Opinion ID: 782526
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Brett Woehlk

Text: 14 The government presented evidence that, in 1990, defendant was the manager of the Farm Store, a convenience food store, in Tampa, Florida. Brett Woehlk was his employee. On Tuesday, April 3, 1990, defendant called his supervisor, Mary Abed, to report that the store's safe had been robbed of the previous day's receipts. Further investigation revealed that the bank had not received the deposits on Friday, March 30, or Sunday, April 1. Defendant said Woehlk must have been responsible for the theft because defendant sent Woehlk to make the deposits on Friday and Sunday nights and because Woehlk was the only person other than defendant who had keys to the store and the combination to the safe. 15 Abed testified that defendant's report of the $11,000 in missing receipts raised her suspicions. When defendant opened the store on Saturday morning, he had sufficient change to operate the store for the day, which would indicate that the deposit was not made on Friday night. It was also against store policy to make deposits at night. Abed testified that the Friday night deposit should not have been made until Saturday afternoon, after defendant's shift. Abed also found it suspicious that although defendant went to the bank on Monday to make a deposit, he failed to obtain the verified deposit slips from the weekend even though he had always complied with this requirement in the past. Abed contacted her supervisor, Diane Binde. Binde testified that when she interviewed defendant, he told her that he had been at the store until 2:00 a.m. Monday morning, wiping down his car. Binde found this story peculiar because defendant was scheduled to be at the store at 4:30 a.m. that same morning to open. Binde suspended defendant from his employment. 16 Woehlk was last seen by his mother before he went to work on the evening of Sunday, April 1, 1990. Woehlk did not show up at his girlfriend's house that night as planned. Woehlk's car was found a few blocks from the Farm Store on Tuesday, April 3, 1990, with empty Farm Store bank bags in it. Woehlk's body was found on April 7, 1990, 266 feet off the road, clothed in a Farm Store shirt, wrapped in a carpet and covered with a piece of plywood. He had seven knife wounds, including a slash to his throat. 17 George McNamara, a police investigator, testified that he observed two people watching the police at the crime scene. The individuals were identified as defendant and his live-in partner, Paul DeLay. During questioning, DeLay told the police that when defendant came home in the early morning hours of Monday, April 2, 1990, he had blood on his hands and took a shower. DeLay told police that defendant admitted that he killed Woehlk with a knife in an argument over money at the Farm Store and that he had hidden Woehlk's body underneath a piece of carpet in a field. DeLay also told police that defendant told him that he had moved Woehlk's car a few blocks away from the store. During a search of defendant's residence, the police found a set of keys to Woehlk's parents' home and a money order log from the Farm Store. The money order log reflected that defendant had purchased over $3,000 in money orders during Woehlk's shift on Sunday. 18 Defendant was charged with the homicide of Woehlk and with burglary and grand theft in connection with the loss of funds at the Farm Store. The murder charges against defendant were ultimately dismissed because DeLay recanted his story before the grand jury. Defendant was acquitted on the burglary and theft charges and moved to Canton, Ohio. DeLay was convicted of perjury for his false statements to the grand jury in Florida. After serving his jail term on the perjury conviction, DeLay followed defendant to Canton, Ohio. 19 At defendant's sentencing hearing in 2000, DeLay testified that around the time that Woehlk disappeared, defendant did not come home from work on time. DeLay called him several times at work. When defendant finally answered the telephone, he first explained that he had been in the bathroom and then changed his story to say that he had been washing his car. When defendant came home and DeLay asked him about the blood on his hands, defendant explained that he killed Woehlk over money from the Farm Store. DeLay testified that his original statement to the police in 1995 that defendant admitted killing Woehlk was true. DeLay testified that he lied to the grand jury because defendant had told him not to tell the police anything. 20 Defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to permit a finding that he murdered Woehlk because there was no testimony from a coroner establishing that the cause of death was homicide. Defendant has cited no authority in support of his assertion that a coroner's opinion is required to establish the cause of death. There is no authority to that effect because this argument is legally untenable. The Sentencing Guidelines provide that [i]n resolving any dispute concerning a factor important to the sentencing determination, the court may consider relevant information without regard to its admissibility under the rules of evidence applicable at trial, provided that the information has sufficient indicia of reliability to support its probable accuracy. U.S.S.G. 6A1.3(a). We have also previously observed that [t]he Sentencing Guidelines and this circuit's case law have set a low bar for the kinds of evidence sentencing judges may rely on to decide factual issues at sentencing. United States v. Wiant, 314 F.3d 826, 832 (6th Cir.2003) (citing U.S.S.G. § 6A1.3(a); United States v. Greene, 71 F.3d 232, 235 (6th Cir.1995)). We review the evidence for its relevance and reliability, not for its conformity to conventional proofs. 21 The sentencing court permitted Officer McNamara to testify to his recollection of what the coroner ruled regarding Woehlk's death. Even though some of McNamara's testimony was hearsay, the district court may consider and rely on hearsay evidence as long as the evidence bears some minimal indicia of reliability. United States v. Silverman, 976 F.2d 1502, 1511 (6th Cir. 1992). McNamara's testimony regarding his recollection as to the cause of Woehlk's death was inherently reliable. He was an officer assigned to the homicide unit, he investigated the scene of Woelk's death, and he observed the slash wounds. Moreover, the precise cause of death was not a material issue at sentencing. The district court only needed to determine whether Woehlk was murdered and whether he was murdered by defendant. Woehlk's slashed body was found rolled up in a carpet and covered by plywood in a field. The fact that this was a murder was clear. 22 Defendant contends that even if the cause of death was established, there was insufficient evidence to support a finding that he was responsible for the death. Defendant notes that no murder weapon was found and that the police found no traces of Woehlk's blood during their search of defendant's car and house. 23 Despite the lack of weapon or blood evidence, there was ample reliable evidence to support a finding that defendant was responsible for Woehlk's death. Some of the evidence the district court highlighted in support of this finding was: defendant's presence at the store during the relevant time period; the implausibility of defendant's claim that he sent Woehlk to make a night deposit; the money count on Saturday morning that did not support the claim that the Friday night deposit was made; defendant's conduct in the days after Woehlk's disappearance, including his presence near the death scene; the money orders purchased by defendant; Woehlk's keys found at defendant's home; and defendant's statements to DeLay. 24 Defendant suggests that the district court erred in placing too much weight on DeLay's testimony. Defendant contends that DeLay's testimony was inherently unreliable because DeLay was a convicted perjurer, because he had given numerous contradictory statements, and because some of his statements could not be corroborated by the physical evidence. Moreover, Delay had psychological problems, and he testified while he was medicated and while he was under the influence of powerful inducements from the government. 25 Unless clearly contrary to the facts, the determination of credibility lies with the district court. United States v. Roche, 321 F.3d 607, 611 (6th Cir.2003) (citing Arredondo v. United States, 178 F.3d 778, 783 (6th Cir.1999)). We are required to give due regard to the opportunity of the district court to judge the credibility of the witnesses. 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e). Nothing in this record suggests that the district court's reliance on DeLay's testimony was clearly erroneous. The district court was in the best position to judge DeLay's credibility. Moreover, DeLay's testimony had sufficient indicia of reliability. His original statement to the Tampa police included information that he could only have learned from the murderer, such as the manner, date, and location of Woehlk's death and the location of Woehlk's car. DeLay's recanting of his first statement to the Tampa police at defendant's insistence is consistent with DeLay's testimony that he had no one in his life other than defendant and that defendant was able to impose his will on DeLay. 26 We conclude that there was sufficient circumstantial evidence to enable the district court to find that Woehlk was murdered and that he was murdered by defendant.