United States v. Mason

294 F. App'x 193
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 18, 2008
Docket07-5831
StatusUnpublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 294 F. App'x 193 (United States v. Mason) 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. Mason, 294 F. App'x 193 (6th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant Willie Alfred Mason (“Mason”) appeals his convictions for making false statements to obtain federal employees’ compensation benefits in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1920 and for bankruptcy fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152(3), as well as his sentence of forty-two months in prison. Mason makes three arguments before this court: 1) that the district court erred in excluding certain psychiatric records at trial; 2) that the district court did not comply with Rule 32(i)(3) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure in determining the amount of loss attributable to Mason’s conduct for sentencing purposes; and 3) that the district court erred in determining the amount of loss. For the reasons explained below, we AFFIRM Mason’s convictions and sentence.

I. BACKGROUND

In June, 1992, Mason was injured on his job at the Veteran’s Administration (“VA”) Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee. He subsequently filed a claim with the Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs (“OWCP”) and began receiving employees compensation benefits. To establish their continuing eligibility, beneficiaries are periodically required to submit a form known as a “1032,” which includes questions about employment status. Question two on the form asks, “Were you self-employed or involved in any business enterprise in the past 15 months?” Joint Appendix (“J.A.”) at 62-101 (Trial Exs. 5-7, 1032 Forms). Although Mason obtained a contractor’s license and started his own company, WAM Construction, Inc., in late 1994, he answered, “No,” to question two on the 1032 form he submitted in May 1995 and on each 1032 form he submitted thereafter, through 2005.

On May 17, 2005, a grand jury indicted Mason on nine counts of making false statements to obtain federal employees’ compensation in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1920. A four-count superseding indictment was returned on September 29, 2005. Counts 1 and 2 charged Mason with violations of § 1920, and Counts 3 and 4 charged Mason with making false statements under penalty of perjury in connection with a bankruptcy proceeding in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152(3).

During his trial, which began on March 5, 2007, Mason attempted to admit into evidence two letters and a report prepared by a psychiatrist, Dr. Roger Vogelfanger, diagnosing Mason with “major depression psychotic, recurrent,” “recurrent paranoid ideation or delusion,” and “homicidal” and “suicidal ideation.” J.A. at 126-31 (Trial Ex. A). The letters, dated September 16, 1993, and July 15, 1999, respectively, are addressed to officials at the VA Medical Center and explain that Mason’s psychiatric illness prevented him from returning to work. The third document is an admission *196 and discharge summary prepared when Mason was admitted to St. Francis Hospital in July 1993. During Mason’s direct examination, his attorney argued that testimony concerning Mason’s psychiatric condition, to be supported by these medical records, was relevant to show that Mason was “suffering from paranoid delusions,” explaining that this illness “goes to his knowledge, it goes to his willfulness and it goes to his intent. If his intent was to avoid something and not to willfully deceive anyone, then that would be relevant.” JA. at 193 (Trial Tr. at 270). The court advised Mason’s attorney that, to introduce this testimony, he would need to “put on an expert who talks about it,” J.A. at 192 (Trial Tr. at 269), because its relevance to Mason’s knowledge would otherwise be beyond the capability of the jury to understand.

Mason’s attorney later attempted to introduce the records, stating, “I know we agreed as to authenticity, but not admissibility, which is fair enough, but these [are] medical records that detail Mr. Mason’s psychiatric illness.” J.A. at 199 (Trial Tr. at 322). The government stipulated to the authenticity of the documents as doctor’s reports, but objected to their admission on both hearsay and relevance grounds. The district court agreed that the evidence presented hearsay problems and was of questionable relevance:

But it is hearsay, it is relevant to some degree, although it is hard to understand, and it is certainly unclear as to how it is relevant to the issues in the case.... [I]t definitely goes to state of mind in a period preceding the — several years, the events that are alleged in this case. So time-wise, it’s problematic. It’s not current.

J.A. at 202-03 (Trial Tr. at 325-26).

Conceding that the records were hearsay, Mason’s attorney argued that the documents were admissible under “the medical records exception.” J.A. at 204 (Trial Tr. at 327). The district court considered the applicability of two hearsay exceptions: statements for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment under Rule 803(4) of the Federal Rules of Evidence and records of regularly conducted activity under Rule 803(6). The court found Rule 803(4) inapplicable, because the records were not statements made by the patient to the doctor for purposes of treatment. Conceding this point, Mason’s attorney stated that “the only exception would be a record of regularly conducted activity” and that he was “going under 803(6)” because he didn’t “think there’s any statements.” J.A. at 205, 207-08 (Trial Tr. at 328, 330-31). Considering Rule 803(6), the district court discussed the two letters separately from the hospital records. First, the court found that “these two letters would not be prepared in the ordinary course, these were especially prepared,” also noting that “they’re not contemporaneously prepared.” J.A. at 205, 208 (Trial Tr. at 328, 331). The court did find, however, that the hospital admission and discharge summary likely was kept in the ordinary course and “comes pretty close to meeting the record of regularly conducted activity.” J.A. at 210 (Trial Tr. at 333).

The district court excluded the hospital report under Rule 403, however, finding that, even if it fell within a hearsay exception, it would be too confusing to the jury. First, the court considered the government’s argument that the records reflected Mason’s state of mind in 1993 and 1999, years earlier than the time of the offenses charged, all after 2000, finding that “time-wise,” the records were “problematic.” J.A. at 203 (Trial Tr. at 326). Overall, the court found that the jury would be confused as to how to use these records: *197 The document says a lot of things. And we put this document in with no expert explanation of how it relates to the issues in this case, I think we’re inviting guesses and speculation, and that’s not what we want to do.... This has the problem of the confusion being far greater than any probative value, and under 408, frankly, the unfair prejudice could be disturbing.

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Bluebook (online)
294 F. App'x 193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mason-ca6-2008.