United States v. Roger Allen Doane

975 F.2d 8, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 21176, 1992 WL 218405
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit·Decided September 11, 1992·No. 91-2214·Published·Cited by 42 cases

Opinion

PIERAS, District Judge.

Appellant Roger Allen Doane, a licensed attorney practicing in Salisbury, Massachusetts, was convicted after a jury trial in the District of New Hampshire of bank fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1344), interstate transportation of securities taken by fraud (18 U.S.C. § 2314), and four counts of embezzlement *10 (18 U.S.C. § 656). On this appeal, he attacks his conviction alleging an incorrect jury instruction relating to Section 2314, insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction under Section 656, and an incorrect and prejudicial denial of two motions to suppress. Finding no merit in appellant’s arguments, we affirm.

Background

The various charges against appellant were based on a series of different transactions. The fraud-related counts involved a scheme devised and carried out by Doane in early 1987, the purpose of which was to obtain funds from the United States Savings Bank of America (hereinafter “USS-BA”) located in Seabrook, New Hampshire, and to deposit these funds in an overdrawn account maintained at USSBA for the benefit of a health care clinic called Primacare, which Doane owned. Doane created a sham trust and held himself out as its attorney while naming the girlfriend of a former employee as its trustee. The collateral given for the loan was a mortgage on a beach house already subject to four other mortgages which was owned by Marion Heffron, a USSBA employee who had been Doane’s bookkeeper for several years and continued to receive money from him after being employed by USSBA. Doane directed the submission to USSBA of an application for a mortgage loan to the trust and, using his influence over Heffron, directed her to draw a check in the amount of $131,500.00 for the benefit of Doane as attorney for the trust. He then directed his new bookkeeper to pick up the check and deposit it into a law firm trust fund account at the First National Bank of Boston (“FNBB”), located in Massachusetts. Soon thereafter, appellant drew a check on the FNBB account in the amount of $110,-000.00, payable to Primacare, and four additional checks totalling $23,533.00 payable to himself for “fees and costs.”

The embezzlement-related counts involved two other USSBA loans, the proceeds of which Doane embezzled after the funds had been deposited in law office client trust accounts maintained at USSBA. The first loan, in the amount of $140,-000.00, was obtained for Arthur and Valerie McCaskill, who were represented by Diane Loman, an attorney in Doane’s office. The proceeds were to be used to pay off a pre-existing first mortgage on the McCas-kills’ home and to make disbursements identified by Loman on a settlement sheet; however, after the proceeds were deposited in a client trust fund account, Doane directed his bookkeeper not to pay off the preexisting mortgage or make any of the identified disbursements. Instead, seven checks totalling $141,855.14 were issued for various other purposes, including three checks totalling $82,426.81 which were made payable to Doane for “fees and costs.” Doane for a short period of time arranged that the monthly payments on the preexisting loan be paid out of law office funds, but then discontinued the payments. Doane eventually gave the McCaskills a check for $99,-536.00, but later instructed his bookkeeper to place a stop payment on the check.

The second loan was handled by Doane’s law firm after the USSBA directed the borrowers, Gary and Darlene Richie, to use the services of Doane’s firm. The loan proceeds, totalling $85,000.00, were deposited into a client trust fund account at USSBA. After closing, Doane directed that a check in the amount of $41,887.00 be sent to pay off the seller’s existing mortgage. When Doane learned approximately two months later that the check had not been negotiated, he directed his bookkeeper to place a stop payment on the check. Thereafter, three checks totalling $41,-762.94 were drawn on the account, all signed by and made payable to Doane for “fees and costs.” USSBA eventually issued a treasurer’s check to pay off the existing mortgage.

Jury Instruction

Appellant asserts that the district court committed reversible error by submitting to the jury an aiding and abetting instruction without a correlative instruction that the mental state of an aider and abettor must be the same as the principal. The precepts controlling our review of a trial court’s jury instructions are well estab *11 lished. Primary among them is the axiom that “a single instruction to a jury may not be judged in artificial isolation, but must be viewed in the context of the overall charge.” Cupp v. Naughten, 414 U.S. 141, 146-47, 94 S.Ct. 396, 400, 38 L.Ed.2d 368 (1973).

With this directive in mind, we conclude that the district court’s charge was not prejudicial, primarily because it was not in fact an instruction on aiding and abetting. In setting forth the elements required under 18 U.S.C. § 2314 to prove interstate transportation of securities taken by fraud, 1 the district court instructed the jury:

It is not necessary for the Government to prove that the defendant actually transmitted or transported the money himself, as it is sufficient to prove that he caused such transportation to be done. Otherwise put, the defendant may be found guilty of a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2314, if the jury finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offense himself, or if it finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant aided or caused the commission of the offense by others.

Transcript at 94 (June 20, 1991) (emphasis added). We cannot agree with appellant’s contention that this language constituted an instruction on aiding and abetting. The district court was merely explaining to the jury that in order to find transportation in interstate commerce it must find that money was moved or caused to be moved by the defendant in interstate commerce. The court used the word “aided” only to flesh out for the jury the meaning of the phrase “causes to be transported” as used in the statute. While the court’s use of the word “aided” was perhaps ill-advised, it could not alone yield an instruction on aiding and abetting.

The jury could not have concluded otherwise. The indictment, which was read to the jury on several occasions, did not charge the defendant with aiding and abetting. In addition, the court’s charge included an instruction on specific intent, as well as instructions on voluntary and intentional conduct, which taken together required the jury to find that the defendant acted knowingly and intentionally. Under these circumstances, we determine that the trial court’s instruction did not create a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice. Accord Cupp, 414 U.S. at 147-48, 94 S.Ct. at 400-01; Allen v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

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United States v. Roger Allen Doane, 975 F.2d 8, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 21176, 1992 WL 218405 (1st Cir. 1992).

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