United States v. Magoti

352 F. App'x 981
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedNovember 18, 2009
DocketNo. 08-2509
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 352 F. App'x 981 (United States v. Magoti) 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. Magoti, 352 F. App'x 981 (6th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

GEORGE CARAM STEEH, District Judge.

Appellant Tabitha Nshoya Magoti was indicted on April 24, 2008, on one count of making or using a false writing or document, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(3), and one count of willfully making a materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement to the Government, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2). The charges arose from Magoti’s backdating of an 1-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form used to verify her eligibility to work in the United States and her false statements made to government officials when turning over that form. During an August 4, 2008 final pretrial conference, the district court determined that if Magoti testified, her seven prior felony convictions for uttering and publishing forged instruments would be admissible as impeachment evidence under Fed.R.Evid. 609(a)(2) because those offenses required proof of making false statements. Magoti did not testify on her own behalf at trial, she says, because of the judge’s conclusion that her prior convictions would be admissible if she did. At the beginning of trial on August 12, 2008, the district court ruled that four fraudulent 1-9 Forms of Magoti’s employees that Magoti submitted to officials along with her own 1-9 Form were admissible to prove Magoti’s knowledge and intent in deciding whether she willfully backdated her own Form. Magoti was convicted by a jury on both counts on August 13, 2008. Magoti appeals her convictions on the grounds that: (1) there was insufficient evidence to sustain her convictions; (2) the district court abused its discretion in admitting other 1-9 Forms at trial in violation of Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b); and (3) the district court abused its discre[983]*983tion under Federal Rule of Evidence 609 by stating that it would admit her prior convictions for uttering and publishing forged instruments at trial if she testified. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

We review sufficiency-of-the-evidence claims de novo to determine “whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Tocco, 200 F.3d 401, 424 (6th Cir.2000) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)).

Magoti’s argument that there was insufficient evidence that she willfully made a false statement is without merit. Special Agent George testified at trial that Magoti provided Agents with her 1-9 Form dated January 1, 2002, told them it had been completed in 2002, and explained to the Agents that she did not remember if anyone had helped her complete the 1-9 Form because she had filled it out “so long ago.” George also testified that Magoti later admitted she had not created her 1-9 Form in 2002, but had actually created it after being subpoenaed in 2007. Viewing the Agents’ testimony, Magoti’s 1-9 Form, and the additional 1-9 Forms presented to the jury in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found that Magoti knowingly, willfully, and falsely represented in both her 1-9 Form and in her oral statements to the Agents that her 1-9 Form was completed on January 1, 2002. See Tocco, 200 F.3d at 424; See United States v. Daughtry, 48 F.3d 829, 831-32 (4th Cir.1995), vacated on other grounds, 516 U.S. 984, 116 S.Ct. 510, 133 L.Ed.2d 419 (1995); See Sixth Circuit Pattern Criminal Jury Instructions, 2005 Revised Edition, § 13.03.

Magoti’s argument that backdating the Form is not a material misrepresentation, is without merit. A statement is material if it “has the natural tendency to influence or is capable of influencing a decision” of the Bureau of Immigration of Customs Enforcement. United States v. Lutz, 154 F.3d 581, 588 (6th Cir.1998). Viewing the evidence presented to the jury in a light most favorable to the prosecution, a rational trier of fact could have found that Magoti’s backdating of her 1-9 Form and misrepresentations to Agents that she completed the 1-9 Form on January 1, 2002 had a natural tendency to influence ICE’s investigation. See Tocco, 200 F.3d at 424; Lutz, 154 F.3d at 588.

Magoti argues that Agent George’s testimony about her oral statements was too contradictory and insufficient to sustain the conviction. Viewing the testimony in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have believed both the testimony of Agent George and the testimony of Agent Burgess, who testified he could not recall whether Magoti told them she had filled out her 1-9 Form in 2002. See Tocco, 200 F.3d at 424. The Agents’ credibility was properly a decision for the jury. See United States v. Wright, 16 F.3d 1429, 1440 (6th Cir.1994).

Magoti argues that her own 1-9 Form was rendered a “legal nullity” because she verified the form as both employer and employee. She argues, without supporting authority, that her completion of the 1-9 Form for herself could not support a finding of criminal liability under 18 U.S.C. § 1001. The argument is baseless. Magoti was convicted of making a false writing and a false statement to ICE Agents. The fact that Magoti was acting as both employer and employee does not nullify her duty to truthfully represent her work status.

[984]*984II. Admission of 404(b) Evidence

Magoti objects to the admission under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) of the four other 1-9 Forms that she completed for her employees. Generally, evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts are not admissible to show that a person acted in conformity with those crimes, wrongs, or acts when committing a charged crime. Such evidence “may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident.” Fed.R.Evid. 404(b). The district court found that the four 1-9 Forms were admissible under Rule 404(b) to prove Magoti’s knowledge and intent with regard to whether she willfully backdated her own 1-9 Form.

In reviewing Rule 404(b) determinations, this Circuit employs

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Bluebook (online)
352 F. App'x 981, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-magoti-ca6-2009.