United States v. Edgar Srapyan

MEMORANDUM

Edgar Srapyan appeals his jury conviction of four counts of health care fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1347 , for submitting Medicare claims for numerous wheelchairs that were never delivered, were unnecessary, or were not properly prescribed. Srapyan argues the district court erred in rejecting his for-cause challenge to two putatively biased jurors, J.S.S. and M.L., violating his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial and his Fifth Amendment due process rights. Srapyan used two of his peremptory strikes to exclude J.S.S. and M.L., strikes he argues he would have used to exclude other jurors. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

“Actual bias is typically found when a prospective juror states that he can not be impartial, or expresses a view adverse to one party’s position and responds equivocally as to whether he could be fair and impartial despite that view. The determination of whether a juror is actually biased is a question of fact, that we review for manifest error or abuse of discretion.” Fields v. Brown, 503 F.3d 755, 767 (9th Cir.2007) (en banc) (internal citations and quotations omitted). Here, there was no abuse of discretion in the district…