United States v. Willis

• Decision Date: 13 December 2016
• Docket Number: No. 15-2264,15-2264
• Citation: 844 F.3d 155
• Parties: United States of America v. Louis Milton Willis, Appellant
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

844 F.3d 155

United States of America
v.
Louis Milton Willis, Appellant

No. 15-2264

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued: May 19, 2016
Opinion Filed: December 13, 2016

Joseph A. DiRuzzo, III, Jeffrey J. Molinaro (Argued), Fuerst Ittleman David & Joseph, 1001 Brickell Bay Drive, Suite 3112, Miami, FL 33131, Counsel for Appellant

Ronald Sharpe, Office of United States Attorney, 5500 Veterans Building, Suite 260, United States Courthouse, St. Thomas, VI 00802, Justin D. Weitz (Argued), United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section, 1400 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20005, Counsel for Appellee

BEFORE: FUENTES,^* VANASKIE, and RESTREPO, Circuit Judges

OPINION OF THE COURT

FUENTES, Circuit Judge:

Louis Milton Willis, the former Executive Director of the Legislature of the U.S. Virgin Islands, appeals his conviction on two counts of federal programs bribery and two counts of federal extortion. From about 2009 to 2011, the Legislature's main building on the island of St. Thomas underwent major renovations, which required the Legislature to seek out contractors. The United States claims that, during this period, Willis engaged in a pattern of corrupt conduct involving several contractors working on the renovations. Specifically, the United States claims that Willis solicited and received a $3,000 cash bribe from one contractor, a $10,000 "loan" and a new air conditioner for his home from a second, and a $5,000 kickback from a third. According to the United States, these payments and kickbacks were all made to Willis to ensure that the contractors would continue to be awarded work on the renovations. Willis was tried and convicted by a jury for charges related to the bribes solicited and was sentenced to a five-year prison term followed by a term of supervised release.

Willis argues that the District Court erred by (i) denying his pretrial motion to dismiss two counts of the indictment, (ii) denying his renewed motion for judgment of acquittal, and (iii) improperly admitting evidence of his prior acceptance of bribes.¹

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Because we find all of Willis's arguments unavailing, we will affirm his conviction.²

I. BACKGROUND

Government officials are vested with a duty to uphold the law and serve the best interests of the public. This case involves a government employee who betrayed the trust of this country's taxpaying citizens by abusing his power for his own benefit.

From 2009 to 2012, the United States Government appropriated $150 million in federal funds each fiscal year to the Government of the Virgin Islands. During that period, Louis Milton "Lolo" Willis served as Executive Director of the Legislature for the Virgin Islands. In that position, Willis's main role was to direct and advise division heads and to oversee administrative matters under the supervision of the President of the Legislature. He was also delegated the power from the President of the Legislature to administer contracts on behalf of the Legislature.

During Willis's tenure as Executive Director, the Legislature's main building underwent major renovations, and Willis was substantially involved in securing contractors to perform those renovations. Three of those contractors—Wilson John Marie, Frank James, and Alwin Williams, Sr.—later testified at Willis's trial. Marie, James, and Williams stated that they all gave cash or other items of value to Willis to secure more government work or to ensure payment of their invoices for completed work.

Sometime in 2010, the U.S. Department of the Interior audited the Legislature's administrative section while the renovations were taking place. The Department then released a report that highlighted a number of flaws in the administrative section's fiscal controls. In the report, the Department concluded that the Legislature had mismanaged public funds and that management of the Legislature lacked adequate financial safeguards. According to the report, some contractors worked on the renovation without any written agreements, and others obtained "sole-source" contracts, which Willis alone negotiated and issued without going through the normal process of soliciting bids from multiple vendors.

After a federal investigation, an indictment eventually issued for Willis's prosecution on extortion charges under 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a), which prohibits robbery or extortion affecting interstate commerce, and bribery charges under 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1), which outlaws theft and bribery in entities receiving more than $10,000 in federal funds. Before trial, Willis moved to dismiss the indictment. The District Court denied the motion, and the case proceeded to a jury trial.

During the trial, the United States presented substantial evidence in support of its case. The three contractors testified on behalf of the United States, claiming to have been involved in the bribery and extortion. Each of the contractors testified that they had given Willis things of value and had received some form of guaranteed work on the renovations in return.

Wilson Jean Marie was the first contractor to testify about his interactions with Willis. What he described, in short, was a basic kickback scheme. He stated that he was a carpenter in the U.S. Virgin Islands and claimed to have done renovation work on the Legislature's main building from 2010 to 2011. He further stated that Willis drafted a contract for his work on the

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renovations. Marie claimed that only Willis would review the hours that he submitted for work. Willis would then apparently sign the invoice, and the Legislature's Business Office would in turn pay Marie. Marie stated that he would then give some of the money he had been paid by the Legislature to Willis.

Marie explained that the payments to Willis were "[t]o keep the job going, keep [Marie] going for the job,"³ suggesting that he paid Willis to secure more renovation work. Marie also stated that he had given Willis "about $5,000," divided up among three payments.⁴ Marie also described a 25% overhead fee that Willis paid him for his work, which apparently had no clear underlying purpose.

The second contractor to testify was Frank James. James said that he worked on the Legislature's main building during the renovation at a rate of about $2,100 per month under a contract arranged by Willis. He also testified that, at various points, Willis asked him for $1,000, which he said that he needed to pay back certain debts, but James refused. On another occasion, Willis asked James for $10,000, but, again, James refused. Nevertheless, James said that he went to Willis's home, inspected Willis's home air conditioning units, and replaced one of the units without charging him for the value of the unit or for his services. James estimated that the air conditioner had a value of about $1,100. Finally, James claimed that he wrote a company check for $10,000 to a paving company in order to assist Willis with paving his driveway. He described the money as a loan to Willis, but he said he was never repaid.

Alwin Williams Sr. was the last contractor to testify against Willis. Williams, the owner of a company that did excavation and demolition work, entered into a contract to excavate certain tree roots near the Legislature building. He claimed that while he was working on the renovations, Willis told him that he was having money issues and needed help. Shortly after, Williams gave Willis $3,000 in cash, a payment which he claimed was made to ensure that Willis would "look out for [Williams] down the road," presumably to ensure future awards for renovation work on the Legislature.⁵ Williams also testified that, prior to serving as Executive Director of the Legislature, Willis had accepted certain bribes from Williams when Willis was working for the Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue. Williams claimed to have paid the bribes to Willis for the purpose of having a Bureau of Internal Revenue tax levy lifted from his bank accounts.

The testimony of these three witnesses was bolstered by another witness for the United States, Clifford Charleswell, who explained that Willis told him that he had received money from the contractors during the renovation project. All told, James, Williams, and Marie testified to giving Willis roughly $19,000 in kickbacks and other graft in exchange for over $300,000 in contract work on the renovations.

Michael Benjamin, the acting business director for the Legislature, also testified on behalf of the United States. He stated that Willis was in charge of managing the contracts for the renovation work and that Willis answered solely to the President of the Legislature. He also testified that Willis had the power to seek bids, find the best price, and select contractors. He further claimed that funds used for the payment of contractors came from the Government

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of the Virgin Islands' treasury.⁶ As to the procurement of contractors, Benjamin stated that sometimes the contracts would go through legal counsel to the Legislature for review, but sometimes they did not. Once approved, the contracts would be signed and finalized by Willis or by the President of the Legislature....