United States v. Lester Mattice

186 F.3d 219, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 17878
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJuly 29, 1999
Docket1998
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 186 F.3d 219 (United States v. Lester Mattice) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second 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. Lester Mattice, 186 F.3d 219, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 17878 (2d Cir. 1999).

Opinion

SOTOMAYOR, Circuit Judge:

After a two-day bench trial held on January 22 and 23, 1998, Magistrate Judge Jonathan W. Feldman found defendant-appellant Lester Mattice (“Mattice”) guilty of violating the Child Support Recovery Act of 1992 (the “CSRA” or the “Act”), 18 U.S.C. § 228, amended by 18 U.S.C.A. § 228 (West Supp.1999) 1 , by willfully failing to pay a past due child support obligation. On April 2, 1998, the magistrate judge sentenced Mattice to ninety days’ imprisonment and ordered him to pay full restitution in the amount of $57,271.28. Mattice timely appealed his conviction and sentence to the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (David G. Larimer, Chief Judge) pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3402. On September 16, 1998, the district court affirmed the judgment of conviction and sentence in all respects. On appeal to this Court, Mattice contends that the government failed to prove that he willfully failed to pay a past *222 due child support obligation. Specifically, Mattice argues that the government failed to establish that he knew his conduct violated the CSRA, and that he was financially able to pay his entire past due child support obligation during the period charged in the indictment. Mattice further contends that the magistrate judge abused his discretion by ordering full restitution. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Lester and Josephine Mattice married in 1974 and lived together in Rochester, New York. The couple had three children before separating in August 1978. Josephine Mattice subsequently initiated separation proceedings in the New York State Supreme Court. On October 19, 1978, Justice John A. Mastrella issued an order (the “1978 order”) granting Josephine Mattice custody of the children and awarding her $70 per week in temporary alimony and $80 per week in temporary child support. Represented by counsel in the separation proceedings, Mattice filed an affidavit requesting that any award of alimony or child support not exceed $400 per month. He was present in court when Justice Mastrella rejected that request and announced the terms of his order. Mattice subsequently failed to comply with the 1978 order. On October 19, 1979, the Clerk of the New York State Supreme Court, Monroe County, entered a $3,100 judgment against Mattice “as and for ar-rearages due from him for support and alimony as directed” by the 1978 order.

Mattice moved to Colorado in 1979, and Josephine Mattice filed for divorce approximately two years later. Josephine Mat-tice’s attorney in the divorce action, Janine Janas Webb, testified at trial that she served Mattice personally with copies of the summons and verified complaint, which requested both future child support and a judgment of arrears due under the 1978 order. 2 Mattice failed to appear in the divorce proceeding, and by order dated June 4, 1982 (the “1982 .order”), Justice Wilmer J. Patlow granted the divorce. Under the terms of the 1982 order, Mat-tice’s alimony obligations were eliminated and his weekly child support obligations were reduced from $80 to $60. Justice Patlow also entered judgment against Mat-tice in the amount of $11,550 for child support arrears due under the 1978 order. Although Webb did not specifically recall sending Mattice a copy of the 1982 order, she testified that it was her routine practice to send a copy of any divorce judgment to the defendant at his or her last known address.

Josephine Mattice testified at trial that Mattice never sent her any child support payments under either order. According to her testimony, which was specifically credited by the magistrate judge, she spoke to her ex-husband several times over the years concerning his child support obligations, and Mattice told her at one point that he “just makes kids, he doesn’t pay for them.” She also testified to telephone conversations in which she discussed the 1982 order with Mattice, informed him that his child support obligations had been reduced to $60 per week, and asked him to send her the money he owed. Mattice responded that he had no money. In August 1990, Josephine Mattice contacted the Monroe County Child Support Enforcement Unit (the “Child Support Enforcement Unit” or the “Enforcement Unit”) seeking assistance in recovering the $35,250 in child support arrears that were then owing. The Enforcement Unit located Mattice in Colorado and, with the assistance of its Colorado *223 counterpart, garnished his wages. From December 1991 to July 1992, the Enforcement Unit collected periodic payments from Mattice totaling $1,378.72, which were passed on his ex-wife. According to Josephine Mattice, these were the only child support payments that she ever received pursuant to the 1978 and 1982 orders.

At trial, Mattice claimed that he was unaware of any legal obligation to pay child support. Although he acknowledged that he participated in court proceedings relating to alimony and child support in 1979, he stated that he had already made all of the payments required under the 1978 order. Mattice denied having been served with papers in the divorce action and insisted that he never received notice of any court-ordered child support obligations after leaving Rochester in 1979. Mattice also testified that his ex-wife never told him about the 1982 order, that he and Josephine Mattice had spoken “[a]s little as possible” over the years, and that they had “never talked about child support.” In addition, Mattice testified that although he was aware that his wages had been garnished in 1990 or 1991, he was not aware that the garnishment was related to any child support obligations. There was testimony at trial, however, that Mattice’s employer notified him in October 1991 that it had received a garnishment order and would begin garnishing his wages. A copy of the garnishment order, which specifically mentioned “current child support or maintenance” and “arrearages,” was attached to this notice. The garnished amounts were also noted on Mattice’s payroll stubs along with other deductions for federal and state taxes and benefits.

At trial, Mattice argued that even if he had known about the 1982 order, the government failed to prove that he had the financial means to comply with that order in 1996 and 1997, the period charged in the indictment. Mattice testified that there were “a[ ] number of periods where [he had] been unable to work or unable to find work.” The government introduced evidence, however, that from 1984 to 1992, and from 1995 to 1998, Mattice worked as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman for the Electrolux Corporation. According to Mattice’s tax returns and Electrolux Corporation payroll documents, he earned $5,913.65 from Electrolux in 1995, $19,-275.24 in 1996, and $18,810.29 in 1997. In addition, Mattice’s present wife, Laura, whom he married in 1984 and with whom he has two additional children, is an accountant. Mattice and his present wife reported joint household income of $29,431 in. 1994, $28,213 in 1995 and $32,440 in 1996.

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Bluebook (online)
186 F.3d 219, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 17878, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lester-mattice-ca2-1999.