Filed: Nov. 27, 2007
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 06-4493 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus GERTRUDE ARMSTRONG GOLDEN, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Newport News. Raymond A. Jackson, District Judge. (4:05-cr-00067-RAJ) Submitted: October 31, 2007 Decided: November 27, 2007 Before GREGORY and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 06-4493 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus GERTRUDE ARMSTRONG GOLDEN, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Newport News. Raymond A. Jackson, District Judge. (4:05-cr-00067-RAJ) Submitted: October 31, 2007 Decided: November 27, 2007 Before GREGORY and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per c..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 06-4493
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
GERTRUDE ARMSTRONG GOLDEN,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Newport News. Raymond A. Jackson,
District Judge. (4:05-cr-00067-RAJ)
Submitted: October 31, 2007 Decided: November 27, 2007
Before GREGORY and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Michael S. Nachmanoff, Acting Federal Public Defender, Larry M.
Dash, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Frances H. Pratt, Research
and Writing Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellant. Chuck
Rosenberg, United States Attorney, Michael R. Gill, Assistant
United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
A jury convicted Gertrude Armstrong Golden of five counts
of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (2000) (Counts One
through Five), one count of money laundering, in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 1957 (2000) (Count Six), and one count of making false
statements during bankruptcy proceedings, in violation of 18 U.S.C.
§ 152 (2000) (Count Seven). She was sentenced to 42 months’
imprisonment on each count to be served concurrently. Golden
appealed her convictions and sentences. Finding no reversible
error, we affirm.
Golden’s counsel filed a brief in accordance with Anders
v. California,
386 U.S. 738 (1967), concluding there are no
meritorious claims, but questioning whether: (1) the district court
erred by refusing to give Golden’s requested good faith jury
instruction; (2) there was sufficient evidence to support the money
laundering conviction (Count Six) because the Government failed to
prove the interstate commerce element of the offense; (3) the
district court erred in enhancing Golden’s sentence for obstruction
of justice based on perjury; and (4) Golden’s sentence violated her
Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights in light of United States v.
Booker,
543 U.S. 220 (2005). The Government was directed to file
a responding brief, and has done so. Golden was advised of her
right to file a pro se supplemental brief, but has not done so.
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I. Good Faith Jury Instruction
Counsel argues the district court erred in refusing to
give Golden’s requested good faith jury instruction. This court
considers de novo whether a district court has properly instructed
a jury on the statutory elements of an offense, see United States
v. Rahman,
83 F.3d 89, 92 (4th Cir. 1996), but reviews for abuse of
discretion the district court’s decision of whether to give a jury
instruction and the content of the instruction. See United States
v. Abbas,
74 F.3d 506, 513 (4th Cir. 1996). A court’s refusal to
give a requested instruction is reversible error if the instruction
“(1) was correct; (2) was not substantially covered by the court’s
charge to the jury; and (3) dealt with some point in the trial so
important, that failure to give the requested instruction seriously
impaired the defendant’s ability to conduct his defense.” United
States v. Lewis,
53 F.3d 29, 32 (4th Cir. 1995).
We conclude the district court provided an adequate
specific intent instruction to the jury, and thus was not required
to give an additional instruction on good faith. See United States
v. Fowler,
932 F.2d 306, 317 (4th Cir. 1991)(holding good faith
jury instruction is not necessary when the court has given an
adequate specific intent instruction). Thus, this claim is without
merit.
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II. Sufficiency of Evidence
Golden argues the district court erred in denying her
motion for judgment of acquittal because there is insufficient
evidence to convict her of money laundering when the Government
failed to establish the interstate commerce element of the offense.
If a motion for judgment of acquittal is based on insufficiency of
the evidence, the verdict must be sustained if there is substantial
evidence, taking the view most favorable to the Government, to
support it. Glasser v. United States,
315 U.S. 60, 80 (1942).
Substantial evidence is defined as “that evidence which ‘a
reasonable finder of fact could accept as adequate and sufficient
to support a conclusion of a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable
doubt.’” United States v. Newsome,
322 F.3d 328, 333 (4th Cir.
2003) (quoting United States v. Burgos,
94 F.3d 849, 862-63 (4th
Cir. 1996) (en banc)). The court reviews both direct and
circumstantial evidence and permits “the [G]overnment the benefit
of all reasonable inferences from the facts proven to those sought
to be established.” United States v. Tresvant,
677 F.2d 1018, 1021
(4th Cir. 1982). Witness credibility is within the sole province
of the jury, and we will not reassess the factfinder’s credibility
determination. United States v. Saunders,
886 F.2d 56, 60 (4th
Cir. 1989); see also United States v. Sun,
278 F.3d 302, 313 (4th
Cir. 2002).
