United States v. Harrison

969 F. Supp. 2d 1344, 2013 WL 5216469, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130903
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Alabama
DecidedSeptember 13, 2013
DocketCase No. 2:12-cr-193-MEF-WC
StatusPublished

This text of 969 F. Supp. 2d 1344 (United States v. Harrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Harrison, 969 F. Supp. 2d 1344, 2013 WL 5216469, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130903 (M.D. Ala. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MARK E. FULLER, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant Vernon Harrison’s (“Defendant” or “Harrison”) Motion for Judgment of Acquittal, and in the Alternative, Motion for a New Trial. (Doc. # 106.) On October 18, 2012, the Grand Jury returned a 23-count indictment against Harrison, charging him with (1) one count of conspiracy to file false claims in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 286; (2) eight counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341; (3) eight counts of aggravated identity theft in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(l); and (4) six counts of mail embezzlement in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1709. (Doc. # 1.) On July 3, 2013, a jury found Harrison guilty as charged on all twenty-three counts of the Indictment. Harrison moved for a judgment of acquittal at the end of both the government’s case and at the end of trial. The Court denied both motions.

After careful review of the record and for the reasons stated, the Court finds that Harrison’s motion is to be DENIED.

DISCUSSION

I. Motion for Judgment of Acquittal

Harrison moves for judgment of acquittal under Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure as to counts 10 through 17 and 18 through 23 of the Indictment, which comprise the aggravated identity theft and embezzlement of mail convictions, respectively. The test in considering a motion for judgment of acquittal is whether, viewing all evidence in the light most favorable to the government and drawing all reasonable inferences from the evidence and credibility choices in favor of the jury’s verdict, a reasonable trier of fact could find that evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. O’Keefe, 825 F.2d 314 (11th Cir.1987). Accepting all reasonable inferences from the evidence that support the jury’s verdict, a court must uphold a conviction if a reasonable fact-finder could have reached a conclusion of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Lopez, 985 F.2d 520, 524 (11th Cir.1993); see United States v. Taylor, 972 F.2d 1247, 1250 (11th Cir.1992) (finding that the court must resolve any conflicts in the evidence in favor of the government). In this case, when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the jury’s verdict, the Court finds that the evidence was sufficient to establish both the aggravated identity theft and embezzlement of mail charges beyond a reasonable doubt, as explained in greater detail below.

A. Aggravated Identity Theft

To sustain a conviction on the aggravated identity theft charges, the government must have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that, among other elements, Harrison knowingly transferred, possessed, or used another person’s means of identification. 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(l). “Means of identification” includes any name or number to identify a specific individual, includ[1347]*1347ing an account number that can be used to initiate a transfer of funds, such as a debit card or credit card number issued in an individual’s name. 18 U.S.C. § 1028(d)(7); see also Cts. Instructions to the Jury at 15 (Doc. # 100). Harrison argues that the government presented insufficient evidence showing that the debit cards stolen from the mail were “means of identification” because the evidence presented at trial did not establish that Harrison ever possessed the names or social security numbers of the individuals identified in counts 10 through 17 of the Indictment. The statute, however, does not limit “means of identification” to a name or social security number as Harrison contends. See 18 U.S.C. § 1028(d)(7). Rather, to sustain a conviction, the government can show that Harrison possessed, transferred, or used an account number, such as a debit card issued in an individual’s name. In this case, the evidence at trial showed that Harrison possessed debit cards containing an account number with a name on them and included an admission by Harrison that he gave Slaton about 50-75 Turbo Tax debit cards in return for payment. Accordingly, the Court is satisfied that the government met its burden of showing that Harrison knowingly transferred, possessed, or used another person’s means of identification by possessing debit cards containing account numbers and a corresponding name.

Nonetheless, Harrison contends that for debit card account numbers to qualify as “means of identification,” the victims must be aware of the accounts’ existence. From this premise, Harrison reasons that because the victims “did not set up these accounts and had nothing to do with these accounts,” and thus were not aware of the accounts’ existence, the account numbers could not qualify as “means of identification.” Therefore, he claims, the evidence cannot sustain a guilty verdict on the aggravated identity theft charge. (Doc. # 106.) This argument fails. The plain text of the statute defining “means of identification” does not include a requirement that the victim have knowledge of the account, actually open the account, or have anything to do with the account. See 18 U.S.C. § 1028(d)(7). Harrison has presented no authority suggesting that the statute should be interpreted to include his proposed additional requirement that the victims must be aware of the accounts’ existence. This is likely because such an argument reeks of absurdity. Indeed, if the Court were to accept Harrison’s argument, then it would essentially be requiring victims of aggravated identity theft to possess some sort of innate telepathic ability to know of an accounts’ existence — in this case, Turbo Tax debit cards that were unknowingly issued to the victims to pay tax refunds on returns that were never filed — before the accounts can be considered “means of identification” under the statute. This “you don’t know I am stealing from you, therefore I can’t be stealing from you” argument insults both the Court and Harrison’s victims. Moreover, if the Court were to accept Harrison’s argument, because any subsequent benefits obtained from the stolen identities would never “belong” to the victims, any ongoing misuse of the victims’ identities would never be actionable. Such a result would be wholly contrary to the statute’s purpose and would substantially limit its application.

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Bluebook (online)
969 F. Supp. 2d 1344, 2013 WL 5216469, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130903, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-harrison-almd-2013.