U.S. v. Gatling
| Decision Date | 08 October 1996 |
| Docket Number | 95-3074,Nos. 95-3064,s. 95-3064 |
| Citation | 321 U.S.App. D.C. 63,96 F.3d 1511 |
| Parties | , 45 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1041 UNITED STATES of America, Appellee v. Jennifer Juliet GATLING, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Shawn Moore, Washington, DC, appointed by the Court, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant Jennifer Juliet Gatling.
Richard Seligman, Washington, DC, appointed by the Court, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant Cheryl Douglas Walker.
Jeanne M. Hauch, Assistant United States Attorney, argued the cause for appellee, with whom Eric H. Holder, Jr., United States Attorney, John R. Fisher, Roy W. McLeese, III, Craig S. Iscoe and Shanlon Wu, Assistant United States Attorneys, Washington, DC, were on the brief. E. Vaughn Dunnigan, Elizabeth Trosman and Thomas J. Tourish, Jr., Assistant United States Attorneys, Washington, DC, entered appearances.
Before: WALD, SILBERMAN and SENTELLE, Circuit Judges.
Appellant Jennifer Gatling ("Gatling") and appellant Cheryl Walker ("Walker") were each convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery in regard to the illegal issuance of section 8 subsidies through the Section 8 Division of the District of Columbia's Department of Public and Assisted Housing ("DPAH"). Walker was also convicted of one count of making false statements while Gatling was also convicted of four counts of bribery. Appellants raise various challenges to their convictions here, arguing in the main that there was insufficient evidence to support their conspiracy convictions. We find that there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find appellants guilty of engaging in a single conspiracy to commit bribery, and that appellants' other challenges, with one exception, are without merit or ultimately unavailing. We therefore affirm all but one of their convictions and Walker's sentence.
Section 8 is a federal housing assistance program administered through local public housing authorities. Under the section 8 Under federal and D.C. regulations in effect from 1989 to 1993, section 8 subsidies were only available to D.C. residents who met certain income requirements and were on a wait list for subsidies. The wait list was necessary because only a limited number of subsidies were given to DPAH and other local housing authorities each year, and the demand for section 8 subsidies far outstripped the supply of available subsidies. The wait list was divided into several categories based on different need criteria, such as "homeless and living in a D.C. shelter" or "living in a unit unfit for habitation," and within each category applicants were listed by the date and time of their application. The regulations established preferences among these need categories and required that subsidies be offered first to applicants in the highest need category. Only when everyone in this category had received a subsidy could subsidies be offered to individuals in the next highest need category, and so on. Within each category, subsidies were to be offered to applicants in accordance with their position on the wait list. The regulations also provided that 10 percent of the subsidies could be allocated to lower preference need categories even if individuals in higher preference categories had not received subsidies. Individuals were required to apply in person for section 8 subsidies unless they were elderly or disabled, and applicants often remained on the wait list for several years before they obtained subsidies.
[321 U.S.App.D.C. 68] program, qualified applicants can obtain subsidies in the form of vouchers or certificates to help cover their rent. 1 From 1988 through 1992, section 8 subsidies were distributed in the District of Columbia by the Section 8 Division of DPAH. Walker began working at DPAH in 1989 as Chief of the Section 8 Division, and became Acting Administrator of the Subsidized Housing Administration at DPAH in 1992. From 1989 to 1993, Gatling was a Housing Specialist in the Section 8 Division. Both Walker and Gatling were suspended from their positions at DPAH in 1993
The federal government and D.C. police began investigating allegations that section 8 subsidies were being improperly issued through DPAH in January 1993. Walker and Gatling were transferred to another department, the Office of Emergency Preparedness, in February 1993 and were arrested in April 1994. On September 9, 1994, a grand jury charged Walker and Gatling with conspiring to accept bribes in return for section 8 subsidies. Walker and Gatling were also charged with several counts of accepting bribes, mail fraud, and making false statements. Trial began on November 29, 1994, and lasted more than six weeks.
