United States v. Nguyen, No. 15-2687 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed her sentence and conviction for multiple offenses related to immigration fraud and government-benefits fraud. The court concluded that, assuming Kungys v. United States applies to criminal prosecutions under 18 U.S.C. 1425(a), the district court's instruction fairly and adequately submitted the “materiality” issue to the jury; the court found equally unavailing defendant’s argument that the district court’s instructions did not adequately explain the “procured by” requirement outlined in Kungys; and the evidence was sufficient to convict defendant of the attempted naturalization-fraud counts, false use of a social security number and aggravated identity theft counts, fraudulent receipt of health care benefits count, and four counts of mail fraud. The court held, however, that the district court erred when it found that the April 13 mailing supported a mail-fraud conviction. However, because the sentence for this conviction ran fully concurrently with defendant’s 63-month sentence on multiple properly obtained counts of conviction - including seven other mail fraud counts - the court did not disturb the prison sentence. Finally, the court concluded that the evidence was sufficient to convict defendant of the remaining counts; defendant's sentence was reasonable; and the district court did not err by enhancing her sentence under USSG 2B1.1(b)(2)(A) because her offense involved at least 10 victims.
Court Description: Gruender, Author,with Murphy and Beam, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. Even if the court accepts defendant's argument that the Supreme Court case of Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759 (1988)applies in criminal prosecutions under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1425(a), and guides the determination of what the government must prove to obtain a conviction, the government's instruction fairly and adequately submitted the "materiality" issue to the jury; the instructions also adequately reflected Kungys's treatment of the "procured by" requirement as it applies to the crime of attempted naturalization fraud; evidence was sufficient to support defendant's convictions for attempted naturalization fraud, false use of a social security number,aggravated identity theft,fraudulent receipt of health-care benefits,and four counts of mail fraud; however, her conviction on one of the mail fraud counts must be reversed as the evidence did not establish that she made the mailing in furtherance of her plan; however, since the sentence for this conviction was run concurrently with her other valid convictions for mail fraud, this reversal does not affect her 63-month sentence for mail fraud; on remand the district court should, however, vacate her special assessment on the count; evidence was also sufficient to support the convictions on the remaining counts, including theft of government funds, social-security fraud and making false statements to HUD; no error in imposing an enhancement under Guidelines Sec. 2B1.1(b)(2)(A) for number of victims; sentence was not substantively unreasonable.
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