UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Terry Norman TAYLOR, Defendant-Appellant
Opinion
Opinion
Terry N. Taylor appeals his conviction of five counts of filing false claims against the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287 , and one count of making false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 . We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm, in part, and vacate and remand, in part.
Taylor contends that the district court erred by refusing to submit materiality, an essential element of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 , to the jury. This contention has merit.
Section 1001 makes it a crime knowingly and willfully to falsify, conceal or cover up a material fact in any matter within the jurisdiction of the United States. In United States v. Gaudin, 28 F.3d 943 (9th Cir.1994), affd, — U.S. —, 115 S.Ct. 2310 , 132 L.Ed.2d 444 (1995), we reaffirmed the law of the circuit “that when the element of materiality requires a factual finding, as it does in section 1001 prosecutions, that element must be submitted to the jury.” Id. at 951. We held, furthermore, that a district court’s determination of materiality as a matter of law in an 18 U.S.C. § 1001 prosecution is reversible error. Id.
Here, the district court stated that it did not believe that materiality was an element…