United States v. Under Seal

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 05-4475
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
UNDER SEAL,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt. Deborah K. Chasanow, District Judge. (CR-
03-337)
Submitted: February 22, 2006 Decided: March 14, 2006
Before TRAXLER, KING, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
James Wyda, Federal Public Defender, Susan M. Bauer, Assistant
Federal Public Defender, Sherri Lee Keene, Staff Attorney,
Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellant. Rod J. Rosenstein, United
States Attorney, Jane F. Nathan, Assistant United States Attorney,
Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Appellant appeals the district court’s affirmance of the
magistrate judge’s order denying Appellant’s motion for a judgment
of acquittal and judgment convicting Appellant of knowing use of
falsified registration tags, in violation of Maryland
Transportation Code § 14-110(g) (LexisNexis 2001). Finding no
error, we affirm.
Following a bench trial and the subsequent guilty
verdict, Magistrate Judge DiGirolamo sentenced Appellant to two
years’ probation, including substance abuse treatment, and 100
hours’ community service. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal
Procedure 58(g), Appellant appealed to the district court, which
affirmed the magistrate judge’s order and judgment.
On appeal to this court, Appellant argues there was
insufficient evidence to support his conviction. More
specifically, Appellant maintains the district court should have
vacated his conviction because it was predicated on an
uncorroborated admission — Appellant’s statement to United States
Parks Police Sergeant Lori Panarello that he knew the vehicle’s
registration tags were “not good” — in violation of firmly
established Supreme Court precedent.
In reviewing the district court’s affirmance of the
magistrate judge’s denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal,
this court reviews de novo whether substantial evidence existed,
- 2 -
which, taken in the light most favorable to the United States,
would permit the trier-of-fact to find the defendant guilty beyond
a reasonable doubt. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80
(1942); United States v. Lentz, 383 F.3d 191, 199 (4th Cir. 2004),
cert. denied, 125 S. Ct. 1828 (2005). In making this assessment,
this court does not “weigh the evidence or review the credibility
of the witnesses.” United States v. Wilson, 118 F.3d 228, 234 (4th
Cir. 1997). Further, we permit the “[G]overnment the benefit of
all reasonable inferences from the facts proven to those sought to
be established.” United States v. Tresvant, 677 F.2d 1018, 1021
(4th Cir. 1982).
Turning to Appellant’s contention, it is well-settled
that a defendant’s conviction cannot rest entirely on his
uncorroborated extrajudicial confession. Wong Sun v. United
States, 371 U.S. 471, 488-89 (1963); United States v. Hall, 396
F.2d 841, 844-45 (4th Cir. 1968). In Wong Sun, the Supreme Court
clearly stated that “extrinsic proof” is needed to “‘fortif[y] the
truth of the confession,’” but that the corroborative evidence need
not “‘independently establish[ ] the crime charged . . . .’” 371
U.S. at 489 (quoting Smith v. United States, 348 U.S. 147, 156
(1954); see United States v. Norman, 415 F.3d 466, 470-71 (5th Cir.
2005) (“The government need not introduce independent evidence on
every element of the crime, however. If there is extrinsic
evidence tending to corroborate the confession, the confession as
- 3 -
a whole is admissible; and some elements of the offense may be
proven entirely on the basis of a corroborated confession.”
(citation and internal quotation marks omitted)), cert. denied, 126
S. Ct. 1087 (2006). This evidence, which includes circumstantial
evidence, must tend to establish the trustworthiness of the
confession. Opper v. United States, 348 U.S. 84, 93 (1954).
We find that the Government presented sufficient evidence
to support the trustworthiness of Appellant’s admission to Sgt.
Panarello about the invalidity of the vehicle’s registration tags.
The Government presented credible evidence to prove the vehicle’s
registration tags were not legitimate, including Sgt. Panarello’s
testimony that the registration tags were fraudulent and a
certified record from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles,
showing it had no record of any registered vehicle with a vehicle
identification number (“VIN”) corresponding with the VIN written on
the vehicle’s registration tags. Accordingly, as Appellant’s
conviction did not improperly rest upon his uncorroborated
admission, we find the district court’s ruling affirming the denial
of Appellant’s Rule 29 motion was correct. We further find the
Government presented sufficient evidence of Appellant’s guilt, and
thus we affirm Appellant’s conviction. We dispense with oral
argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately
- 4 -
presented in the materials before the court and argument would not
aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
- 5 -