Abuse of Discretion – Sufficiency of Evidence

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Ethel Shelton

Case No.: 19-3388

Officials: FLAUM, ROVNER, and BRENNAN, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Abuse of Discretion – Sufficiency of Evidence 

Demoted, disparaged, and deprived of a free government car, Stafford Garbutt decided that he could no longer tolerate what he believed to be criminal conduct by his boss and co‐workers, conduct that he himself had been engaging in for more than ten years. After his anonymous letters to a local newspaper and to the United States Attorney’s office accusing his former friend and boss of official misconduct failed to garner any response, he approached the United States Attorney’s office in person with his story. That office directed him to the FBI, where he began a partnership with an agent who eventually directed him to conduct warrantless searches of his co‐workers’ offices. Garbutt’s actions ultimately ensnared not only his intended target, Calumet Township Trustee Mary Elgin, but also Elgin’s administrative assistant, Ethel Shelton, the defendant here. After Elgin took a plea deal, a jury convicted Ethel Shelton of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud related to her actions as an employee of the Calumet Township Trustee’s Office. Shelton learned mid‐trial that the FBI agent had directed Garbutt to conduct warrantless searches of her office. Although the district court tried to mitigate any damage by allowing Shelton to move post‐trial for relief, the court ultimately denied her motion. In addition to challenging the district court’s denial of her motion for a mistrial on Fourth Amendment grounds, Shelton also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence on both the conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud count and the conspiracy to commit wire fraud count. We review the denial of the motion for a mistrial for an abuse of discretion. We reverse and remand.

Reversed and remanded

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Derek A Hawkins is Associate Corporate Counsel, IP at Amazon.