling. They dismiss Garrett's testimony about the first instance of commingling as irrelevant to the alleged commingling of late-started animals. Additionally, by attempting to characterize Garrett's testimony as uncorroborated, defendants essentially argue that the jury's credibility determinations may be reweighed. Of course, this is incorrect. See United States v. Grabiec, 563 F.2d 313, 316 (7th Cir.1977). The mere fact that technician Thompson, for example, did not know that control animals were being commingled does not preclude his having played an unwitting role in the process. 17 Defendants also argue that the technicians would have easily identified late-started animals because those animals would have been younger and smaller. But, as noted, this is an inaccurate assumption since Plank was attempting to obtain older and more mature rats and Garrett had introduced new animals into the study before Penner. That the technicians' commingling was inadvertent appears from their own testimony and from the omission of starting dates on cage cards. 18 Dr. Lijinsky (an animal testing expert) analyzed documents from the study and concluded that commingling had occurred, because the total number of animals sacrificed during the study and those that died while the study was in progress exceeded the number that originally started. This evaluation was based on an interpretation of notations in the animal weight books (for example, interpreting dashes as meaning deaths) which was supported by the technicians' testimony that when an animal died a dash appeared where its weight would ordinarily be entered. The defendants attack Dr. Lijinsky's findings on various bases, including the fact that he placed the great bulk of the deaths and replacements in the first eight months of the study where their significance was diminished. Defendants also claim that there were errors in weighing and substitution procedures, and that Dr. Lijinsky misinterpreted the significance of various notations. But the evidence suggests that, if anything, Dr. Lijinsky underestimated deaths. For example, in at least one treatment group, the number of animals used exceeded the number of animals that started the study by 30%. We think the evidence of commingling is more than sufficient. 19 Further, the evidence showed that, when commingling was discovered, it was brought to the defendants' attention before they made their reports and submissions. IBT employees Smith, Garrett and Reyna, who worked on the TCC study, knew about the excessive mortality rate and discussed the bad AWR conditions causing that problem with Plank and Wright, which at least implied that these defendants knew they had a potentially serious problem threatening the validity of the study. Further, there is testimony that Plank explicitly directed Garrett to commingle late-started animals. In addition, Keplinger and Wright made the decision to begin a late-started group of animals. All three defendants attended a February 1975 meeting that revealed, if they did know it before, that commingling had occurred. At another meeting in December 1976, commingling was again confirmed through inconsistencies shown to Keplinger and Plank in the numbering systems that Phil Smith had used to record animal data. Defendants also knew that the study data included histopathology from commingled animals. The data presented in the 1976 version of the final report was asserted to have come from animals that had been on the study for the full 24 months. Keplinger was well aware of the falsity of this statement. Knowledge of this falsity alone is sufficient. See United States v. Outpost Development Company, 552 F.2d 868, 869-70 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 965, 98 S.Ct. 503, 54 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977). 20 The next issue of concern is the misstatement of Dr. Gordon's conclusions. Dr. Gordon was responsible for microscopic examination of tissues from the study animals to determine whether ingestion of TCC had any toxic effects at certain dosage levels including the lowest (T-1). 3 This examination initially focused on the organ that toxicologists believed would be affected first, in this case the testis. 21 Gordon conducted histopathological examinations (by microscope) of tissues taken from animals sacrificed at the end of the study and of those from treatment group animals, as well as control animals, that died earlier. Based on these examinations, Gordon concluded that there were treatment-related changes (which he called degeneration) at all three levels of dosage (including T-1) while there was little testicular degeneration in the control animals. According to Dr. Gordon, TCC damaged the testis and T-1 was an effect level. The defendants for obvious reasons resisted these conclusions. They directed Gordon to examine more slides; but in order to do so, he had to look at tissues from late-started animals because there were no more rats available from the original study. Examination of these late-started animals supported his original conclusion that T-1 was an effect level. 