Opinion ID: 1433971
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of the evidence regarding Whitfield's intent to use the mails

Text: Whitfield claims that the Government produced insufficient evidence to establish that he knew or intended that the mails would be used to further a fraudulent scheme. The Government contends that Whitfield failed to adequately raise the issue below, therefore we should review only for a manifest miscarriage of justice. See United States v. McDowell, 498 F.3d 308, 312 (5th Cir.2007). Although the basis of Whitfield's argument below is slightly unclear, we will assume that Whitfield adequately raised this issue with the district court in his Rule 29 motion for a judgment of acquittal. We review the district court's denial of that motion de novo. See Valle, 538 F.3d at 344. Although Whitfield initially challenged his indictment for mail fraud in relation to Count Seven, which was premised upon his sending of the fraudulent promissory note to Radlauer on September 20, 2002, apparently he has abandoned this argument on appeal. Presently, Whitfield asserts that there was insufficient evidence to support a finding that he possessed the necessary mens rea to commit mail fraud in relation to the following counts of the indictment: Count Four, which was based upon the service of the summons and the complaint in the Marks case on Diamond Offshore on February 22, 1999; Count Five, which was based upon the subpoena duces tecum sent by Diamond Offshore to a witness in Marks on August 23, 1999; and Count Six, which was based upon the mailing of Minor & Associates' response to Diamond Offshore's motion for a new trial on August 3, 2000. The mail fraud statute applies to anyone who knowingly causes to be delivered by mail anything for the purpose of executing any scheme or artifice to defraud. See 18 U.S.C. § 1341. The Government is not required to prove that the defendant specifically intended for the mails to be used in furtherance of the alleged fraudulent scheme. United States v. Massey, 827 F.2d 995, 1002 (5th Cir. 1987). Rather, `[t]he test to determine whether the defendant caused the mails to be used is whether the use was reasonably foreseeable.' Id. (quoting R.A.G.S. Couture, Inc. v. Hyatt, 774 F.2d 1350, 1354 (5th Cir.1985)). Pursuant to Rule 4(c)(3) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, the circuit clerk court was authorized to issue a summons, along with a copy of the complaint, to Diamond Offshore by mail. Further, although Rule 45 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure requires that subpoena be served personally, the Government presented evidence that Diamond Offshore's attorney sent the subpoena duces tecum by mail with return receipt requested, a practice that he testified was very common and considered effective so long as opposing counsel did not object. Finally, we find it difficult to believe that, as a trial judge, Whitfield would have been unaware that litigants commonly use the mail to serve responsive motions on one another. On the whole, because we conclude that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to conclude that it was reasonably foreseeable to Whitfield that the above documents would be sent by mail, we find no reversible error in the district court's denial of Whitfield's Rule 29 motion on this point.