United States v. Jefferson, No. 12-60661 (5th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed her conviction and sentence for embezzling government funds, witness tampering, and several other offenses related to her work at a Mississippi housing authority. The court concluded that the district court did not err in refusing to grant a mistrial following the playing of an unobjected-to tape recording in court in which she stated that no jury would convict her of the charged offenses. Even assuming that defendant had made a timely objection to the evidence, the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant's motion for a mistrial where the tape recording was highly probative of defendant's intent to retaliate against SDRHA employees who cooperated with the FBI's investigation, and she was on trial for three counts of retaliation. The court also concluded that the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's convictions on all counts. The court rejected defendant's claim that the district court should have sequestered the jury or changed the trial venue due to negative media coverage surrounding the trial. Finally, the court concluded that defendant's within-Guidelines sentence of thirty-two months imprisonment was reasonable. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
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