22 Still dissatisfied with these results, Wright sent selected slides, omitting post-mortem and late-started animals, to Dr. Ribelin, an independent consultant. After reviewing the slides, Ribelin also found that a no-effect level had not been reached and that there were treatment-related effects from TCC. Ribelin, however, discovered degeneration in the epididymis, the excretory duct of the testes, and not in the testes themselves. Defendants presented a great deal of evidence to show that the testes and the epididymis are different and that since the testes were the target organs of the study, a finding of an effect level in the epididymis did not support a conclusion that T-1 was an effect level for the testes. But the jury was entitled to accept the government's alternative view that if treatment-related effects were found in any part of the rat, a safe level of dosage had not been established, and so Ribelin's conclusion was not consistent with the position that T-1 was a safe level for TCC. The jury was entitled to find that the defendants' suppression of this report denied the FDA important information about the safety of TCC. 4 23 Despite the evidence that both Gordon and Ribelin believed T-1 to be an effect level (although they perceived different types of effects), the defendants argue that these researchers agreed that T-1 was a no-effect level. The government contends that Gordon was pressured into approving a change in his opinion, exonerating TCC, but the defendants argue this change was voluntary. The jury decided this question, and we will not reconsider it. 24 The government also contends there was fraud in the revisions made in the final report to the FDA. That report stated that post-mortem autolysis (deterioration of tissue after death) precluded meaningful evaluation of the testes of animals that died during the study. Yet defendants do not deny that Gordon was in fact able to examine these animals, did so, and made histopathologic findings regarding these animals. Those findings were omitted from the report, implying that the animals were not examined at all. There was testimony that Keplinger told Wright that there were animals available for post-mortem evaluation but Wright edited the final report to indicate that decay made such animals unavailable. Although defendants offered testimony that there was a valid reason for omitting the data, the jury could reasonably have concluded instead that Gordon's findings were omitted because they were adverse to the conclusions defendants wanted to draw. Additionally, the government presented evidence to show that data collected from gross pathology examinations (opening the animals and examining tissue without a microscope) was changed so that the T-1 level would appear to be a no-effect level. Earlier versions of the report, however, indicated that there were treatment-related effects at all three dosage levels. Whether the omitted histopathology and post-mortem data could have affected the FDA's decision about the safety of TCC was a judgment properly left to the jury. 25 The government showed that the final 1976 report was backdated by two years to 1974. The defendants argue that this was done to avoid confusion and consolidate all the results, but the government contends that the purpose was to conceal all the conflicts in the interim reports, to mask the falsifications in the data and to cover up the important omissions. Once again defendants' arguments indicate only that they presented evidence disputing the government's interpretation of various events; they do not persuade us that the jury could not reasonably accept that interpretation. 26 There are, of course, numerous other aspects of the TCC evidence which might be discussed if time or space permitted, but we believe we have pointed to sufficient evidence from which a jury could find a scheme to defraud. Defendants' arguments essentially seek a reweighing of the evidence, which the jury found, and which we conclude was sufficient, to establish materially false statements and omissions in the study reports beyond a reasonable doubt.
27 The second study examined the long-term toxicity effects of Naprosyn, a drug used for the treatment of arthritis. That study was conducted by IBT for Syntex in 1971 and 1972. The government identified two problem areas in the reports from that study: 1) alleged fabrication of blood and urine data, and 2) alleged fabrication of much of the gross pathology data appearing in Appendix II of the report. 28 In testing the evidence to determine its sufficiency, we focus first on the blood and urine data reported, which the government charged was never actually collected. The government presented evidence that the study was extended beyond 18 months, and as a result of the final sacrifice was postponed and the blood and urine tests scheduled to occur just before the sacrifice were canceled and never thereafter rescheduled. There was testimony that if blood and urine tests were canceled, they would not be performed later unless specifically rescheduled. At the 22-month point, when the final sacrifice did take place, the defendants for various reasons were under pressure to end the study quickly. The blood and urine tests were not rescheduled. 