United States Ninth Circuit

Defendant's convictions for mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering are affirmed in part where: 1) defendant's waiver of his right to counsel was not conditioned on specific assurances from the district court regarding the level of participation he could expect from standby counsel; 2) defendant's ineffective assistance claims were more appropriate for collateral proceedings; 3) the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting only a two-week continuance because the need for a continuance was defendant's fault; 4) even though the prosecution's questioning was improper, it did not amount to plain error; 5) the prosecutor's statements in closing argument were reasonable based on the evidence; and 6) the prosecution did not waive its right to seek restitution. However, certain convictions, and defendant's sentence, are reversed where the money laundering jury instructions should have defined proceeds as profits.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/03/2010
• Published 05/03/2010

Judges

• Before PROCTER HUG, JR., M. MARGARET McKEOWN, and WILLIAM FLETCHER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Jordan Gross, Yarmuth Wilsdon Calfo PLLC, Seattle, WA, for the defendant-appellant., Andrew C. Friedman and Carl Blackstone, Assistant United States Attorneys, Seattle, WA, for the plaintiff-appellee.