United States v. Louper-Morris; United States v. Morris, Jr., No. 10-3345 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseCarolyn M. Louper-Morris and her son, William J. Morris, were convicted of, among other things, conspiracy and fraud charges related to the activities they carried out through their company, CyberStudy101. Louper-Morris raised six issues on appeal: (1) the district court erred by denying her motion to dismiss the indictment because the United States made a material misrepresentation to the grand jury; (2) the district court erred in overruling her objection under Batson v. Kentucky; (3) the evidence was insufficient to support her convictions; (4) the United States intimidated one of her witnesses thereby depriving her of the right to present a complete defense; (5) the district court erred by enhancing her base level offense for her role as a leader or organizer under U.S.S.G. 3B1.1; and (6) cumulative trial errors warranted reversal or at least remand. Morris raised six issues on appeal: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions; (2) the wire and mail fraud statutes exceeded Congress' authority to legislate in violation of the Tenth Amendment; (3) the district court erred by not allowing the jury to view the live website at issue; (4) the district court erred in overruling his objection under Batson; (5) the district court erred in enhancing his base offense level under U.S.S.G. 3B1.1 and 2B1.1(b)(9)(C); and (6) the district court's restitution order improperly included restitution to an entity that was already receiving compensation from a settlement agreement. The court rejected each of defendants' claims and affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Criminal Case - conviction and sentence. Sufficient evidence was presented to support conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud convictions. Government need not prove actual loss or harm to victims, only intent and sufficient evidence was presented. Finding that the rationale for striking African American juror was for legitimate reason was not clearly erroneous; thus the Batson claim fails. District court did not err in denying motion to dismiss the indictment and the guilty verdict rendered any error harmless; did not abuse its discretion in denying motion for new trial because of the record did not support intimidation by the government of a witness; and did not abuse its discretion in enhancing Louper- Morris's base offense for her role as leader or organizer, as the record support that five or more individuals were participants and the organization was otherwise extensive. Claim for reversal in light of cumulative errors is without merit. Morris's Tenth Amendment claim fails because mail fraud statute is a legitimate exercise of Congress's Postal Power and challenge to wire fraud also necessarily fails. District court's exclusion of live website in favor of screen shots was not an abuse of discretion; application of two-level sophisticated-means enhancement and four-level leadership enhancement to Morris was not error. District court did not plainly err in ordering restitution, as there was no evidence of double recovery as a result of civil judgment that was not paid.
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