United States v. Washington Water Power Company, United States of America v. Jeremiah P. Buckley, United States of America v. Ellsworth B. Sargent

I. INTRODUCTION

On January 22, 1981, a federal grand jury in Seattle, Washington, indicted Washington Water Power Company (WWPC), Jeremiah P. Buckley, who was a lobbyist for WWPC, Sargent-Tyee Construction Company, and Ellsworth B. Sargent, president of Sargent-Tyee.

Count I of the indictment charged that all defendants had committed mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 . Count II charged that Buckley and WWPC had obstructed justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1503 . On August 25, 1981 the district court dismissed Count I on the ground that it alleged insufficient facts to support a charge of mail fraud.

In United States v. Buckley, 689 F.2d 893 (9th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1086 , 103 S.Ct. 1778 , 76 L.Ed.2d 349 (1983), we reversed the district court. Although we found the indictment “lengthy, confusing, and largely irrelevant,” 689 F.2d at 899 , we held that the government had adequately alleged a violation of the mail fraud statute. We also noted that the government’s case appeared rather weak, but stated that “the weakness of the [g]overnment’s case is irrelevant to the sufficiency of the indictment.” Id. at 900 .

The case proceeded to trial on January 30,…