Opinion ID: 3011112
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: The case comes on before this court on the appeals of William F. Bradley and Jackie R. Mattison following their 2 convictions for certain offenses in the district court at a two-month trial. We have consolidated their appeals and dispose of both in this opinion. Mattison was Chief of Staff for Sharpe James, the Mayor of the City of Newark, from approximately 1987 through early 1996, and was also a New Jersey State Assemblyman during that period. As Chief of Staff, Mattison acted as the Mayor's liaison between the City's Business Administrator and its department heads, ran the Mayor's office and agencies, served as liaison with the city council, boards and commissions, acted as the Mayor's representative at business meetings, and served as the Mayor's lobbyist in Trenton. The grand jury named Mattison's long-term girlfriend, Janice L. Williams, who was in the hair salon business, as an unindicted co-conspirator. Mattison and Williams together owned a house and shared a rented safedeposit box. Moreover, Mattison opened bank accounts in Williams' name in trust for their daughter. During the course of the investigation in this case the FBI seized $157,000 in cash from lockboxes in Williams' house and evidence of that seizure was admitted at the trial. Bradley was an insurance broker/financial consultant in the late 1980s, running a business called Bradley Financial Services from an office in Milburn, New Jersey. Bradley had known Williams, through Mattison, for about 15 years at the time of trial. The evidence at the trial demonstrated that Mattison helped Bradley in his role as a consultant for two companies, Great West Assurance Company and Corroon & Black, to obtain and maintain contracts with the City and the Newark Board of Education. The City chose Great West as a provider of deferred compensation plans for City employees, and the Board of Education chose Corroon to provide insurance with Bradley as its minority subcontractor. There was evidence that Mattison provided Bradley with official favors with respect to those contracts in return for a series of corrupt payments from Bradley. In particular, Bradley gave two checks payable to Mattison to him, one for $4,457.50 in September 1990 and one for $1,640 in January 1991. Bradley labeled the first check fees and the second consulting. Mattison deposited the first into 3 his personal bank account and cashed the second. Bradley made three checks payable to Williams for Mattison's direct and indirect benefit. The checks were for $3,600, dated October 8, 1991, $3,600, dated November 13, 1992, and $3,575, dated October 13, 1994. Williams deposited the first check into a new account she opened with the deposit but she added no other deposits to the account. She withdrew the entire balance in a check payable to cash on February 5, 1992. She deposited the second check into her personal checking account, and paid certain of Mattison's bills with it. She deposited the third check into her checking account and, over the next nine days, made cash withdrawals from the account for $2,000, $1,000 and $800. Thus, Bradley made total payments to Mattison of $16,872.50. Mattison did not reveal the receipt of these payments on financial forms he was required to file by reason of his public positions. Williams testified that the payments Bradley made to her were loans, and Bradley claimed that the first check he wrote to Mattison was a repayment of a loan. The government demonstrated that Mattison referred Bradley to Great West when it was seeking the contract to provide the City's deferred compensation plan. Bradley, in fact, became Great West's consultant. Mattison also furnished Bradley with information useful to Great West in seeking the contract and Bradley indicated to Great West that Mattison would aid it in winning the contract, which he did. Significantly, the assistance Mattison gave to Bradley included ensuring that a potential competitor did not offer a competing deferred compensation plan to the City. The evidence showed that the Newark Board of Education was selecting an insurance plan in 1989-90 to cover its buildings and other property. Under applicable rules, Corroon was required to have a minority contractor participating with it and Mattison vouched for Bradley for that role. Corroon paid Bradley an unusually high commission, but Bradley did little work to earn it. A search of Bradley's office revealed correspondence addressed to Mattison, some confidential, pertaining to the Board of Education contract. After Corroon secured the contract in 4 1990, Bradley was unable to obtain minority certification and lacked malpractice insurance necessary for him to comply with the contract. Nevertheless, through Mattison's intervention, Corroon decided to pay Bradley his commission in September 1991, despite initially stopping payment on a check to him. Bradley and Williams testified that the various money