United States v. Joyce Minton

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedAugust 5, 2019
Docket17-6311
StatusUnpublished

This text of United States v. Joyce Minton (United States v. Joyce Minton) 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. Joyce Minton, (6th Cir. 2019).

Opinion

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 19a0407n.06

Nos. 17-6297/6311/6312

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT FILED UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) Aug 05, 2019 ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) ON APPEAL FROM THE ) UNITED STATES DISTRICT AARON BROOKE WARREN; JOYCE MINTON; ) COURT FOR THE EASTERN JAMES MINTON, ) DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY ) Defendants-Appellants. )

BEFORE: COLE, Chief Judge; BATCHELDER, and DONALD, Circuit Judges.

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. This case involves theft by three family–

member–employees—Joyce Minton, James Minton, and their son Aaron Brooke Warren

(collectively, “Defendants”1)—from Clark Machine Tool and Die (“Clark Machine”). Clark

Machine, a custom-machine manufacturer in Nicholasville, Kentucky, is owned by Ray and Sue

Clark and is operated primarily by their children, Lori Walker and Danny Clark. Between 2000

and 2016, Defendants stole $2,708,153 from Clark Machine and were convicted of mail fraud,

money laundering, and bank fraud and sentenced to prison. The Mintons appeal their sentences,

claiming the district court erred in prohibiting the introduction of exculpatory evidence, interfering

1 Mr. and Mrs. Minton and Warren were tried together before the district court. However, Warren appealed separately from Mr. and Mrs. Minton. Some, but not all, of the issues that Mr. and Mrs. Minton appealed are the same as the issues Warren appealed. For the sake of clarity, when referring to all three individuals, we use the term “Defendants.” When referring to Mr. and Mrs. Minton, we use the term “Mintons.” When referring to Warren, we use his last name. Nos. 17-6297/6311/6312, United States v. Warren, et al.

with the cross-examination of a key witness, and admitting a jail phone call into evidence without

proper authentication. Warren appeals his sentence, arguing that the district court erred by giving

him a two-point enhancement for obstruction of justice, abused its discretion by failing to instruct

the jury regarding good faith, and erred by denying his motion for discovery and quashing his

subpoenas. We hold that the district court erred with regard to Warren’s obstruction-of-justice

enhancement, and we VACATE and REMAND as to that count. We AFFIRM on all other

counts.

I.

Ray founded Clark Machine in 1968. The company grew steadily and at its peak employed

fifty to sixty employees. Since 2007, the company has had approximately $3,400,000 per year in

revenue. Mrs. Minton began working for Clark Machine in 1993. Her job was to be the

bookkeeper and manage “the purchase orders that came in, the billing that went out, all the items

that were purchased for the jobs . . . and anything . . . associated with the taking care of the office.”

Over time she became the person “with [basically] exclusive control of the bookkeeping, the

banking, and the office management.” Warren started at the company in 1989, when he was just

out of high school, and by 2016 had worked his way up to shop foreman. Mr. Minton was not a

full-time employee of the company, but he did occasional contract work for Clark Machine. The

Clarks considered the Mintons close friends.

As the company grew, Ray and Sue removed themselves from the day-to-day operations

of the company, placing responsibility for running the company in the hands of their children,

Danny Clark and Lori Walker, and Defendants. Although Ray and Sue remained involved in big-

picture decisions and reviewed quarterly financial results, they did not closely track the

expenditures and revenues of the company, instead leaving that up to Mrs. Minton. Unbeknownst

2 Nos. 17-6297/6311/6312, United States v. Warren, et al.

to the Clarks, Defendants took advantage of the trust placed in them by engaging in a variety of

fraudulent schemes. For example, Defendants would perform metalworking and manufacturing

work for Clark Machine customers but kept the payments for themselves. They used the company

credit card and checks for personal purchases ranging from race car parts and sports equipment to

a dehumidifier and an air conditioner. Mrs. Minton wrote checks to petty cash and kept the cash

for personal use. She issued extra paychecks to herself from Clark Machine’s bank account and

inflated her and Warren’s bonuses, and she gave Mr. Minton regular paychecks for contracting

work that Clark Machine never authorized. The Clarks did not discover the fraud until they tried

to pay rent for their office and Mrs. Minton told them there wasn’t enough money in the bank to

cover the rent. Initially, Defendants tried to blame the shortfall on “dead weight” employees, even

going so far as to provide the Clarks with a list of employees they thought should be fired as a

cost-saving measure. Instead of firing anyone, the Clarks started digging into financial records

and uncovered Defendants’ fraud.

Prosecutors filed an eighty-eight-count indictment against Defendants. The case went to

trial, and Mrs. Minton was convicted of forty-six counts of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail

fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. Mr. Minton was convicted of seven counts of mail fraud

and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Warren was convicted of thirty-four counts of mail fraud,

conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and money laundering. Mrs. Minton was sentenced to ninety-

seven months in prison, Mr. Minton to eighteen months in prison, and Warren to forty-six months

in prison. Defendants appeal, alleging the district court erred in five separate ways. For the

following reasons, we affirm the district court on all counts except for Warren’s enhancement for

obstruction of justice.

3 Nos. 17-6297/6311/6312, United States v. Warren, et al.

II.

A.

The Mintons claim first that the district court erred in admitting a jail phone call without

proper authentication. We review a trial court’s evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. United

States v. Hickey, 917 F.2d 901, 904 (6th Cir. 1990). The Mintons stipulated to the authenticity of

the call before the start of trial. Absent a request for relief from the stipulations—and such a

request was never made here—stipulations are binding upon the parties. Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp.

v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 942 F.2d 1032, 1038 (6th Cir. 1991). The district court did not

abuse its discretion by adhering to the parties’ stipulations.

The Mintons argue also that the call was unintelligible. The Mintons do not cite legal

authority for or develop this argument in their initial brief. It is therefore forfeited. See United

States v. Sandridge, 385 F.3d 1032, 1035 (6th Cir. 2004) (“Issues adverted to in a perfunctory

manner, unaccompanied by some effort at developed argumentation, are deemed waived.”)

(quotation marks and citation omitted). Even if the Mintons had developed the argument, we still

would affirm because, having listened to the audio recording, we conclude that “the unintelligible

portions do not ‘render the recording as a whole untrustworthy.’” United States v. Adams, 722

F.3d 788, 823 (6th Cir. 2013) (quoting United States v.

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