United States v. Herman, No. 19-50830 (5th Cir. 2021)
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Michael and Cynthia Herman were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Michael was convicted of five counts and Cynthia of two counts of willfully filing false tax returns. Defendants' convictions stemmed from their understated gross receipts and claiming of personal expenses as business expenses on their tax returns.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment, concluding that the district court did not reversibly err in excluding some of the proffered defense exhibits; the district court did not err in excluding testimony from defendants' forensic accountant regarding the overstated gross receipts and payment of personal expenses with business funds; and there was no Confrontation Clause violation in the district court's limiting of the cross-examination of two Government witnesses. The court joined its sister circuits in declining to extend the Marinello nexus requirement to 18 U.S.C. 371's defraud clause, and accordingly hold that Count One of the indictment is legally sufficient. Finally, the court concluded that there are no errors that the court could aggregate to find cumulative error.
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