United States v. Jack Bearden

274 F.3d 1031, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 26829, 2001 WL 1602723
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedDecember 18, 2001
Docket00-5103
StatusPublished
Cited by106 cases

This text of 274 F.3d 1031 (United States v. Jack Bearden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Jack Bearden, 274 F.3d 1031, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 26829, 2001 WL 1602723 (6th Cir. 2001).

Opinions

MOORE, J., delivered the opinion of the court. ROSEN, D.J. (pp. 1042-43), delivered a separate concurring opinion.

[1034]*1034OPINION

MOORE, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant Jack Bearden appeals his conviction and sentence on one count of knowingly transporting in interstate commerce stolen goods (IBM laptop computers) having a value of $5,000 or more. In this appeal, Bearden raises five issues: the district court’s refusal to accept his plea of nolo contendere; the district court’s refusal to grant downward departures because of Bearden’s age and poor health and for acceptance of responsibility; the existence of a variance between the indictment and proof presented at trial; the credibility of a government witness; and the propriety of the district court’s restitution order. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM Bearden’s conviction and sentence.

I. BACKGROUND

From late 1996 through May of 1997, Jack Bearden acted as a middleman, selling laptop computers stolen from the warehouse of Pomeroy Computer Resources (“Pomeroy”), located in Hebron, Kentucky, to buyers located primarily in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. James Finken-stead, an employee of Pomeroy, sold sixty-eight of the stolen laptop computers to Timothy Macke. Macke then transferred forty-eight of these computers to Jack Bearden’s son, Terry Bearden (“Terry”), who agreed to divide the proceeds of the computers’ sale with Macke. Terry then approached his father about the computers; Bearden agreed to sell the computers and divide his proceeds with Terry. Bear-den sold forty-six stolen laptop computers during the course of this scheme. Bear-den sold the computers for approximately $2,000 to $2,500 each, although most of the computers were valued at approximately $4,000 each. In turn, most of the computers Bearden sold were then resold over the Internet by Cincinnati-area physicians.

After an inventory of the Pomeroy warehouse indicated that computers were missing, a joint county police department-FBI investigation eventually led to Bearden and the others. A federal grand jury in Covington, Kentucky returned an indictment on February 11, 1998, charging Bearden with interstate transportation of stolen goods. Bearden was subsequently arrested; he pleaded not guilty before a magistrate judge. When he was re-arraigned before the magistrate judge, Bear-den sought to enter a plea of nolo conten-dere to the charge. The magistrate judge recommended that the district judge accept the plea of nolo contendere. On August 20, 1999, Bearden appeared before the district judge for sentencing. The district judge refused to accept Bearden’s nolo plea, however, stating, “I will not take a nolo plea. You may plead guilty and I will sentence. You may plead not guilty and we’ll go to trial. But I just don’t take nolo pleas.” Joint Appendix (J.A.) at 111. Bearden then pleaded not guilty, and the case was scheduled for trial.

Before Bearden was tried on this count, however, the federal grand jury returned a two-count superseding indictment, charging Bearden and Finkenstead with conspiracy to transport stolen property and charging Bearden alone with transportation of stolen property. The conspiracy count against both defendants was eventually dismissed, but only after a mistrial was declared in a trial held in October 1999. Bearden was then tried, by himself, on the transportation count (originally count two of the superseding indictment); after a two-day trial, the jury found Bear-den guilty on November 10,1999.

The sentencing hearing was held before the district judge on January 6, 2000. Bearden moved for downward departures for both his age and poor health, pursuant to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual [1035]*1035(U.S.S.G.) § 5H1.4 (1998), and his payment of restitution, in the amount of $47,000, to Pomeroy’s insurance company, CNA, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0. The district judge rejected the downward departure for Bearden’s poor health, reasoning that such a departure is “disfavored” and that Bearden’s health problems could be adequately handled by the Bureau of Prisons. J.A. at 229-30. Bearden is in his late sixties and suffers from a number of health problems, including a heart condition and a frontal lobe impairment.

The basis of the downward departure under § 5K2.0 for payment of partial restitution was discussed at some length in the sentencing hearing. Bearden’s counsel argued that Bearden should receive a downward departure because Bearden had paid $47,000 in restitution to CNA, Pomeroy’s insurer. As a result of this payment, CNA had released Bearden from all further claims and liability for Pomeroy’s losses, on January 3, 2000. Bearden’s counsel argued that this payment should be considered under U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0 as a mitigating circumstance not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Guidelines. The district court rejected Bear-den’s request for a downward departure based on this provision, however, as the payment of restitution is adequately taken into account in the adjustment for acceptance of responsibility, U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1. The district court determined that Bear-den should not receive the benefit of a departure for acceptance of responsibility because he had put the government to its proof in trying him and had only reached this settlement with CNA after his trial. Moreover, Bearden had “never admitted [to] knowing that [the computers] were stolen or even suspecting that they were stolen.” J.A. at 231.

The district judge sentenced Bearden to twenty-four months’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $4,000 and ordered him to pay $161,590 in restitution. Bearden was, however, to be given credit for the $47,000 already paid in restitution, and thus owes CNA $114,590 in restitution. Bearden has filed a timely appeal of his conviction and sentence. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291; 18 U.S.C. § 3742.

II. ANALYSIS

A. The District Court Was Within Its Discretion in Refusing to Accept Bearden’s Nolo Plea.

The first question raised on appeal by Bearden is whether the district court abused its discretion in refusing to accept his nolo contendere plea. The extent of a district court’s discretion in considering whether to accept a proffered plea of nolo contendere under Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(b) is an issue of first impression in this circuit. Rule 11(b) clearly indicates that a criminal defendant has no absolute right to plead nolo contendere but instead “may plead nolo contendere only with the consent of the court.” The circuits that have considered this issue have generally held that a district court possesses wide discretion whether to accept a plea of nolo contendere. See, e.g., United States v. Cepeda Penes, 577 F.2d 754, 756 (1st Cir.1978) (“[Acceptance of a nolo plea is solely a matter of grace.... ”); United States v. Gratton, 525 F.2d 1161, 1163 (7th Cir.1975) (“[I]t seems at least arguable that the acceptance of a nolo plea is so broadly a matter of discretion that a judge’s adoption of a policy against such a plea is itself within [the judge’s] discretion.”); United States v. Dorman,

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Bluebook (online)
274 F.3d 1031, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 26829, 2001 WL 1602723, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jack-bearden-ca6-2001.