United States v. Leigh Raymond Tamura

Leigh Raymond Tamura appeals from his conviction on 59 counts of bribery, mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, racketeering, and Travel Act violations. He contends that the district court prejudicially erred in: (1) refusing to suppress evidence seized during a search of his employer’s premises; (2) admitting telex messages that Tamura contends were hearsay; (3) refusing to grant Tamura a brief continuance and to take other steps that Tamura contends were necessary to enable him to meet surprise testimony introduced by the prosecution; and (4) failing to give appropriate jury instructions on the guilty pleas and credibility of the prosecution’s two main witnesses. We affirm.

I

Tamura’s conviction stems from a kickback scheme involving his employer, Marubeni America Corporation (Marubeni), an American subsidiary of a Japanese corporation. Marubeni imports telephone cable manufactured by a Japanese corporation, Hitachi Cable, Ltd. Between 1970 and 1978, Marubeni won approximately $9 million in contracts from Anchorage Telephone Utility (ATU) to supply telephone cable to the City of Anchorage, Alaska. ATU is a municipally owned utility that buys cable through competitive bidding. Under…