United States v. Jerome C. Utz

Jerome C. Utz appeals the denial of his second petition for collateral relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 , in which he contends that his conviction runs afoul of the Supreme Court’s narrow interpretation of the federal mail fraud statute in McNally v. United States, 483 U.S. 350 , 107 S.Ct. 2875 , 97 L.Ed.2d 292 (1987). Utz also appeals the district court’s denial of an evidentiary hearing on his claim that prosecutorial eon-duct tainted the jury’s deliberations. We affirm.

I.

Utz, a former deputy attorney general for the state of California, was indicted in 1983 for violations of the federal mail fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1341 , and of the “travel fraud” statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2314 . The indictment charged Utz and three code-fendants with a scheme to solicit investments in a fraudulent real estate development in Placerville, California. The district court granted defendants’ motion to strike several unproven allegations in the indictment. The jury convicted Utz on the mail fraud counts. Utz and his codefendants appealed and we affirmed. United States v. Wellington, 754 F.2d 1457 (9th Cir.1985).

Utz subsequently sought relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 , alleging the prosecution…