United States v. McCorkle

• Decision Date: 31 July 2012
• Docket Number: No. 11–2650.,11–2650.
• Citation: 688 F.3d 518
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Bradley Shane McCORKLE, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

688 F.3d 518

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,

v.Bradley Shane McCORKLE, Appellant.

No. 11–2650.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: March 15, 2012.

Filed: July 31, 2012.

Kevin L. Shriener, St. Louis, MO, for Appellant.

John D. Keller, AUSA, Davenport, IA, for Appellee.

Before WOLLMAN and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges, and HICKEY,¹ District Judge.

HICKEY, District Judge.

Bradley McCorkle appeals his conviction for theft of government funds, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641. On appeal, McCorkle contends that the district court ² abused its discretion by admitting evidence at trial of his prior applications for Social Security disability benefits. He also argues for the first time on appeal that venue was not proper in the Southern District of Iowa. For the following reasons, we reject these arguments and affirm the conviction.

I.

Bradley McCorkle's mother, Ada McCorkle, died on August 11, 2008. At the time of her death, she was receiving Social Security disability benefits totaling $1,587 per month. Unaware of Ada McCorkle's death, the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) continued to deposit benefits into her Illinois bank account. As the executor of his mother's estate, Bradley McCorkle had access to his mother's bank account and continued to accept and withdraw these post-death Social Security benefits. He made no effort to inform SSA of her death. In July 2009, Ada McCorkle's estate attorney requested a freeze of her bank account, which led the bank to discover that Social Security benefits had continued to be deposited after her death. The bank then returned the outstanding deposits to SSA and issued stop payment orders on three cashier's checks Bradley McCorkle purchased using benefit funds. McCorkle attempted to cash one of the checks at an Illinois bank. The bank refused to cash the check, retained it, and informed McCorkle that any outstanding cashier's checks in his possession should be returned to the bank. Undeterred, McCorkle then traveled to a bank in Iowa where he successfully cashed the two remaining checks. Over the course of fourteen months following his mother's death, McCorkle withdrew approximately $16,000 in post-death Social Security benefits from his mother's bank account.

On August 18, 2010, a grand jury sitting in the Southern District of Iowa issued a one-count indictment against McCorkle for theft of government funds, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641. The government moved to admit evidence of McCorkle's prior applications for Social Security disability benefits on behalf of himself in 1994 and his daughter in 2000. The government argued that the applications were relevant to whether McCorkle knew both that SSA must be informed when a beneficiary dies and that SSA does not make disability benefit payments to a deceased beneficiary. McCorkle objected to the admission on the grounds that such evidence would be prejudicial, confusing to the jury, or would result in the trial of collateral matters. The district court agreed with the government's position and admitted the evidence, finding it relevant and not overly prejudicial.

At trial, the government introduced the evidence of the prior applications, and SSA employees testified that when an individual applies for disability benefits on behalf of themselves or another, SSA explicitly informs them of their obligation to inform SSA of the death of a beneficiary. The witnesses also testified that McCorkle would have been provided hard copies of the reporting requirements at the time of application and that the requirements were in place in 2000 when McCorkle applied for benefits on behalf of his daughter. A government witness further testified that McCorkle admitted in conversations that he knew he was not entitled to the funds. However, McCorkle testified that he believed he was entitled to receive the funds and that it was not until his mother's estate attorney requested a freeze on her account that he learned of the SSA's policy of ceasing payments to beneficiaries upon their death. On March 11, 2011, a jury returned a guilty verdict. On July 15, 2011, the district court sentenced McCorkle to six-months' imprisonment with a three-year term of supervised release.

II.

A.

McCorkle first argues that the district court improperly admitted evidence of his prior applications for disability benefits.“A district court enjoys wide discretion in ruling on the admissibility of proffered evidence, and evidentiary rulings should only be overturned if there was a clear and prejudicial abuse of discretion.” United States v. Augustine, 663 F.3d 367, 372 (8th Cir.2011) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).

McCorkle maintains that his prior applications for disability benefits should have been excluded as evidence because they are irrelevant and highly prejudicial. Specifically, he argues that the applications are irrelevant because they do not tend to prove an element of the offense for which he was convicted.

All relevant evidence is admissible, with certain exceptions. Fed.R.Evid. 402. Federal Rule of Evidence 401 characterizes evidence as relevant if “it has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence” and “the fact is of consequence in determining the action.” Fed.R.Evid. 401 (emphasis added). In determining the relevancy of the evidence at issue in this case, we first look to what elements must be proven under the statute of conviction. Under 18 U.S.C. § 641, the government must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that McCorkle intended to deprive the United States of its property.³United States v. Rehak, 589 F.3d 965, 973 (8th Cir.2009). Accordingly, evidence of whether McCorkle had knowledge of the fact that he was not entitled to the benefits paid to his mother's account following her death would be necessary to establish the element of intent found in 18 U.S.C. § 641.

At trial, the government submitted evidence of McCorkle's prior applications along with witness testimony establishing that disability claimants who apply for benefits are advised of SSA policies and requirements related to the death of beneficiaries. The government maintains that this evidence tends to show that, because McCorkle had applied for Social Security benefits on several occasions, he was familiar with SSA policies and knew that he was not entitled to benefits paid after his mother's death. We agree. This evidence directly refutes McCorkle's position that he lacked knowledge of the illegality of his actions and did not intend to steal government property. For this reason, we find the evidence of prior applications to be highly relevant.

McCorkle further argues that even if evidence of his prior applications for benefits was relevant, the district court should have excluded it because it was highly prejudicial and served as impermissible propensity evidence. Specifically, McCorkle asserts that admitting the applications allowed the jury to infer that his unsuccessful past attempts to acquire disability benefits made it more likely that he would unlawfully withdraw payments made to his deceased mother. We disagree.

Federal Rule of Evidence 403 grants a district court the authority...