United States Ninth Circuit

Defendants' convictions of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and related offenses are vacated and remanded for a new trial where: 1) the district court erroneously excluded one defendant's testimony as hearsay and did not provide a reasoned basis for excluding it under Federal Rule of Evidence 403; and 2) the testimony would have comprised a critical element of defendants' good faith defense.

Appellate Information

• Argued 12/04/2006
• Decided 04/02/2007
• Published 04/02/2007

Judges

• Before:  B. FLETCHER and M. MARGARET McKEOWN, Circuit Judges, and WILLIAM W. SCHWARZER, District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Sheryl Gordon McCloud, Law Offices of Sheryl G. McCloud, Seattle, WA;  Peter Mair, Seattle, WA, Walter G. Palmer, Seattle, WA, for defendants-appellants Grosnickle, James Moran and Pamela Moran;  Ronald D. Ness, CJA, Port Arthur, WA, for defendant-appellant Wayne S. Anderson., Gregory Victor Davis and Alan Hechtkopf, Attorneys, Tax Division, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for the plaintiff-appellee.