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Court Error – Testimony

By: Derek Hawkins//July 6, 2017//

Court Error – Testimony

By: Derek Hawkins//July 6, 2017//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Avalon Betts-Gaston

Case No.: 16-2034

Officials: BAUER, EASTERBROOK, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Court Error – Testimony

Defendant Avalon Betts‐Gaston was convicted at trial on two counts of wire fraud. In this appeal, she raises numerous challenges to both her convictions and sentence. We affirm the convictions and sentence. The district court’s determination was not mistaken for two reasons: Betts‐Gaston’s narrative was implausible in its own right, and Ross’s testimony contradicted her. To believe Betts‐Gaston’s version of the story, the court would have had to believe that, on learning for the first time that the application erroneously indicated the purchase was for a second home, Betts‐Gaston would not have tried to fix the error. It would have had to accept that she thought it made sense to ask her father to move from the suburbs to Chicago’s south side to reside occasionally with a woman he did not know, presumably leaving his mother (who lived with him) alone. And the court would have had to believe that her father agreed to that after one conversation at the closing. The court did not clearly err in disbelieving that testimony. Nor did the court err in crediting Ross’s testimony. She described Betts‐Gaston as actively involved with her father’s loan application, acting as a go‐between to adjust his reported income and the purpose of the purchase until he qualified for the loan. In Ross’s account, Betts‐Gaston proposed reporting that the property would be her father’s primary residence, but Ross refused to use such a blatant falsehood. Betts‐Gaston then said to say it would be his secondary residence, and Ross agreed to that. That testimony supports the district court’s application of the obstruction of justice enhancement.

The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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