United States v. Gray

337 F. App'x 365
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Gray. Read the opinion of the Court — 253 F. App'x 321
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit·Decided July 10, 2009·No. 08-4406·Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Samuel Andrew Gray, Sr. appeals from a judgment entered after a trial convicting him of eighteen counts of failing to pay over to the Internal Revenue Service and the United States income tax, social security and Medicare taxes, withheld from Appellant’s employees’ wages, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7202 (2006) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (2006), one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and to defraud the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (2006), three counts of fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1341 (West Supp.2009), three counts of receipt of stolen funds, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2315 (2006), and three counts of money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1957 (2006). Counsel filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), certifying there were no meritorious arguments for appeal, but raises for the court’s consideration whether the district court erred enhancing Gray’s offense level by four levels after *367 finding Gi’ay was in the business of laundering money. Gray filed a pro se supplemental brief raising several issues. The Government filed a brief addressing Gray’s issues. Because there was an error with the order of restitution that was not harmless, we affirm the convictions, but vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.

Gray argues the district court erred continuing with a hearing after retained counsel identified a conflict of interest, that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel because his funds were frozen due to a notice of forfeiture and he was denied his right to hire an expert witness. These issues rise from a protective order freezing certain assets owned by Gray because it appeared the assets were derived from Gray’s criminal conduct. We find no error with the court’s decision to continue the November 8 hearing, primarily because the magistrate judge later found there was no conflict of interest and the primary topic of the hearing was the potential conflict. We further find Gray was not denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. See Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered v. United States, 491 U.S. 617, 630-31, 109 S.Ct. 2646, 105 L.Ed.2d 528 (1989) (there is no Sixth Amendment right for criminal defendants to use forfeitable assets for the purpose of retaining counsel of their choosing). With respect to the denial of an expert witness, Gray’s appointed counsel never sought funds for an expert, thus there was no error.

There was no abuse of discretion in the district court’s decision to not admit a letter written by Gray’s attorney to the IRS regarding the sale of his business. See United States v. Bumpass, 60 F.3d 1099, 1102 (4th Cir.1995) (stating standard of review). The letter was clearly inadmissible hearsay as it was being offered for the truth of the assertions. See Fed. R.Evid. 802.

We also find no abuse of discretion with respect to jury instructions on willful blindness or the instructions for the tax evading charges. See United States v. Abbas, 74 F.3d 506, 513 (4th Cir.1996) (stating standard of review). The Government’s evidence supported an inference that Gray was willfully blind to the source and the legality of the funds he was receiving from Steve Miller. We also note the court’s instructions for Counts One through Eighteen followed the text of the statute and focused on the fact that the allegation was that Gray may have withheld the taxes from employees’ paychecks, but did not forward the taxes to the proper federal agency.

With the exception of the amount of restitution, we find no error or prejudice suffered by Gray with respect to the district court’s findings at sentencing. In determining whether a district court properly applied the advisory Guidelines, including application of any sentencing enhancements, we review the district court’s legal conclusions de novo and its factual findings for clear error. United States v. Osborne, 514 F.3d 377, 387 (4th Cir.2008). The district court’s credibility determinations receive “great deference.” United States v. Feurtado, 191 F.3d 420, 424 n. 2 (4th Cir.1999). There was no clear error in the court’s decision to apply a four-level enhancement under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2S1.1 (b)(2)(C) (2002) upon finding Gray was in the business of money laundering. We also find no clear error in the two-level enhancement under USSG § 3C1.1 for obstruction of justice based on Gray’s testimony at trial. The court properly found Gray gave “false testimony concerning a material matter with the willful intent to provide false testimony” under oath. United *368 States v. Dunnigan, 507 U.S. 87, 94-95, 113 S.Ct. 1111, 122 L.Ed.2d 445 (1993). We further .find Gray was not prejudiced by the two-level enhancement for using sophisticated means to conceal his fraud. We also find Gray was not prejudiced because the court declined to rule upon his objection to the amount of loss. A decision in his favor would not have impacted the offense level.

We do, however, conclude there was error in the amount of restitution ordered by the district court and the error was not harmless. This issue was contested at sentencing and ruled against Gray. As the Government now concedes, the amount of restitution is allowed only “for the loss[es] caused by the specific conduct that is the basis of the offense of conviction.” Hughey v. United States, 495 U.S. 411, 413, 418, 110 S.Ct. 1979, 109 L.Ed.2d 408 (1990); United States v. Newsome, 322 F.3d 328, 341 (4th Cir.2003) (“[I]t is the ‘offense of conviction,’ not the ‘relevant conduct,’ that must be the cause of losses attributable as restitutionary liability.”). Because the difference in the amount of restitution is significant, we will vacate the sentence and remand for the court to reenter a new order of restitution. In all other respects, we find the sentence reasonable. See Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 50-51, 128 S.Ct.

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Related

Anders v. California
386 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered v. United States
491 U.S. 617 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Hughey v. United States
495 U.S. 411 (Supreme Court, 1990)
United States v. Dunnigan
507 U.S. 87 (Supreme Court, 1993)
Gall v. United States
552 U.S. 38 (Supreme Court, 2007)
United States v. Timothy Lavon Bumpass
60 F.3d 1099 (Fourth Circuit, 1995)
United States v. Syed Abbas, A/K/A Qasim
74 F.3d 506 (Fourth Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Osborne
514 F.3d 377 (Fourth Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Feurtado
191 F.3d 420 (Fourth Circuit, 1999)
United States v. Newsome
322 F.3d 328 (Fourth Circuit, 2003)