United States v. Kilmartin, No. 18-1513 (1st Cir. 2019)
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In this case convicting Defendant of multiple offenses stemming from his criminal scheme of purportedly sending clients cyanide so they could commit suicide the First Circuit reversed Defendant's conviction as to count 14 (witness tampering) and affirmed his remaining convictions, holding that the district court abused its discretion by admitting evidence having great prejudicial effect but little probative value, and the error was not harmless as to count 14.
Defendant pleaded guilty to nine fraud-related counts and went to trial on the remaining counts. The jury found Defendant guilty on five of the six tried counts. The First Circuit reversed in part, holding (1) the evidence was sufficient to convict Defendant on counts 1 and 14 (the mailing injurious articles and witness tampering counts); (2) with respect to counts 1 and 14 and certain fraud-related counts (counts 5, 7, 12), the district court abused its discretion in admitting highly charged evidence having significant prejudicial effect but scant probative value, but this error was harmless as to most of the tried counts; (3) as to count 14, the error in admitting the evidence at issue was not harmless, requiring a new trial on that count; and (4) the district court did not err or abuse its discretion in sentencing Defendant.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on December 12, 2019.
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