United States v. Edward Deloach

introduction of expert testimony that Deloach had misused IRS Form 56s to create

false liens. The prosecution does not engage in misconduct when it “ask[s] the jury

to draw inferences from the evidence that the prosecutor believes in good faith might

be true.” United States v. Reyes, 660 F.3d 454, 462 (9th Cir. 2011) (internal

quotation marks and citation omitted). Contrary to Deloach’s contention, the

government did not mislead the jury about the nature of IRS Form 56s or conflate

them with actual liens. In its opening statement, the government stated that “an IRS

Form 56 cannot actually be used to create a lien,” but that Deloach thought he was

“either [] creating a lien or . . . at least taking a step in the process of doing so.” In

closing, the prosecutor argued only its theory of the case when it described the IRS

Form 56s as Deloach “claim[ing] a debt” and said “[t]hat’s, in essence, a lien, or

what the defendant hopes was a lien.”

Nor did the expert witness testimony mislead the jury about what “qualifies

as a lien.” The government’s expert did not testify about what technically qualifies

22-50271 as a lien. Instead, the…