U.S. v. Griffin
| Citation | 324 F.3d 330 |
| Decision Date | 10 March 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-20368.,01-20368. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Florita Bell GRIFFIN, Terrence Bernard Roberts, Joe Lee Walker, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
Kathlyn Giannaula Snyder (argued), James Lee Turner, Asst. U.S. Attys., Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Julian R. Murray, Jr. (argued), Chehardy, Sherman, Ellis, Breslin, Murray & Recile, Metairie, LA, for Griffin.
Robert Adren Swearingen, West, Webb, Allbritton, Gentry & Rife, College Station, TX, Lanny D. Ray (argued), Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim, Tacoma, WA, for Roberts.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before JOLLY, SMITH and DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.
Appellants Florita Bell Griffin (Griffin), Terrence Bernard Roberts (Roberts), and Joe Lee Walker (Walker) were tried before a jury and found guilty of conspiracy, bribery, money laundering, and mail fraud. On appeal, Griffin, Roberts, and Walker (referred to jointly as "Appellants") challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, a number of the district court's evidentiary rulings, and the calculation of their sentences. In addition, Roberts and Walker contend that they were constructively denied counsel. We AFFIRM in part, REVERSE in part, and REMAND to the district court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) is the state agency that administers federal and state funds allocated for use in providing affordable housing and community services to low-income households. During 1997 and 1998, TDHCA received $184,767,578.00 and $196,350,078.00, respectively in federal funds. With these funds, the agency administers 25 different federal programs, one of which is the allocation of federal income tax credit incentives (tax credits) that serve as incentives for developers to build housing projects in which certain rental units are set aside for occupancy by low-income persons at reduced rent. TDHCA receives approximately 150 to 200 applications for allocation of tax credits annually, and approximately $24 to $25 million in tax credits are available for allocation annually in Texas.
The affairs of the TDHCA are conducted by a nine-member board of directors, all of whom are state officials. Board members are not paid for their services. When applications for tax credit allocations are submitted, the TDHCA staff scores each application based on subjective and objective factors, and submits a list of recommended applications to a committee made up of three members from the board of directors for review. If the recommended applications are approved by the three-member committee, the board of directors then votes on whether to grant final approval for the allocation of the tax credits on these same applications.
Griffin was appointed to the TDHCA board of directors in 1995. Prior to her appointment, Griffin worked as a planner for the city of Bryan, Texas. In 1997, Griffin chaired the three-member committee that made recommendations to the full board on tax credit applications. In addition, Griffin did consulting work for persons or companies that did business with TDHCA.
Mitchell, a Texas certified public accountant, had prepared housing tax credit applications to the TDHCA for developers on over 160 projects, and 130 of them had been approved. Roberts was a real estate agent who worked for the Brazos Valley Community Action Agency (BVCAA) in 1995, where he was the director of housing projects. BVCAA is a private nonprofit organization that receives funds from the TDHCA and provides affordable housing to low-income households. After meeting at a housing seminar in Austin, Texas, Mitchell and Roberts decided to submit an application for tax credits to build a low-income housing project.
Mitchell and Roberts formed a partnership named "One Golden Oaks, Ltd.," with Roberts having a 51 percent ownership in the partnership. The record indicates that Mitchell was aware that by doing so, One Golden Oaks, Ltd. would be classified as a historically underutilized business (HUB) because Roberts is African-American, which would result in additional points being awarded to their tax credit application with the TDHCA. Mitchell was to serve as the financial partner, and Roberts was to serve as the managing partner. Mitchell agreed to pay Roberts a weekly salary of $1,250.00 from Mitchell's personal funds for Roberts' services to their partnership.
Roberts recommended that Barry Hammond (Hammond) be used as the general contractor to build the project. Roberts had met Hammond in December 1996. At that time, Hammond was working with his wife Michelle as a self-employed home builder of single family residences. Roberts told Hammond that he could offer Hammond's customers down payment assistance. Roberts and Hammond entered an agreement in which Roberts would provide down payment assistance and both of them would share the profits on the sale of each home. A few homes were built as a result of this agreement.
