Opinion ID: 361296
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Causing a Mailing for the Purpose of Executing the Scheme

Text: 13 Each separate mailing in furtherance of a scheme to defraud constitutes a separate violation of section 1341, United States v. Crockett, supra, 534 F.2d at 593. Here, the indictment enumerated six such mailings: the three letters that Whitten sent to the Ford brothers and Allie Baker informing them of the purported will's existence and the three issues of the Southern Advocate, containing the notice to the estate's creditors, which were mailed to the newspaper's subscribers. 14 First, Bright asserts that we cannot uphold his convictions under Counts I through III of the indictment, since there was no evidence that he caused the letters to be mailed. However, it is not necessary that a defendant actually do any of the mailing so long as there is sufficient evidence to tie him to the fraudulent scheme which involves the use of the mails. Milam v. United States, 5 Cir., 1963, 322 F.2d 104, 107; See United States v. Crockett, supra, 534 F.2d at 593. Second, both appellants contend that the letters were sent after completion of any fraud, but as we have already noted, the fraudulent scheme alleged in the indictment went far beyond the mere forgery of the will. Next, appellants argue that section 1341 does not apply to these mailings because the letters had the effect of alerting the recipients to their rights under the will. The letters were obviously intended, however, to aid appellants in convincing the Fords and Mrs. Baker that a genuine will had been found, thereby easing the documents' course through probate and helping assure appellants' control of the estate's assets. Thus, the letters were a part of the execution of the fraud, United States v. Green, supra, 494 F.2d at 824; United States v. Crockett, supra, 534 F.2d at 593, and were therefore within the scope of section 1341. 15 Finally, relying principally on Parr v. United States, 363 U.S. 370, 80 S.Ct. 1171, 4 L.Ed.2d 1277 (1960), appellants urge that we overturn their convictions under Counts IV through VI of the indictment because Mississippi law required them to file the notice to creditors which appeared in the issues of the Southern Advocate that were sent through the mails. In Parr, the indictment charged the defendants, officials of a Texas school board, with embezzling tax money collected by the school district. It specified the sending of tax notices and receipt of tax payments as mailings done in furtherance of that fraudulent scheme. The Supreme Court reversed the convictions under section 1341, in part because state law in effect required the defendants to cause the mailings set forth in the indictment. However, appellants ignore the crucial distinction between Parr and this case. Under state law, the mailings in Parr would have occurred irrespective of the defendants' embezzlement; the school district regularly used the mails to send tax notices and receive payments. Here, by contrast, Mississippi's requirement of notice to the estate's creditors was triggered by the fraudulent scheme. If Whitten and Ray Bright had not decided to defraud the estate of their late cousin, they would not have had to comply with the state law requiring them to file the creditors' notice. 16 Under Mississippi law, appellants had to file the creditors' notice to secure admission of the forged will into probate. A person  'causes' the mails to be used when he does an act with knowledge that the use of the mails will follow in the ordinary course of business, or where such use can reasonably be foreseen, even though not actually intended. United States v. Green, supra, 494 F.2d at 824; United States v. Crockett, supra, 534 F.2d at 593. Appellants could have reasonably foreseen that the Chancery Court would follow its normal practice after they filed the notice to creditors, by publishing that notice in the local newspaper which reached most of its subscribers by mail. Since publication of the creditors' notice heightened the false impression that the forged will was valid and thereby increased the chances of successful probate, the mailing of the newspapers was part of the execution of the fraud and was therefore covered by the provisions of section 1341.