29 The government contends that these tests were never conducted, which explains why the raw data for them could not be located. Technician Smith testified that he could not find raw blood and urine data to include in his draft of the Naprosyn report and that he brought this to Wright's attention along with his surmise that the work had not been performed. Wright did not take issue with this conclusion. 30 Technician Garrett testified that his responsibilities included setting up the rats for the blood and urine tests but that he had not done so, implying that the tests had not been performed. Yet ultimately, the final report contained blood and urine data for animals long dead at the time the blood and urine analysis would have been made. 31 Defendants argue that the government's proof rests solely on the absence of the raw data. In particular they contend that the inability to locate data is circumstantial evidence insufficient to establish that the data did not exist and was fabricated. Besides attacking the credibility of technician Garrett, the defendants maintain that any apparent errors in the reported blood and urine data indicate mere negligent recording of the actual data, not falsification of it. Proof of absence of records that would ordinarily exist if a particular event had occurred is properly admitted to show that the event did not occur. See, e.g., Federal Rule of Evidence 803(7); United States v. Zeidman, 540 F.2d 314, 319 (7th Cir.1976). Despite the defendants' arguments, the jury had ample evidence to support a finding of falsification. 32 Appendix II was a report which contained allegedly fabricated gross pathology data for animals examined post-mortem. The government presented evidence to show that the relevant log completely contradicted or left unsubstantiated findings authored by Plank in Appendix II. Technicians Smith, Garrett and Penner, among others, identified their records for specific animals and reported those animals that died during the study and were discarded without findings of any kind because they were too badly decomposed (TBD). Yet Plank included various gross pathology findings about these animals in Appendix II. The necropsy log frequently conflicted with results as reported in Appendix II in other respects as well. Presumably, if Plank's conclusions had been based on actual gross observations, they would have been confirmed by the necropsy log. 33 In order to justify Plank's Appendix II, defendants attempt to persuade us that Garrett performed necropsies that yielded the data reported by Plank. Yet Garrett and other technicians denied performing necropsies. Defendants also argue that several technicians never worked on the Naprosyn project, and therefore could not say whether or not necropsies were performed on TBD animals or whether or not results of gross examinations of these animals were recorded on the backs of cage cards. Dr. Gordon testified that cage cards were not considered raw data and were not kept after a project was completed. Therefore, defendants assert it was unreasonable for the prosecution to contend, or for the jury to conclude, that, five years after the Naprosyn study was finished, IBT's failure to produce cage cards supports the inference that the cards contained no gross pathology data. But these matters, in light of all the other evidence, presented jury questions and there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's conclusions. 34 The government argues that Keplinger had knowledge of the falsifications of the blood and urine data and Appendix II because he never looked into the matter of missing data when given reason to do so. The defendants contend that there is insufficient evidence that Keplinger failed to do so, and, alternatively, even if he did not look into missing data, it is unreasonable to infer that he had knowledge of the falsification. Although failure to investigate the question of the missing data, considered in isolation, may not be sufficient to demonstrate Keplinger's participation in the scheme to defraud, in combination with other evidence, it entitled the jury to infer that Keplinger knew of the falsifications. We conclude the evidence on the blood and urine data and on Appendix II was sufficient.
35 We next turn to the issue whether the government's evidence was sufficient to support the jury's findings that the Naprosyn and TCC reports were mailed, and that defendants caused those mailings. The use of the mails may be proved by direct or circumstantial evidence. E.g., United States v. Brooks, 748 F.2d 1199, 1202 (7th Cir.1984). The government points out that evidence of office custom and practice here may establish the fact of mailing. See e.g., United States v. Joyce, 499 F.2d 9, 15 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1031, 95 S.Ct. 512, 42 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974); United States v. Flaxman, 495 F.2d 344, 349 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1031, 95 S.Ct. 512, 42 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974). Circumstantial proof often consists of evidence of office practice, and such testimony as to office practice is sufficient proof of mailing. E.g., United States v. Ledesma, 632 F.2d 670, 675 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 998, 101 S.Ct. 539, 66 L.Ed.2d 296 (1980). 