U.S. v. Beddow

• Decision Date: 18 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-1006,91-1006
• Citation: 957 F.2d 1330
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stephen Martin BEDDOW, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 1330

957 F.2d 1330

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stephen Martin BEDDOW, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 91-1006.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

Argued Aug. 9, 1991.

Decided Feb. 28, 1992.

Rehearing Denied March 18, 1992.

Richard S. Murray, Asst. U.S. Atty. (argued and briefed), Office of the U.S. Atty., Grand Rapids, Mich., for plaintiff-appellee.

David I. Goldstein (briefed), Jeanice Dagher-Margosian (argued), Ann Arbor, Mich., for defendant-appellant.

Before JONES, NELSON and SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judges.

SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Stephen Martin Beddow ("defendant" or "Beddow") appeals from a jury verdict finding him guilty of one count of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, three counts of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956(a)(1)(B), 1956(a)(2)(B) and 1957, and one count of income tax evasion in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. Beddow contends on appeal that (1) there was insufficient evidence to support his convictions on two of the money laundering counts; (2) venue in the Western District of Michigan was improper; (3) the prosecutor's comments at closing argument impermissibly shifted the burden of proof; and (4) the district court erred when computing his sentence under the United States Sentencing Guidelines ("U.S.S.G.") by including a Michigan state court conviction in his criminal history. For the reasons stated below, we affirm defendant's conviction and sentence.

I

The evidence introduced by the government at trial established that Beddow was distributing large amounts of cocaine in 1986 and 1987. The government relied primarily on the testimony of Douglas Louzon, a former associate of Beddow's, who testified that he and Beddow made several trips from their residence in Traverse City, Michigan to Macomb County, Michigan in order to purchase cocaine from defendant's source. According to Louzon, the cocaine then was sold from Beddow's home in Traverse City. Louzon also cooperated with the authorities by wearing a recording device at a meeting with Beddow on April 24, 1989. At this meeting, Louzon recorded numerous incriminating statements that Beddow made about his drug dealing activity which later were introduced at Beddow's trial.

Another government witness, Jaime Jaramillo, testified that he sold Beddow one-half ounce of cocaine on four separate occasions and Beddow's former girlfriend, Laura O'Brien, testified that she received cocaine from defendant for resale on ten separate occasions. Other witnesses alleged that Beddow sold cocaine out of his home and at a condominium he rented in Traverse City. The government also introduced records of defendant's telephone calls to his cocaine source in Macomb County.

The government produced additional evidence concerning defendant's financial ventures. The evidence established that Beddow invested in three unsuccessful business ventures: a Coney Island restaurant, a charter boat business, and the purchase of $50,000 in uncut emeralds from Brazil. These business ventures together cost defendant $100,000 in documented losses. Beddow's tax returns from 1982 through 1985 revealed little income and no assets other than his home equity. To account for his income, defendant alleged that he borrowed $35,000 from family and friends and received $40,000 from his father's estate from 1985 through 1988. Beddow had no other job or means of income during this period. Nevertheless, Beddow often carried large sums of cash and he maintained four separate safety deposit boxes at different banks. In order to make his income and assets more difficult to trace, Beddow allegedly obscured his ownership of the charter boat business and the emeralds purchased in Brazil by using "front men" to carry out these ventures. Beddow's efforts to conceal his income were not entirely successful and the emerald transaction eventually led to the present money laundering charges.

The emerald transaction began when Chris Perry, a Traverse City businessman, was approached by Beddow's accomplice and "front man," Rick Gray, in November 1987 about a joint venture selling uncut gems. Perry initially was responsible for setting up the importation and marketing of the gems but he withdrew from the venture in 1988. On April 21, 1988, Gray purchased $29,000 in traveller's checks at a Comerica Bank in Troy, Michigan. Gray filled out and signed the required currency transaction report ("CTR") and an international transportation of currency report when he purchased the traveller's checks. Beddow did not sign either of these documents.

