Opinion ID: 331427
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Raymond Mika

Text: 41 Raymond Mika, a hardware clerk, testified that the defendant had asked him to write out receipts for a Dremel sander and a Mall saw, but that he did not know whether such a sander had ever been sold to Rajewski, and that the store's last sale of a Mall saw had taken place approximately twenty years earlier. The Government offered this testimony, together with the sale receipts, as evidence of similar acts to show intent or a common scheme. 42 On appeal, defendant argues that the Government has not proved clearly and convincingly that the other acts of concealment occurred. Tacitly conceding that, with appropriate instructions, similar act evidence is admissible, the defendant contends, citing United States v. Fearns, 501 F.2d 486 (7th Cir. 1974), that the jury should not have been permitted to speculate that the receipts were in fact false. In this case, however, there is no real question about jury speculation. Mika expressly testified that Rajewski had given him the verbatim information written on the receipt, that the sales slips were backdated, and that none of the three snow blowers carried in stock by the store was ever sold or given to Rajewski. 43 Moreover, defendant misreads the thrust of the Fearns discussion. In that case, the court expressly stated that, if certain described deficiencies could be corrected by the witness at the second trial, the evidence could properly be admitted. Expressing its doubt about the admissibility of evidence to show intent, 501 F.2d 486, 491, the Fearns court ruled that the government was entitled to resort to proof of 'a plan or system as tending to show the doing of the act.' Id.; see 2 Wigmore on Evidence § 315 at 217 (3d ed. 1940). Intent was hardly an issue in Fearns, 501 F.2d at 491, but here it was incumbent upon the Government to prove that Rajewski intentionally submitted false documents to the Small Business Administration. Alternatively, we conclude that the evidence regarding the procurement of false receipts met the 'clear and convincing' standard propounded by the defendant. 44 We have examined all of the contentions advanced by the defendant regarding the admission of evidence, and we hold that the trial court committed no error in its evidentiary rulings. We have considered defendant's contention that there was insufficient evidence to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of Counts I and II of the indictment, and we conclude that the direct and circumstantial evidence of guilt was not only sufficient but was on the overwhelming side.