United States v. Frankhauser

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Frankhauser. Read the opinion of the Court — 80 F.3d 641
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit·Decided April 9, 1996·No. 95-1560·Published

Opinion

USCA1 Opinion



UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
____________________

No. 95-1560

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellee,

v.

ROY FRANKHAUSER,

Defendant, Appellant.

____________________

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. Patti B. Saris, U.S. District Judge] ___________________

____________________

Before

Boudin, Circuit Judge, _____________
Bownes, Senior Circuit Judge, ____________________
and Stahl, Circuit Judge. _____________

____________________

Joan M. Griffin, with whom Casner & Edwards were on brief for ________________ _________________
appellant.
S. Theodore Merritt, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom ___________________
Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney, was on brief for appellee. _______________

____________________

April 9, 1996
____________________

BOWNES, Senior Circuit Judge. Appellant Roy BOWNES, Senior Circuit Judge. ____________________

Frankhauser (Frankhauser) appeals his convictions and

sentence for corruptly persuading a witness to destroy or

conceal objects with intent to impair their availability for

use in an official proceeding, 18 U.S.C. 1512(b)(2)(B)

(Count II), endeavoring to obstruct a grand jury

investigation, 18 U.S.C. 1503 (Count III), and conspiracy

to commit the two substantive offenses, 18 U.S.C. 371

(Count I). As to the convictions, Frankhauser contends that

the district court erred under Fed. R. Evid. 404(b) and/or

Fed. R. Evid. 403 in admitting evidence from his 1987 trial

and conviction for conspiracy to obstruct justice, and that

the evidence was insufficient to support any of the counts of

conviction. As to his sentence, Frankhauser contends that

the district court incorrectly added two points for his role

in the offense. We reverse Frankhauser's conviction under

section 1503, affirm his convictions under sections 1512 and

371, vacate his sentence and remand for further sentencing

proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND __________

In addition to evidence of Frankhauser's conduct in

this case, evidence of the following was presented: (1)

violations of civil rights laws by Brian Clayton (the

underlying investigation in this case); (2) Frankhauser's

1987 trial and conviction for conspiracy to obstruct justice;

-2- 2

(3) credit card fraud and other violations of the law by

members of the 1984 Lyndon LaRouche presidential campaign

(the underlying investigation in the 1987 case). Because we

review claims of insufficiency of the evidence, we set forth

the evidence in the light most favorable to the government.

Frankhauser and Brian Clayton _____________________________

Frankhauser, a self-described political activist,

has been a well-known member of the Ku Klux Klan in

Pennsylvania since at least the 1960s. Up to the time of

trial, he had a local weekly television show, made other

public appearances, and gave interviews to the print media in

which he openly discussed his beliefs. He also ran what he

called the "Legal Defense Fund" out of his home, the purpose

of which was to advise and find attorneys for people who

claimed that their First Amendment rights were being

violated. Frankhauser used his own name in public

appearances, but used names other than his own when acting as

a representative of the Legal Defense Fund.

Brian Clayton (Clayton) was a twenty-year-old

founder of a skinhead organization formed in August of 1993

in Brockton, Massachusetts, called the New Dawn Hammerskins.

According to FBI Agent Finn, skinheads espouse white

supremacy and separate themselves from non-white and Jewish

persons. In February of 1994, Clayton met Frankhauser at the

filming of a Geraldo show in which Frankhauser appeared as a

-3- 3

representative of the Ku Klux Klan. Clayton appeared in the

audience, identified himself as a skinhead, and spoke about

his white supremacist and separatist views. Three or four

times during March and April of 1994, Clayton called

Frankhauser's "speech line," which played a recorded speech.

On April 14, 1994, Clayton called Frankhauser's personal

line; telephone records introduced at trial reflected an

eight-minute conversation.

The Underlying Investigation: Brian Clayton's Crimes ____________________________________________________

FBI Agent Finn testified that between August and

October of 1993, in the Brockton/Randolph area, three Jewish

temples were spray-painted with anti-Semitic graffiti

including a swastika, the SS symbol, a fist labeled "White

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