Opinion ID: 474311
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Motion for Acquittal for Insufficient Evidence

Text: 32 Marchini next contends that the district court erred in failing to grant his motion for acquittal brought at the close of the government's case in chief, based on insufficient evidence to support a jury verdict of willful and knowing underreporting of income. 33 The test for sufficiency of the evidence 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. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) (emphasis in original); United States v. Marabelles, 724 F.2d 1374, 1377 (9th Cir.1984). The findings of the trier of fact will not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. United States v. Anderson, 642 F.2d 281, 285 (9th Cir.1981). 34 Willfulness in filing a false tax return under section 7206(1) requires a showing of specific wrongful intent to avoid a known legal duty. Marabelles, 724 F.2d at 1379. Willfulness may be inferred from all the facts and circumstances of a defendant's conduct. Id. For example, willfulness may be inferred from a consistent pattern of underreporting of large amounts of income, United States v. Gardner, 611 F.2d 770, 776 (9th Cir.1980), from the use of false names and surreptitious reliance upon cash, United States v. Holladay, 566 F.2d 1018, 1020 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 831, 99 S.Ct. 108, 58 L.Ed.2d 125 (1978), and from the defendant's attitude toward the reporting and payment of taxes generally, United States v. O'Connor, 433 F.2d 752, 754 (1st Cir.1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 911, 91 S.Ct. 874, 27 L.Ed.2d 809 (1971). 35 The evidence adduced showed that Marchini made a statement to his accountant that he did not want to file with the IRS and would not file if he could get away with it. The evidence showed and Marchini admitted that he created and cashed spurious supplier checks from 1977 to 1980, forged the first endorsement, and had a member of his office cash the check at a friendly bank. He then used this cash along with payroll checks to pay wages, and he did not report the cash wages paid to his employees or to himself. From this evidence, the jury could reasonably have inferred Marchini willfully underreported cash wages. We hold that the district court did not err in denying Marchini's motion for acquittal.