United States v. Gerald M. Schaflander, United States of America v. Stephen M. Wright

Appellants Schaflander and Wright were each convicted of ten counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 . They carried out an elaborate scheme to entice investors to loan money for the mass production of solar cells. Appellants in fact could not produce the cells at a competitive cost. During the course of the eight-week trial, the government produced more than sufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude that both defendants made numerous misrepresentations about their ability to produce the cells, and that they used mailings (primarily loan agreements and promissory notes) as part of the scheme in order to lull investors into a false sense of security. See United States v. Sampson, 371 U.S. 75 , 83 S.Ct. 173 , 9 L.Ed.2d 136 (1962). Appellants’ challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is without merit.

Apart from the sufficiency of the evidence claim, appellants raise four points which they assert require reversal: (1) the court’s fifth amendment admonition to Schaflander and interruptions during his testimony violated his right to a fair trial; (2) prosecutorial misconduct violated the rights of both defendants to a fair trial; (3) the court abused its…