After doing business together, Roberts decided he wanted Hammond to meet Griffin. Roberts and Griffin were friends, and Griffin had served as a consultant to the BVCAA. Roberts introduced Hammond to Griffin in January 1997. The record indicates that Roberts told Hammond that Griffin was on the TDHCA and was responsible for approving millions of dollars each year for developers and builders.
After Griffin met Hammond, she told him that she wanted to see one of the homes he had built. Subsequently, Roberts told Hammond that Griffin was impressed with the home he built and that she wanted to participate in their home building agreement. Griffin told Hammond and Roberts that she could bring to their arrangement interim construction, down payment, and land acquisition assistance from TDHCA. Shortly thereafter, Griffin suggested to Roberts and Hammond that Walker be brought into the project to help buy property and to get it zoned. Roberts and Hammond consented, and all four agreed to split the profits evenly among themselves.
Previously, Hammond had built five to ten houses a year. Under the new arrangement, however, it was anticipated that over 100 houses would be built annually. Griffin suggested that a corporation be formed to ensure that each received his share of the profits. On March 20, 1997, Barry Hammond Homes Incorporated (BHHI) was created. Hammond, Roberts, Griffin, and Walker agreed that the ownership of BHHI and its profits would be split evenly among themselves. In addition, it was agreed that Walker would be paid a salary of $2,500.00 a month after Griffin suggested that Walker be required to work in BHHI's office space rather than at a bail bond company. The record indicates that at this time, the only money BHHI was making was from the sale of previously contracted single family homes.
As indicated in a copy of BHHI's bylaws recovered during a search of Griffin's residence, stock certificates were issued. Some of the stock certificates were filled out by Michelle Hammond and kept at BHHI's place of business in a corporate book. Hammond's and Walker's stock certificates reflected that each received 25,000 shares, which were issued in their names. Roberts' stock certificates were issued in his mother's name, Johnnie Roberts. Griffin's stock certificates were first placed in the name of J & G Construction. Later, Griffin had the stock certificates placed in the name of Arkofa Consulting Corporation (Arkofa), which is owned by Griffin's brother-in-law, Arlee Griffin Jr.
Subsequent to the incorporation of BHHI, Griffin, Walker, and Roberts held meetings to discuss building Mitchell's and Roberts' housing project, Golden Oaks On Sandy Point Apartments (hereinafter referred to as "the Golden Oaks project"). Those meetings took place on a weekly basis through October 1997. At one of the meetings, Griffin made a list of everyone's duties in the corporation. Hammond's duties were to act as a project supervisor, keep up with material costs, check off on every completed house, schedule tasks, and perform long range planning. Michelle Hammond's duties were administrative support. Roberts was responsible for marketing and sales. Walker's duties were to manage funds, do the bidding on jobs, handle legal work, participate in marketing, handle change orders, and policies and procedures. Griffin's duties were described as to "create opportunity." Significantly, there was never any written consulting agreement between Griffin and BHHI.
Mitchell and Roberts, acting as partners of One Golden Oaks, Ltd., submitted an application for a tax credit allocation for the Golden Oaks project in June 1997.1 The application was filled out in the name of One Golden Oaks, Ltd. as owner/developer. Roberts signed the application as the managing general partner and Mitchell signed as the financial general partner. BHHI was listed as the general contractor with Hammond's signature as president. The plan was to build forty two-story four-plexes consisting of 160 apartments.
The record indicates that Walker presented Mitchell with a contract to have BHHI be the builder on the Golden Oaks project. Mitchell believed that only Hammond and Walker were partners in BHHI. Mitchell was unaware that Griffin had an ownership interest in the corporation.
On September 13, 1997, the TDHCA tax credit allocation committee met to consider the staff report on tax credit applications for 1997. Walker and Roberts attended this meeting, which was chaired by Griffin. A staff member read aloud the names of 66 proposed projects, which represented requests for a total of $27,110,996 in tax credits. One Golden Oaks was one of...
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