Beddow and Gray traveled to Brazil together in May 1988. The government introduced evidence that Gray carried $47,000 in cash and traveller's checks when he and Beddow left Detroit Metro Airport for Brazil. In Brazil, Gray and Beddow purchased 8,000 carats of uncut emeralds which were brought back to Chicago and then finally to Traverse City. Beddow was the source of the cash that Gray used to purchase the traveller's checks and the emeralds.

On November 9, 1988, the emeralds were seized when Beddow and Gray attempted to sell them to undercover federal agents and both men were arrested. Beddow was carrying a handgun at the time of his arrest. On September 21, 1990, Beddow was convicted in Michigan state court for carrying a concealed weapon. Thereafter, Beddow was convicted of the present federal charges in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan. At sentencing, the district court included defendant's Michigan state court conviction in his criminal history. This appeal followed.

II

Beddow first contends that the district court erred by denying his Fed.R.Crim.P. 29 motion for acquittal because there was insufficient evidence to show that he had the requisite intent to commit the money laundering offenses charged in Counts 3 and 4 of the indictment. Count 3 alleged that defendant gave Rick Gray $29,000 in drug money to finance the emerald deal, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B). ¹ Count 4 alleged that defendant used Rick Gray to transport money derived from illegal drug sales out of the country when he and Gray traveled to Brazil, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(B). ² Under the Money Laundering Control Act, the government had the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Beddow knowingly conducted a financial transaction with the proceeds of drug distribution and that he did so with the intent to conceal the nature or source of those proceeds or with the intent to avoid a transaction reporting requirement. United States v. Blackman, 904 F.2d 1250, 1256 (8th Cir.1990).

We review the denial of a Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal due to insufficient evidence under the same standard as the district court. United States v. Adamo, 742 F.2d 927, 932 (6th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1193, 105 S.Ct. 971, 83 L.Ed.2d 975 (1985). Evidence is sufficient to support a criminal conviction if, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, any rational trier of fact could have found the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). This court "will reverse a judgment for insufficiency of evidence only if this judgment is not supported by substantial and competent evidence upon the record as a whole, and ... this rule applies whether the evidence is direct or wholly circumstantial." United States v. Stone, 748 F.2d 361, 363 (6th Cir.1984). It is not necessary for the evidence to exclude every reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt. Adamo, 742 F.2d at 932.

We conclude that substantial evidence supports the jury's verdict on the money laundering charges. The government produced tape recorded statements that Beddow made to Douglas Louzon, stating that he invested $45,000 worth of drug proceeds in "stones" and $60,000 worth of drug proceeds in his charter boat. A rational jury could find from these statements that Beddow knew that the funds involved in the emerald deal were the proceeds of unlawful activity.

The jury could also conclude that Beddow intended to disguise his ownership of the money invested in the emeralds and avoid the transaction reporting requirement. Beddow claims that there is no evidence that he intended to launder any money and that he merely loaned Gray the money to purchase the emeralds. We disagree. Beddow accompanied Gray to Brazil with the money, returned to Chicago from Brazil to sell the gems, guarded the gems with a gun, negotiated the sale of the gems with Harold Heald and Jaime Jaramillo, claimed the gems were his property, and transported the gems back to Traverse City from Chicago. The jury could infer from these facts that Beddow was the true owner of the emeralds and that Beddow used Gray as a "front man" to disguise his ownership and evade the transaction reporting requirement. Also, the evidence of Beddow's convoluted financial dealings with his banks and his charter boat business further support a conclusion that he intended to disguise the illegal source of his money. Consequently, a rational jury could find that Beddow violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956(a)(1)(B) and 1956(a)(2)(B) by concealing the source of his money and using Gray to avoid filing the required CTR in his own name. See Blackman, 904 F.2d at 1257; United States v. Massac, 867 F.2d 174, 177-78 (3d Cir.1989). We hold that there was sufficient evidence to support defendant's convictions on Counts 3 and 4.

III

Beddow next challenges venue in the Western District of Michigan on the money laundering counts. Venue lies in any district in which the offense was committed. Fed.R.Crim.P. 18; United States v. O'Donnell, 510 F.2d 1190, 1192 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 1001, 95 S.Ct. 2400, 44 L.Ed.2d 668 (1975). Unless the statute violated prescribes the venue, offenses committed in more than one district...