Travers

AMENDED MEMORANDUM **

I. Introduction

Louis Ramirez III and Marcel Travers appeal their convictions and sentences for *286 mail and wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1343. The underlying scheme for which they were convicted involved a telemarketing firm, Medco (formerly DataMed), that the government alleged defrauded would-be purchasers of medical billing software by falsely promising customers that it could put them in contact with doctors who required medical billing services. In reality, the evidence at trial reflected that customers were provided with a generic list of doctors in their state, none of whom were interested in hiring medical billers. Travers and Ramirez were telemarketers for Medco.

A number of legal errors are alleged. Travers argues that the district court erred (1) in denying his request for a continuance, (2) overruling objections to the government’s rebuttal argument, and (3) failing to specifically instruct the jury on the defenses of “good faith” and “advice of counsel.” Travers joins Ramirez in arguing that the district court erred by (1) admitting documentary evidence that was hearsay, (2) failing to instruct the jury that, in order to…