transfers related to loans, but the government argued that their explanations were not convincing. For example, Williams testified that her loans from Bradley had no terms, and that there were no written records kept about them. Bradley testified that his first check to Mattison was repayment for a loan Mattison had made to him to purchase a co-op, but evidence showed that he borrowed money for that purpose from a woman he was dating. While Bradley stated that he wrote consulting on that check so he could deduct it from taxes, he had not filed tax returns since 1989, leading to the tax evasion conviction in the case. Moreover, Bradley was in financial difficulties during this period and thus it is not likely that he would have been in a position to lend Williams money. Furthermore, while Williams stated the loans were for her hair salon business, the business was not in serious trouble, and she had funds available to her from a City program and in her own accounts. Also, in 1993 when Bradley sought a minority business certification he did not indicate that he had loans receivable as assets. A grand jury returned a 26-count superseding indictment against Mattison and Bradley. It charged both in counts one through 19 with: conspiracy to accept corrupt payments; accepting money to influence and reward; a scheme to extort money under official right, violating the Hobbs Act; use of a facility in interstate commerce to accept a benefit not allowed by law to influence the performance of Mattison's duties contrary to New Jersey law; and use of mail and wire fraud to deprive the citizens of Newark and New Jersey of their right to honest services of a public official. It charged Bradley separately in seven counts for three offenses: making a false declaration before the grand jury; false use of a social security number; and tax evasion from 1989-1993. 5 The court dismissed three jurors during and after the summations at the trial. The court dismissed the first, Moldow, to attend a family funeral. The court dismissed the second, Jefferson, one day later, for sleeping. The court dismissed the third because the juror had vacation plans. During the early stages of the trial, jurors mentioned that Jefferson had an odor problem and the court moved her seat so she was further away from the other jurors. Later the Assistant United States Attorney told the court he thought that Jefferson was eating paper. The jurors, however, did not make any subsequent complaints regarding odor problems or any other issue concerning Jefferson. When near the end of the trial Moldow brought her request to leave the jury to the court, she asked if the court would dismiss the other alternates. At that time the court asked her if there was something she wanted to tell it. Moldow then stated that she thought Jefferson, who was an alternate, was not a good listener and had made up her mind with respect to the outcome of the case. The court also asked if the odor issue continued. The court told the parties about the situation, and the court placed Moldow under oath for questioning. Moldow stated that near the start of trial, she had overheard Jefferson during lunch mutter a comment about making up her own mind and not listening to the court. Moldow said the remark shocked her and that she asked Jefferson what she had said, but that Jefferson denied saying anything. The court then told the parties that it had noticed Jefferson sleeping. It then swore in one of its law clerks, who testified that during the government's closing, she had noticed Jefferson sleeping. The defendants had the opportunity to cross-examine the clerk but did not do so. The court expressed its desire to question Jefferson, but the defendants opposed that procedure. The court then decided to delay questioning her in recognition of her status as an alternate. Ultimately the court dismissed the juror who had vacation plans. The court then stated that it had observed that Jefferson was not paying attention during the 6 defendants' summation. The defendants at that time changed their position, and urged the court to examine Jefferson. The court offered to voir dire all jurors about the comment Moldow overheard, but it did not do so. After further discussion, the court dismissed Jefferson without questioning her. We understand that if the court had not excused Jefferson she would have deliberated in this case. Eventually the jury convicted both defendants on all counts. The court calculated Mattison's guidelines range at 33-41 months, and it sentenced him to 41 months imprisonment on each count to run concurrently, three years' supervised release on each count, also to run concurrently, 400 hours of community service, a fine of $25,000, and special assessment of $950. Bradley's guidelines range was 46-57 months, and the court sentenced him to concurrent 46-month custodial terms on each count, to three-year terms of concurrent supervised release, a fine of $7,500, and a special assessment of $1,300.