United States v. Michael Williams

712 F. App'x 376
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedOctober 19, 2017
Docket16-30907
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 712 F. App'x 376 (United States v. Michael Williams) 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. Michael Williams, 712 F. App'x 376 (5th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM: **

Michael Dewayne Williams was convicted of eleven counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain money from the Caddo Parish Commission. Williams challenges his conviction, arguing that it is not supported by sufficient evidence. He also argues that the district court erred in allowing the introduction of inadmissible extrinsic evidence and contends that this same evidence constituted a material variance from the indictment. Williams also challenges his sentence, arguing that his restitution order was improper. We AFFIRM his conviction and sentence except as to the restitution order, which we VACATE.

I.

Defendant Michael Dewayne Williams incorporated SWAG Nation USA, Inc. (SWAG Nation) in September 2012. SWAG Nation focused on character-building for at-risk youth. 1 After organizing SWAG Nation, Williams did not have a formal role within the company. However, his now fi-ancée, Mary Hughes, was the treasurer.

At the same time, Williams served as a Commissioner on the Caddo Parish Commission. At a public meeting for the Parish Commission, Williams moved for a $100,000 appropriation to fund SWAG Nation’s Gentleman’s Etiquette Academy. Williams voted in favor of this appropriation, and the measure passed with six votes in favor and five votes in opposition. Williams did not disclose that he was involved in SWAG Nation. According to a commissioner’s testimony at trial, commissioners could not vote for appropriations in which they had a financial interest. This same commissioner also testified that he would have voted against the measure had he known that Williams had a financial interest in this appropriation.'

After the measure passed, the Parish Commission and SWAG Nation entered into a contract for a youth etiquette program. Under this contract, Caddo Parish Juvenile Court recommended participants for the program, and in turn, SWAG Nation received $350 per participant from the Parish Commission. The Parish Commission paid SWAG Nation after each program concluded. That is, SWAG Nation did not receive funds until the program concluded.

After SWAG Nation received its first payment from the Parish Commission, SWAG Nation’s financial manager Harold Robinson and Williams met to acquire debit cards for SWAG Nation’s bank account. One debit card was issued in Robinson’s name, and the other card was issued in Hughes’s name. Williams left that meeting in possession of his fíaneée’s debit card. Over a number of months, Williams used this debit card to make numerous cash withdrawals from SWAG Nation’s bank account. The Government presented evidence that Williams’s total debit charges amounted to $8,590.68. 2

After Williams began withdrawing from SWAG Nation’s bank account, he told Words in Action, another local organization, about a funding opportunity with the Parish Commission. Words in Action successfully obtained a $14,000 grant from the Parish Commission. Following Williams’s suggestion, Words in Action transferred $9,000 of the grant to SWAG Nation, and in exchange, SWAG Nation agreed to complete the youth programming. When SWAG Nation received these funds from Words in Action, its bank account was negative.

When the Parish Attorney learned about the transfer, she informed all parties that this transfer violated the specific Words in Action grant agreement. The Parish Attorney also notified the parties that they would need to repay the money. Williams himself assured the Parish Attorney that the money would be returned. However, $6,100 of the $9,000 were never repaid.

During the initial investigation, Williams met with law enforcement officers. In this interview, Williams produced a statement, apologizing for his conduct. His statement said, “[M]y role in SWAG Nation USA, Inc. was wrong and unacceptable.” He also acknowledged that he used Hughes’s SWAG Nation debit card “for personal use.”

Williams pleaded not guilty. At trial, Hughes testified that Williams used her SWAG Nation debit card, but she claimed he was authorized to use it as reimbursement for money spent organizing SWAG Nation. She admitted she did not see any receipts for these expenses. At the conclusion of the government’s case, Williams moved for a judgment of acquittal pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29. The district court denied this motion.

The jury convicted Williams of eleven counts of wire fraud. The district court sentenced Williams to a term of imprisonment of 14 months and ordered restitution in the amount of $8,584.68 to the Parish Commission. Williams timely appealed.

II.

On appeal, Williams argues that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his conviction. He also contends (1) that the district court erred in admitting evidence of the $9,000 transfer from Words in Action to SWAG Nation, and (2) that the introduction of this evidence constituted a prejudicial, material variance from the indictment. Last, he argues that the district court erred in its restitution order.

A. Sufficiency of Evidence

Williams challenges the sufficiency of the evidence as to his conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1343. Because Williams preserved this issue through his Rule 29 motion at trial, the standard of review is de novo. United States v. Davis, 735 F.3d 194, 198 (5th Cir. 2013). We view all evidence in the light most favorable to the government and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the jury’s verdict. United States v. Eghobor, 812 F.3d 352, 362 (5th Cir. 2015). “[T]he relevant question is 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.” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

To support a wire fraud conviction, the government must prove: (1) a scheme to defraud; (2) the use of, or causing the use of, wire communications in furtherance of the scheme; and (3) a specific intent to defraud. United States v. Harris, 821 F.3d 589, 598 (5th Cir. 2016). Because the parties stipulated to Williams’s use of interstate wire communications, the dispute is limited to whether there was a “scheme to defraud” and whether Williams had the “specific intent to defraud.”

To prove a scheme to defraud, the government must show that the defendant made a false or fraudulent material misrepresentation. See Harris, 821 F.3d at 598.

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Related

United States v. Davis
53 F.4th 833 (Fifth Circuit, 2022)

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Bluebook (online)
712 F. App'x 376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-michael-williams-ca5-2017.