United States v. Stephen James Stapleton, AKA Bob Johnson

293 F.3d 1111 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stephen James STAPLETON, aka Bob Johnson, Defendant-Appellant. No. 00-50647. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted May 6, 2002. Filed June 18, 2002. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED William G. Morrissey, Santa Ana, California, for the defendant-appellant. Ellyn Marcus Lindsay, Assistant United States Attorney, Major Frauds Section, Los Angeles, California, for the plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California; Gary L. Taylor, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-99-00047-GLT-03. Before: KLEINFELD and GRABER, Circuit Judges, and COLLINS, * District Judge. GRABER, Circuit Judge. 1 A jury convicted Defendant Stephen James Stapleton of several counts of mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1341 , and several counts of wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343 . On appeal, he challenges an instruction that permitted the jury to find him vicariously liable for acts of other participants in the fraudulent scheme of which he was a part. We affirm. I. THE FRAUDULENT SCHEME 2 Criminal charges against several people, including Defendant, arose from their…