United States v. Pinson

1 F. App'x 426
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 12, 2001
DocketNo. 99-1810
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1 F. App'x 426 (United States v. Pinson) 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. Pinson, 1 F. App'x 426 (6th Cir. 2001).

Opinion

FORESTER, District Judge.

Defendant-appellant Paul Pinson appeals his conviction and sentence for arson-related mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM.

I.

On May 27, 1998, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Pinson, his wife Carla, and several additional co-defendants with mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341. The government alleged that the defendants used the United States mails to fraudulently collect insurance proceeds from Michigan Basic Property Insurance Association (“Michigan Basic”) for damages resulting from arson fires to the Pinsons’ residence at 7720 Asbury Park, Detroit, Michigan.

Pinson and his wife went to trial on November 24, 1998. At trial, Frank Ca-maj, a contractor specializing in fire repair, testified that Dorothy and Donald Wallace, Pinson’s sister and brother-in-law, brought to him fire repair jobs, some of which involved arson. In exchange for bringing a repair job, Camaj paid the Wallaces a percentage of the insurance proceeds as a commission. Camaj first met the Pinsons in 1993 through the Wallaces in connection with the fire repair to the Pinsons’ residence. The Wallaces received a commission of fifteen percent of the total loss from Camaj for referring the Pinsons to him. In 1995, Donald Wallace notified Ca-maj that another fire had occurred at 7720 Asbury Park. Camaj then met with Pinson, who stated that he, not Wallace, should receive the commission: “You not [sic] to pay commission to Dan [sic] Wallace because it is our job. You have to pay us commission.” (J.A. at 65.) Camaj contracted with the Pinsons to repair the house but backed out when he realized the insurance proceeds would not cover the necessary repairs. The Pinsons eventually received $37,400 in insurance proceeds from Michigan Basic for the 1995 fire at 7720 Asbury Park.

[428]*428Kelly Walker, Pinson’s brother, testified that he set the 1995 fire at 7720 Asbury Park by igniting newspapers and charcoal lighter fluid in the Pinsons’ living room. Walker claimed that Pinson did not know about the fire in advance and that he set the fire because he felt sorry for his brother, who was behind on his bills and had many children. Walker acknowledged receiving $500 from Pinson, at one point testifying that the money was for setting the fire and at another point testifying that the money was compensation for repairs Walker performed on the Pinsons’ house.

The Pinsons were not at home at the time of the fire. Pinson initially told the police that he was in jail at the time of the fire; however, Pinson had been released on January 1, 1995, and was living with his mother on January 6, 1995. A neighbor observed Pinson’s wife Carla leaving the house with a suitcase and nine or ten garbage bags filled with clothes several days before the fire. Carla told the police she left because she was pregnant and the doctor had told her to stay off of her feet but testified at trial that she left after a dispute with Pinson.

Captain Earl Sanders of the Detroit Fire Arson Squad investigated the fire. Sanders received consent to enter the home over the telephone from someone who identified himself as Pinson. Acting with this verbal consent but without a search warrant or written consent, Sanders entered the home to inspect the property and take samples for testing. From the burn pattern, Sanders determined that the fire was set with an accelerant in the living room. Stu, a dog trained to detect accelerants, alerted to the presence of ac-celerants. Sanders’ investigation indicated that the fire had been set deliberately. An independent investigator hired by Michigan Basic reached the same conclusion.

Pinson did not testify after the district court ruled that the government could offer evidence of Pinson’s two prior false documents convictions for impeachment purposes. On December 1, 1998, the jury found Pinson guilty of one count of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341.

A presentence report prepared by the probation office recommended that Pinson be sentenced pursuant to the arson guideline, U.S.S.G. § 2K1.4(a)(2)(C), rather than the mail fraud guideline, U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1. The district court rejected Pinson’s objection to sentencing under the arson guideline and sentenced Pinson to fifty-one months.

Pinson now appeals on five grounds: (1) that the pre-indictment delay of more than three years prejudiced his defense and violated due process; (2) that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict; (3) that the district court erred in not suppressing evidence obtained from the Pinsons’ residence; (4) that the district court erred in not suppressing Pinson’s entire criminal record — a decision which prevented Pinson’s testimony; and (5) that the district court erred in sentencing Pin-son under the arson, rather than the mail fraud, guideline.

II.

A.

Pinson first contends that the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss based upon the over three-year delay between the 1995 fire and the indictment. The government responds that Pin-son waived this argument when he failed to raise the claim before trial as required by Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(1).1 “This court [429]*429strictly applies Rule 12(b), and has repeatedly held that failure to raise 12(b) motions in a timely fashion precludes appellate review.” United States v. Oldfield, 859 F.2d 392, 396 (6th Cir.1988). As Pin-son moved to dismiss based on pre-indictment delay after the trial began, appellate review of the matter is waived.

B.

At the close of the government’s case, Pinson moved for a judgment of acquittal pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 29. The district court took the matter under advisement and subsequently denied the motion.

We review a claim of insufficient evidence by examining “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. Crossley, 224 F.3d 847, 855 (6th Cir.2000) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)). “This court will reverse a judgment for insufficiency of the evidence only if this judgment is not supported by substantial and competent evidence upon the record as a whole, and ... this rule applies whether the evidence is direct or wholly circumstantial. It is not necessary for the evidence to exclude every reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt.” United States v. Beddow, 957 F.2d 1330, 1334 (6th Cir.1992) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

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