## Facts

- Kenneth W. Walls solicited Violet Bjerke to invest $20,000 in a purportedly profitable California mining/real-estate property.
- Walls represented that he owned the property and that it had significant mineral value, inducing Bjerke to provide two $10,000 checks.
- Walls lacked actual title to the property but delivered a promissory note and a quitclaim deed as supposed security.
- The quitclaim deed was mailed from California to Arizona for recording, which the government alleged furthered the fraudulent scheme.
- One $10,000 payment involved an Alaska bank; the government alleged Walls transported $10,000 in fraudulently obtained funds from Alaska to Arizona.
- The government introduced evidence of other similar transactions to show intent, knowledge, and lack of good faith.
- A jury in the District of Arizona convicted Walls of mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341) and interstate transportation of money taken by fraud (18 U.S.C. § 2314) and the court imposed a five-year sentence and a $5,000 fine with continued commitment until paid.

## Issues

1. Whether the mailing of the quitclaim deed and the Alaska-related funds movement satisfied the jurisdictional elements of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 2314.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient to prove a scheme to defraud, intent to defraud, use of the mails to execute the scheme, and interstate transportation of fraud-tainted money.
3. Whether admitting evidence of other similar transactions was proper for non-propensity purposes.
4. Whether the indictment was defective because it was signed by an Assistant United States Attorney rather than the United States Attorney.
5. Whether alleged procedural errors (including Walls’s absence from a juror conference) required reversal.
6. Whether Walls received ineffective assistance of counsel.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the convictions and sentence.
- The court held the deed mailing for recording was sufficiently in furtherance of the scheme to satisfy § 1341’s mailing element.
- The court held the interstate movement of fraudulently obtained funds associated with the Alaska check satisfied § 2314’s interstate-commerce element.
- The court found the evidence supported the jury’s findings of misrepresentation, reliance, and intent to defraud.
- The court upheld admission of other-acts evidence to show intent and lack of good faith rather than character.
- The court held the indictment was valid despite being signed by an Assistant United States Attorney.
- The court found no reversible procedural error and rejected the ineffective-assistance claim on the record presented.

## Legal Principles

- Mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1341 is established when the mails are used as a step that furthers execution of a fraudulent scheme, including a mailing that serves to reassure the victim or give an appearance of legitimacy.
- Interstate transportation under 18 U.S.C. § 2314 is satisfied when money obtained by fraud is transported in interstate commerce by or through the defendant’s conduct.
- Fraudulent intent may be proven by circumstantial evidence, including knowingly misrepresenting ownership and providing illusory “security” to induce payment.
- Evidence of other similar transactions may be admitted for non-propensity purposes such as intent, knowledge, and absence of good faith.
- An indictment is not invalid solely because it is signed by an Assistant United States Attorney rather than the United States Attorney personally.
- A defendant’s absence from a limited juror-related conference does not require reversal absent prejudice; minor errors may be harmless.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit upheld Walls’s mail-fraud and § 2314 convictions arising from a mining-investment fraud, concluding that mailing a deed to further the scheme and transporting fraud-tainted funds across state lines satisfied federal jurisdictional elements, the evidence supported fraudulent intent, and the challenged evidentiary, indictment-signature, and procedural rulings did not warrant reversal.


United States v. Walls (9th Cir. 1978)