United States v. Randy Barker

MEMORANDUM

Randy Barker (Barker) appeals' from his jury conviction for conspiracy to defraud the United States with respect to false claims, submission of false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims, and money laundering. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

We review for abuse of discretion the district court’s grant of court appointed defense counsel’s motion to be relieved from representation after Barker sued him in a civil lawsuit. See United States v. Rivera-Corona, 618 F.3d 976, 978 (9th Cir.2010). We conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion. Barker’s lawsuit was sufficient to create a conflict of interest with his counsel. See United States v. Moore, 159 F.3d 1154, 1158 (9th Cir.1998). To the extent that Barker was without counsel, during the detention/bail hearing, we conclude that this was harmless error. See United States v. Walters, 309 F.3d 589, 593 (9th Cir.2002).

We review de novo Barker’s argument that the district court erred in instructing the jury that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a government agency. United States v. Warren, 25 F.3d 890, 897 (9th Cir.1994). We conclude that the district court did not err in concluding…