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The Government concedes that the jury instruction given
on the issue of proof required to establish the interstate commerce
element was “not a correct statement of the law and overstated the
burden of proof.” The Government had requested the court give a
jury instruction that the interstate commerce requirement could be
satisfied based on proof that Golden withdrew funds from an FDIC
insured financial institution. However, the district court denied
the request and instead instructed:
The phrase in or affecting commerce includes commerce
between any place in a state and any place outside of
that state. The government may meet its burden of proof
on the question of being in or affecting commerce by
proving to you beyond a reasonable doubt that the
property or money involved at any time had traveled or
crossed a state boundary line.
Interstate commerce means commerce or travel between one
state or territory or possession of the United States and
another state or territory or possession of the United
States, including the District of Columbia. Court [sic]
recalls the parties saying there was no big dispute about
this issue of interstate commerce.
An error in jury instructions will mandate reversal of a
judgment only if the error was prejudicial, based on a review of
the record as a whole. Wellington v. Daniels,
717 F.2d 932, 938
(4th Cir. 1983). We find Golden was not prejudiced by the district
court’s overbroad instruction, which imposed a higher evidentiary
burden on the Government than should have been required.
The evidence at trial established that victims deposited funds
in the amount of $37,500, into the Maude Ellen Coates Armstrong
Foundation’s (“MECA”) SunTrust account in McLean, Virginia. Two
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days later, Golden deposited into her personal account at Bank of
America in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a check payable to herself she
had written from MECA’s SunTrust account. Because the interstate
commerce element is satisfied by evidence establishing Golden
withdrew the money from an FDIC insured bank, and the parties
stipulated both SunTrust and Bank of America were FDIC insured,
there was sufficient evidence to support a conclusion that the
funds had traveled in interstate commerce. See United States v.
Peay,
972 F.2d 71, 74 (4th Cir. 1992) (holding deposit of unlawful
proceeds in an FDIC insured institution was sufficient to establish
interstate commerce nexus required to support a money laundering
conviction). Therefore, there was sufficient evidence to support
Golden’s conviction for money laundering.
III. Obstruction of Justice Enhancement for Perjury
Counsel contends the district court erred by finding
Golden committed perjury during her testimony and enhancing her
sentence for obstruction of justice pursuant to U.S. Sentencing
Guidelines Manual (“USSG”) § 3C1.1 (2005). The district court’s
factual findings supporting the § 3C1.1 obstruction of justice
enhancement are reviewed for clear error. United States v. Kiulin,
360 F.3d 456, 460 (4th Cir. 2004). Under USSG § 3C1.1, the
sentencing court must impose a two-level enhancement if the
defendant does willfully or attempts to willfully obstruct or
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impede the administration of justice during the investigation,
prosecution, or sentencing of the offense of conviction, relating
to the offense of conviction and any relevant conduct or a closely
related offense. The enhancement is applied when it is shown a
defendant committed perjury. USSG § 3C1.1, comment. n.4(b); see
also United States v. Dunnigan,
507 U.S. 87, 94 (1993).
To establish Golden committed perjury during her
testimony, the Government has the burden of persuading the court by
a preponderance of the evidence that Golden gave false testimony
under oath “concerning a material matter with the willful intent to
provide false testimony, rather than as a result of confusion,
mistake, or faulty memory.” See
Dunnigan, 507 U.S. at 94; United
States v. Smith,
62 F.3d 641, 646-47 (4th Cir. 1995). The sentence
enhancement based on perjury does not apply merely because Golden
was convicted. See
Dunnigan, 507 U.S. at 95. A defendant may
testify truthfully, but “the jury may nonetheless find the
testimony insufficient to excuse criminal liability or prove lack
of intent.”
Id. The district court should “address each element
of the alleged perjury in a separate and clear finding.”
Id.
After a thorough review of the record, we find there was
substantial evidence Golden gave false testimony at trial on
material matters that was not the result of any confusion, mistake
or faulty memory but instead was a willful attempt to avoid
responsibility for her conduct. Thus, the district court did not
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clearly err in finding Golden committed perjury or in applying the
enhancement for obstruction of justice.
IV. Obstruction of Justice Enhancement Violates Booker
Golden also argues the obstruction of justice enhancement
is erroneous in light of Booker because the facts supporting it
were not found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. We find the
enhancement for obstruction of justice did not run afoul of Booker
because, in sentencing defendants after Booker, the district court
should continue to apply a preponderance of the evidence standard,
taking into account that the resulting guidelines range is advisory
only. See United States v. Morris,
429 F.3d 65, 72 (4th Cir.
2005). The district court fully complied with these requirements.
In accordance with Anders, we have reviewed the entire
record in this case and have found no meritorious issues for
appeal. We therefore affirm Golden’s convictions and sentences.
This court requires that counsel inform his client, in writing, of
her right to petition the Supreme Court of the United States for
further review. If the client requests that a petition be filed,
but counsel believes that such a petition would be frivolous, then
counsel may move in this court for leave to withdraw from
representation. Counsel’s motion must state that a copy thereof
was served on the client. We dispense with oral argument because
the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the
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materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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