36 Defendants, citing United States v. Wolfson, 322 F.Supp. 798 (D.Del.1971), aff'd, 454 F.2d 60 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 924, 92 S.Ct. 1792, 32 L.Ed.2d 124 (1972), argue that the prosecution must show that the office procedure is invariable. However, Wolfson is not binding on this court, and we have in fact subsequently held that proof of regular or usual business practice is sufficient. See, e.g., United States v. Joyce, 499 F.2d at 15. Since the government is under no duty to negate all possible innocent inferences from a set of circumstantial facts, see United States v. Graves, 736 F.2d 850, 854 (2d Cir.1984), it should not be required to present proof that the custom is invariable. Instead, it is sufficient to prove that mailing is the sender's regular business practice. The inference that the sender acted in accord with its ordinary practice is reasonable, and the absence of a recollection of departure from that practice strengthens the inference that the practice was followed. 37 There was evidence that IBT's Naprosyn submission to the FDA, dated November 11, 1976, was sent to lawyers for Syntex by Attorney Merrill Thompson with a cover letter, dated November 15, 1976. Thompson testified that his normal and customary business practice was to mail such letters to their addresses on or about the date they bore, together with any attachments. Defendants contend that Thompson's additional statement that such documents would normally be sent is too equivocal and leaves room for the inference that non-mail methods might have been used. Defendants cite United States v. Hart, 693 F.2d 286, 289 (3d Cir.1982) for the proposition that send is too generic and may, but does not necessarily, mean mail; reports can be sent (without being mailed) by private courier service. Therefore, defendants assert that Thompson's statement that the report was sent is not sufficient to establish that an alleged mailing in fact occurred and that, at most, only a probability of mailing is indicated. Notwithstanding this argument, proof of a company's office practice and its usual course of business, while circumstantial, has been found sufficient to carry the question of mailing to the jury. E.g., United States v. Scott, 730 F.2d 143, 146-47 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 572, 83 L.Ed.2d 512 (1984). Here the government offered evidence of ordinary business practice and testimony by Thompson denying knowledge that the letter was sent by a method other than mail. 5 38 With respect to the mailing of the TCC final report, technician Smith testified that the business practice was to mail a copy of the final report to the sponsor of the study. Defendants contend that Smith had no personal knowledge of the IBT's business practices and that his testimony was too off-hand to establish that the report was mailed. We believe that the testimony was sufficient to carry this question of mailing to the jury. Defendants presented other arguments on the mailing question which included evidence of a transmission by air courier service on May 8th about the time the TCC report was allegedly mailed, discrepancies in dates on the cover letter and final report and a Xerox mailing instruction sheet containing handwriting (which was not usually found on an IBT final report). Since the FDA's copy of the report did not contain any handwriting, defendants argue that the government's proof of mailing is inadequate. 39 The government showed that the May 8 air courier delivery was sent to Dr. Wright at Monsanto. Therefore, this delivery did not involve the mailing of the TCC final report charged in the indictment. That mailing was sent to a different Monsanto employee, Dan Roman, on or about May 12. As the government notes, the fact that IBT's mailing instruction sheet for the final report is dated May 12, a day after the date that a cover letter indicates Monsanto sent the report to the FDA, is explainable in several ways. The most likely inference from the evidence presented is that Monsanto had obtained a copy of the report before the copy sent to it on May 12th (perhaps through the May 8 courier delivery that defendants so painstakingly proved). The government also rebuts the contention that the handwriting on the IBT report was unusual by pointing to circumstantial evidence that the writing was added to the file copy after the report was actually mailed. In sum, the government offered evidence to show both that it was IBT's regular practice to mail copies of final reports to sponsors, and that IBT mailed the TCC report to Monsanto as charged in the indictment. The mere existence of conflicting evidence (which the government explains in a rational manner) does not establish an insufficiency of proof. See, e.g., United States v. Goss, 650 F.2d 1336, 1343 (5th Cir.1981). We are of the opinion that the government presented enough evidence to take to the jury the issue whether the Naprosyn and the TCC final reports were mailed.