U.S. v. James

Summarized by Timothy Brink , Meltzer Purtill & Stelle LLC
13 years 6 months ago

Citation:

No. 11-3711 (6th Cir., August 23, 2012)

Tag(s):

Ruling:

In affirming the Debtor’s conviction, the Sixth Circuit first explained that it would review the sufficiency of the evidence by evaluating whether, after viewing the evidence in favor of the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found that the government proved all the elements of the offense. The Sixth Circuit then concluded that the record revealed that there was sufficient evidence to convict the Debtor of violating 18 U.S.C. Sec. 152(3). In support of its conclusion, the Sixth Circuit explained first that, contrary to the Debtor’s contention, the government offered substantial evidence that the Debtor himself signed his 2009 bankruptcy petition, including FBI testimony that the social security numbers used in the bankruptcy filings were associated with the Debtor, and the bankruptcy trustee’s affirmative identification of the Debtor as the individual who filed the 2007 bankruptcy petition. It next explained that the statute imposed no sequential requirement for when the false statement must be made. Finally, it rejected the Debtor’s arguments that his 2009 bankruptcy filing was not intended to be a new filing, and that in answering “N/A” he did not intend to indicate that he had filed no prior bankruptcy cases, finding in each case that the Debtor’s arguments actually supported the conclusion that a rational juror could find adequate evidence to convict.

Procedural context:

The Debtor appealed from the District Court's conviction for making a false statement in bankruptcy in violation of 18 USC Sec. 152(3) on the grounds that the government failed to present sufficient evidence to convict. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the District Court in all respects.

Facts:

The Debtor filed bankruptcy in 2007, delaying foreclosure proceedings against two residences, the fraudulent financing of which led to the Debtor's wire and mail fraud conviction in a separate trial. The Debtor filed for bankruptcy again in 2009, while his 2007 bankruptcy case was still pending. In his 2009 bankruptcy petition, the Debtor answered "N/A" in response to the instruction to list all prior bankruptcy cases filed within the last eight years.

Judge(s):

Keith, McKeague, and Donald

ABI Membership is required to access the full summary. Please Sign In using your ABI Member credentials. Not a Member yet? Join ABI now - it is absolutely worth it!