United States v. Juan Gerardo Rojas

This case presents two primary issues— whether a government appeal in a criminal case from a district court’s granting of a defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal under Fed.R.Crim.P. 29(c), which overturns the jury’s verdict of guilty, is barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause; and, if not, whether the district court’s favorable ruling on such motion was proper. We answer both questions in the negative in this case and therefore reverse.

Defendant, a qualified tax preparer, was indicted along with two other co-defendants for 1 count of conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 ; 3 counts of making false claims (in the form of income tax returns) against the government, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287 ; and 2 counts of possession of stolen property (in the form of the fraudulently obtained tax refund checks), in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641 . Defendant proceeded to trial by jury alone, the other two co-defendants having pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment. The government’s evidence at trial revealed a scheme whereby defendant conspired with co-defendants Lisa Brock (Lisa) and Richard Smith (Smith) and unindicted co-conspirator Darlene Kirkwood (Darlene) to submit…