At trial, the government claimed that in exchange for bribes Walker and Gatling gave section 8 subsidies to individuals who were not eligible to receive them because they were not D.C. residents and were not on the wait list, or, if they were on the wait list, were not next in line in the appropriate need category. The government offered evidence indicating that several Chicago residents had applied for and received section 8 subsidies through DPAH by mail, using false D.C. addresses, and then transferred the subsidies to Chicago. A critical witness for the government regarding subsidies received by Chicago residents was Anthony Bufford ("Bufford"), who pled guilty to attempted bribery. Bufford, who knew Walker's sister, testified that he contacted Walker about arranging a section 8 subsidy for his former wife, Veronica Bufford. He stated that Walker told him to contact Walker's assistant, Gatling, to get help on filling out the section 8 application, even though Walker knew that Veronica Bufford was a Chicago resident. Veronica Bufford testified that Gatling assisted her in submitting a section 8 application which falsely claimed that Veronica Bufford lived and worked in D.C. Bufford also reported that he told Walker he would "make it worth her while," that he offered Walker $1,000 after Walker had said she would arrange for Veronica Bufford to receive a subsidy, and that he sent Walker $1,000 when the section 8 voucher arrived in the mail. Transcript ("Tr.") at 313. A copy Bufford further testified that he later contacted Walker about arranging a section 8 subsidy for Camilla Perkins-Henry ("Perkins-Henry"), the widow of a friend of Bufford's. According to Bufford, he told Walker that Perkins-Henry was a Chicago resident and Walker stated that she "would do basically what she had done" for Veronica Bufford. Tr. at 324. Bufford also stated that he offered to make the same payment of $1,000, that Walker suggested he make the check out to Gatling because Gatling needed the money, and that Perkins-Henry was referred to Gatling for help in filling out the application. Perkins-Henry testified that she spoke to Gatling in regard to her section 8 application and gave Bufford a check for $1,000 made out to Gatling. The government introduced a copy of Perkins-Henry's section 8 voucher, dated March 9, 1992, and a copy of a canceled check for $1,000 she made out to Gatling, dated March 20, 1992, that had been deposited to Gatling's account.
[321 U.S.App.D.C. 69] of Veronica Bufford's section 8 voucher, dated June 28, 1991, was introduced into evidence.
The government also offered substantial evidence on section 8 subsidies that were issued to D.C. residents in exchange for money. The evidence consisted mainly of testimony from individuals who had obtained subsidies in this fashion from September 1991 through April 1992. According to these witnesses, they had heard through either Darnell Jackson ("Jackson") or Rodney Knight ("Knight") that section 8 subsidies were available for $500, and that once they had the $500 in cash, either Jackson or Knight, or both, drove them to DPAH. Several of these witnesses also testified that Jackson told them what documents to bring, such as their children's birth certificates, and instructed them to carry the money in an envelope. At DPAH, Gatling took the applicants back to her office and filled out the necessary paperwork. The section 8 subsidies were usually provided at the same meeting, after the paperwork was completed and the applicants had given Gatling the $500. Most witnesses testified that they put the envelope containing $500 on Gatling's desk and that Gatling put the envelope in a desk drawer. One witness testified that she gave the $500 to Jackson and thought she saw Jackson slip the money to Gatling when he hugged her goodbye. There was also evidence that the individuals who testified to receiving section 8 subsidies in this fashion either were not on the section 8 wait list at the time or, if they were on the list, were not next in line for subsidies.
Jackson, who was charged with conspiracy to accept bribes and with aiding and abetting the acceptance of a bribe, did not testify at trial. Knight, who pled guilty to attempted bribery, did testify and his testimony corroborated that of the D.C. residents who had obtained section 8 subsidies with Gatling's help. Knight stated that Jackson was a friend of Gatling's and that on several occasions he heard Jackson tell recipients that Gatling was "splitting the money" with Walker. Tr. at 1827-28, 1844. According to Knight, Jackson made this statement "to convince whoever was getting a Section 8 voucher that it was all good." Tr. at 1844. Knight's niece Judy Johnson, one of the witnesses who paid Gatling for a section 8 subsidy, testified that she asked Jackson how Gatling could arrange the subsidies and he responded that Walker, "her supervisor[,] was in doing it with her." Tr. at 2404. Judy Johnson also testified that Gatling spoke with Walker about whether Johnson's section 8...
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