United States v. Brian Douglas Hammer
Opinion
Opinion
The government in this appeal argues that the district court erroneously reduced Brian Hammer’s restitution from $265,000 to $20,000 on the theory that restitution under the Federal Probation Act must be limited to the loss caused by the particular conduct for which the defendant was convicted, rather than the total loss caused by the underlying scheme to defraud. We agree and reverse.
I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In 1986 Hammer was indicted on 18 counts of mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 . The indictment alleged a wide-ranging scheme of fraudulent real estate deals conducted during 1981 and 1982 in which the investors lost some $337,800. Hammer subsequently pled guilty to two of the mail- fraud counts and received a five-year custodial sentence and five years of probation. As a special condition of probation, Hammer was ordered to pay $265,000 in restitution to the victims of his fraudulent scheme.
Upon his release Hammer moved to modify the terms of his probation, arguing that the amount of restitution should be limited to the losses caused by the mailings for which he was convicted. Hammer purported to file his motion under 18 U.S.C. § 3563 (c), which allows the…