U.S.A v. Brown
| Decision Date | 22 December 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 09-3731,09-3731 |
| Parties | United States of America, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. Daryl Miles Brown, Defendant - Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
Before WOLLMAN, LOKEN, and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.
A jury convicted Daryl Miles Brown of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of causing interstate travel in execution of a scheme to defraud, three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 1349, 1956(h), 1957, & 2314. The district court1 sentenced Brown to 180 months in prison. He appeals, arguing denial of his Sixth Amendment right to trial counsel of his choice, insufficient evidence, and procedural and substantive sentencing errors. We affirm.
Brown argues that the district court committed "structural" Sixth Amendment error when it refused to grant Brown his out-of-state counsel of choice because the defense could not afford to retain local counsel, as required by Rule 83.5(1) of the Western District of Missouri's Local Rules.2 Brown argues that the Local Rule was unconstitutional as applied to him because he was an indigent criminal defendant. On its face, the argument seems at odds with the Supreme Court's observation that one of the limitations on a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to choose counsel is that he "may not insist on representation by an attorney he cannot afford...." Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153, 159 (1988). The argument was recently rejected in United States v. Menner, 374 F. App'x 446, 447 (4th Cir.) (unpublished), cert. denied, 131 S. Ct. 191 (2010). We conclude the issue was not preserved in the district court and there was no plain error.
An Assistant Federal Public Defender, Troy Stabenow, was appointed to represent Brown in October 2005, one month after he was initially charged. Nearly three years later, on the eve of a trial previously continued nine times at Brown's request, Brown moved to excuse Stabenow in part because Stabenow refused to challenge the court's jurisdiction on the ground that the United States Criminal Code was not validly enacted in 1948. Brown filed a Notice representing that a "legal team" headed by Texas attorney Engin Derkunt was prepared to represent Brown pro hac vice. On September 15, 2008, the magistrate judge held a status conference during which he spoke with attorney Derkunt by telephone. The judge filed a Minute Sheet of that conference stating, "Mr. Derkunt has informed the court that he would not beable to represent Mr. Brown." The magistrate judge granted Stabenow's motion to withdraw, appointed Stabenow as standby counsel, rescheduled the trial to October 6, 2008, and instructed Brown that, if he refused to cooperate with appointed counsel and failed to secure counsel of his own, he would be required to proceed pro se at trial.
Brown, Stabenow, and the prosecution appeared for the start of trial before District Judge Laughrey on October 6. Before summoning the jury panel, the court denied Brown's jurisdictional motion to dismiss and his motion for leave to file an interlocutory appeal on that issue. Brown declared, and said he was not ready for trial and did not want Stabenow's assistance as standby counsel. "What I want is my new counsel." Brown became so disruptive that Judge Laughrey excluded him from the courtroom and called a short recess, telling Brown "to contemplate whether or not you wish to proceed on your own." When proceedings resumed, Brown predicted he would "get thrown out again and again and again" if forced to represent himself. Stabenow advised, and the prosecutor confirmed, that the magistrate judge had appointed Stabenow only as advisory standby counsel. Therefore, Stabenow was not prepared to try the case that morning if trial began with Brown representing himself and he was subsequently excluded for misconduct. Brown and the attorneys then summarized the pretrial proceedings involving the magistrate judge and attorney Derkunt. Judge Laughrey decided to place a transcribed phone call to Derkunt in Texas.
At the outset of the ensuing call, Derkunt stated, somewhat inconsistently with the magistrate judge's Minute Sheet, that he was willing to enter an appearance and represent Brown at trial, even if no fee was paid, "[a]s long as the time frame is reasonable." The court, Derkunt, and the prosecutor then discussed scheduling and, after Derkunt had a private phone conversation with Brown, agreed to begin the trial on December 1, 2008. To ensure this was a firm commitment, the district court advised Derkunt "that you are going to have to have local counsel" other than thefederal public defender. When Derkunt responded he could not do that "if I have to pay for it," the court said to Brown, "I don't see any way, then, that you can be represented by Mr. Derkunt." Brown responded, "I'll have someone in place to work with him." After brief further discussion, Judge Laughrey concluded:
Four days later, the court appointed new standby counsel, who appeared with Brown when the trial commenced on December 1. After standby counsel cross examined the government's first witness, Brown asked that he be permitted to conduct the examination of the remaining witnesses. He was permitted to do so.
As this summary makes clear, Brown never presented the question urged on appeal to the district court. At the October 6 conference, when attorney Derkunt said he was willing to try the case on a no-fee basis but could not afford to pay local counsel, Brown advised the court, "I'll have someone in place to work with him." The court then appointed new standby counsel and gave Brown the choice of how to proceed on December 1. Thereafter, Derkunt did not apply for admission pro hac vice. Brown never advised the district court that the cost of local counsel waspreventing him from retaining Derkunt as counsel of choice. Thus, as in United States v. Lewis, 759 F.2d 1316, 1327 (8th Cir.), cert. denied 474 U.S. 994 (1985), Brown did not make a request that was denied so we have no ruling to review.
The transcript of the October 6 conference, including the telephone call to attorney Derkunt, demonstrates that the district court carefully protected Brown's Sixth Amendment right to be represented by retained counsel of his choice or to represent himself at trial pro se, with or without the assistance of standby counsel. At the same time, the court properly ensured that the efficient administration of justice was not hindered by never-ending requests for continuance, frivolous motions to dismiss, 3 or disruptive misconduct in open court. There was no error, much less plain, "structural" Sixth Amendment error. See United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140, 151-52 (2006), and 154-55 (Alito, J. dissenting); United States v. Cordy, 560 F.3d 808, 815-17 (8th Cir. 2009).
Brown was charged with organizing and managing an extensive scheme to defraud in which multiple investors were lured into investing substantial sums ($30,000 to $300,000 each) by false representations that Brown was licensed to trade securities; that he was a graduate of the University of Missouri and a former professional football player for the Kansas City Chiefs; that he had access to a "unit investment trust" worth hundreds of millions of dollars; and that their investments would be safely placed in an escrow account and would be used only to "leverage" short-term investments such as stand-by letters of credit, which would double or triple their investments in one month. In fact, the funds were withdrawn from the escrow account at the direction of Brown and put to other uses, including funding Brown'slavish lifestyle. At trial, the government presented testimony by twenty-eight witnesses, including nine investors who described the misrepresentations that induced them to invest; six of Brown's business associates, including co-defendant Sylvester Mitchell, who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government prior to Brown's trial; and a government investigator, who traced what happened to the investors' funds after Brown's enterprise, The Vertical Group, received them.
On appeal, Brown argues that this evidence was insufficient to convict him of each of the charged offenses because the government failed to prove intent to defraud. The argument focuses on part of Sylvester Mitchell's testimony. In January 2005, Brown, Mitchell, and at least one investor traveled to New York City for the...
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