United States v. Laurie Mayfield

711 F. App'x 746
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedOctober 17, 2017
Docket16-50135
StatusUnpublished

This text of 711 F. App'x 746 (United States v. Laurie Mayfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. Laurie Mayfield, 711 F. App'x 746 (5th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM: *

Laurie Mayfield pleaded guilty to wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 for her role in issuing unauthorized checks to herself and concealing accounting irregularities via false ledger accounts while employed at D’Hanis State Bank (DHSB). At sentencing, the district court ordered Mayfield to pay restitution in the amount of $817,892.32 for actual loss pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5E1.1. Mayfield appeals the district court’s finding of actual loss for purposes of restitution. Because we conclude that Mayfield’s plea agreement does not bar her instant appeal and that the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding an actual loss of $817,892.32 for restitution purposes, we AFFIRM.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

From 2004 to 2014, Mayfield worked as a cashier and president of D’Hanis State Bank (DHSB), where one of her responsibilities was to act as bookkeeper and reconcile all bank statements. Due to May-field’s issuance of unauthorized checks in the amount of $68,681.30 to herself, as well as other accounting irregularities, by 2014, the bank was carrying an out of balance amount (“outage”) of approximately $830,000. Mayfield concealed the outage by entering false ledger transactions. After concealing the outage, Mayfield generated' and filed false financial statements with federal and state bank regulators which made it appear that the bank possessed $830,000 in assets that it did not possess.

Medina Bank (MB) was a bank holding company that owned DHSB. In September 2014, Vantage Bank (VB), also a bank holding company, purchased MB, including DHSB. Prior to the purchase, Mayfield emailed to officers of VB the falsified financial statements that she had created containing the outage, which, again, reflected DHSB’s assets as being $830,000 greater than they actually were. Mayfield feared that if the officers of VB became aware of the $830,000 outage, VB would not make the purchase or provide the money consideration for the purchase.

The presentence report (PSR) contained a victim impact statement from VB setting out how Mayfield’s false ledgers resulted in an over-valuation of MB and DHSB, impacted the price of the acquisition, and caused them to use considerable resources to discover and prove up the fraud. VB also concluded that its injury was a direct result of Mayfield’s actions and that it sustained a loss of $817,892.32, the amount of the outage.

The PSR recommended that Mayfield’s base offense be enhanced by 14 levels pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2Bl.l(b)(l)(H) because her offense involved a loss to VB in the range of $550,000 to $1,500,000. It further recommended that, as a part of her sentence, Mayfield be ordered to pay restitution to VB in the amount of $817,892.32, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5E1.1.

Mayfield filed an objection to the PSR disputing many of the PSR’s recitation of facts, particularly the facts relayed in VB’s victim impact statement. She also objected to the PSR’s 14-level enhancement pursuant to § 2Bl.l(b)(l)(H), asserting that a loss of $830,000 had not been established, and, even it had, she did not cause it. She further argued that only a six-level increase was warranted for the $68,381.30 in unauthorized checks she admitted issuing. She requested a downward variance, based on the fact that she did not receive any benefit of the $830,000, entered into the fraud scheme only to keep the bank from closing, lost her livelihood, and was remorseful. She also objected to the amount of restitution recommended by the PSR, claiming that she did not cause the loss attributable to the outage.

The district court conducted a sentencing hearing, which was continued for the submission of additional briefing from the parties on whether the loss caused by Mayfield and the corresponding restitution should be calculated at $817,892, and not $63,711. At the continued hearing, the district court sentenced Mayfield to 24 months of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and ordered her to pay $817,892.32 in restitution. Mayfield subsequently filed this appeal.

I. Whether the appeal waiver in May-field’s plea agreement bars the instant appeal of the district court’s restitution order.

We review the issue of whether a waiver provision bars an appeal de novo. United States v. Baymon, 312 F.3d 725, 727 (5th Cir.2002). Specifically, we must determine whether the waiver was knowing and voluntary and whether it applies to the circumstances at issue. United States v. Bond, 414 F.3d 542, 544 (5th Cir. 2005). In determining whether a waiver applies, we employ ordinary principles of contract interpretation, construing waivers narrowly and against the Government. United States v. Palmer, 456 F.3d 484, 488 (5th Cir. 2006).

Mayfield’s waiver said that she “agrees to waive and give up her right to appeal her conviction or sentence on any ground, except in a case in which the sentence imposed by the court is greater than the maximum sentence authorized by statute.” Mayfield does not contest the voluntariness of this waiver on appeal. Instead, she argues that the appeal waiver contained in her plea agreement did not waive her right to challenge the district court’s restitution order.

This court has had differing opinions on whether a general appeal waiver bars a challenge to a restitution order. See United States v. Smith, 528 F.3d 423, 424-26 (5th Cir. 2008) (declining to reach issue and comparing cases from other circuits); United States v. Lam, No. 99-20638, 2000 WL 1468731, at 1-3 & n.2 (5th Cir. Sept. 7, 2000) (unpublished). In Smith, the defendant appealed an order of restitution on the basis that it was not supported by sufficient evidence. Smith, 528 F.3d at 424. The Government asserted that the defendant’s challenge was barred by her appeal waiver. Id. This court noted that restitution is ordinarily considered a component of a sentence and that, in two unpublished opinions, the court had held that a general appeal waiver barred review of a restitution order where the plea agreement specifically stated that the defendant would pay restitution in an amount determined by the district court. Id. (citing United States v. Hemler, 169 Fed.Appx. 897, 898 (5th Cir. 2006), and United States v. Glynn, 149 Fed.Appx. 322, 323 (5th Cir. 2005)). In Smith, by contrast, the plea agreement was silent regarding restitution, and the Rule 11 colloquy did not resolve whether restitution was part of the agreement. Id. Additionally, the district court did not inform the defendant that restitution was covered by the waiver. Id. However, because the appeal could easily be resolved on the merits, the Smith court, declined to address “whether a general appeal waiver bars review of a restitution order when the plea agreement does not discuss restitution.” Id.

In United States v. Lam, no. 99-20638, 2000 WL 1468731, at 1-3 & n.2 (5th Cir. Sept. 7, 2000), this court held that an appeal waiver did not bar a challenge to restitution.

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Related

United States v. Baymon
312 F.3d 725 (Fifth Circuit, 2002)
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United States v. Hemler
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Bluebook (online)
711 F. App'x 746, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-laurie-mayfield-ca5-2017.