Opinion ID: 777130
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Arguments Considered in Evans

Text: 7 Mr. Evans argues that juror misconduct infected the trial sufficiently to render the outcome unreliable. He argues that the District Court erred in not granting a mistrial or removing certain jurors despite evidence that: (1) jurors discussed the case prior to the close of the case with each other and with non-jurors; (2) jurors read and watched news reports about the case; (3) jurors obtained and read information not introduced at trial, specifically the RiverFront Times, a local newspaper referenced during the trial; (4) a juror could not affirm that he would remain fair and impartial; (5)jurors expressed bias against the defense attorneys; and (6) a juror slept during the trial proceedings. Mr. Evans moved the District Court for a mistrial with regard to arguments 1-3, so these arguments are reviewed for abuse of discretion. See Evans, 272 F.3d at 1087. Because Mr. Evans failed to object or opted out of an objection with regard to arguments 4-6, these arguments are reviewed for plain error. See Evans, 272 F.3d at 1080. 8 Each of these arguments was also made by at least one of his codefendants. In Evans, we emphasized that district courts have broad discretion in handling allegations of juror misconduct, and we noted that, in this case, the Court had stricken one juror from the panel, and the remaining jurors had not been exposed to extrinsic information relating to a substantive issue at trial. We find this reasoning persuasive and binding. 272 F.3d at 1078-80 (addressing argument 4), at 1087-88 (addressing arguments 1-3, 5-6). Therefore, we conclude that the District Court neither abused its discretion nor committed plain error. 9 Mr. Evans argues that the District Court erred by allowing the testimony of Sergeant Andrew Schmidt, an expert witness for the government, on the grounds that there was no hearing to determine his reliability and qualifications and no showing that he was in fact credible or reliable. The government did disclose Sergeant Schmidt's qualifications, education, training, and credentials, and the parties briefed and argued before the District Court the issue of whether he should be allowed to testify. The District Court did not abuse its discretion in allowing Sergeant Schmidt to testify. Evans, 272 F.3d at 1094. 10 Mr. Evans argues that three jury instructions were defective and failed to provide adequate direction to the jury. Two of these instructions will be discussed here, and the third, because it depends on facts unique to Mr. Evans, will be discussed below. Because Mr. Evans failed to object to these instructions at trial, they are reviewed for plain error. Mr. Evans contends, first, that the Court gave conflicting instructions regarding the mental element for money laundering, resulting in the omission of the required element that the defendant knew that the money being transferred was from the proceeds of an unlawful activity. This argument is without merit. The Court's general knowledge instruction, given as part of the Mann Act instruction, does not conflict with the Court's specific knowledge instruction, which pertains to the money-laundering statute; and these instructions were clear in context. Evans, 272 F.3d at 1086-87. Second, Mr. Evans contends that the Court's failure to specify the names of the victims for each of the Mann Act counts resulted in jury confusion and, therefore, was plain error. This argument also is without merit. Evans, 272 F.3d at 1084. 11 Mr. Evans argues that the District Court violated the Double Jeopardy Clause by sentencing him both for violations of the Mann Act and for money laundering. He argues that because the money laundering statute requires the use of proceeds from another illegal activity — here, Mann Act violations — those violations are swept into the money-laundering convictions as lesser included offenses. This argument is without merit. Evans, 272 F.3d at 1088.