UNITED STATES V. GRAY 405 F.3d 227 (4th Cir. 2005) CASE BRIEF

UNITED STATES V. GRAY

405 F.3d 227 (4th Cir. 2005)

NATURE OF THE CASE: Gray (D) appealed her conviction on five counts of mail fraud and three counts of wire fraud, 18 U.S.C.S. 1341, 1343, relating to her receipt of insurance proceeds following the deaths of her second husband and a former paramour.

FACTS: Wilma Jean Wilson met Gray (D) in the late summer of 2000. D confessed to Wilson that she had killed two prior husbands and a paramour. D told Wilson that she had killed her first husband, Stribbling, because she was tired of being abused by him. D and Stribbling had gone for a ride and D shot him. D then confessed to Wilson that she had also killed her second husband, Robert Gray. D had help killing Robert Gray. Clarence Goode, D's cousin and boyfriend. D explained to Wilson that Goode 'had tried to blackmail her,' demanding money in exchange for his silence about the murder of Robert Gray, so 'she had to get rid of him too.' Stribbling, maintained a life insurance policy. D made a claim for insurance benefits and later received a check in the amount of $16,000. D had been having an affair with Robertwhile she was still married to Stribbling. They bought a house and married. Robert Gray maintained an insurance policy as well as an accidental death insurance policy through Life Insurance Company of North America ('LINA') and designated D as his beneficiary. So convinced was Robert Gray that his wife intended him harm that he removed her as his beneficiary under two other insurance policies. He asked relatives and friends for help in avoiding a possible assault by D or Goode. D and Goode threatened Robert with a gun and a warrant was issued for their arrest. One week before the November 16, 1990 trial date, Robert was discovered dead in his new apartment, shot once in the chest and once in the neck with a .45 caliber handgun. D told police investigators that she was not involved in her husband's death and that she did not own a .45 caliber handgun. Other witnesses testified that they had seen Gray in possession of a .45 caliber handgun, and police investigators retrieved a .45 caliber bullet from her purse. D also offered an alibi that other witnesses at trial discredited. The house policy paid off and D sold the house for a significant profit. On June 21, 1996, Baltimore City Police officers found Goode's body in the trunk of his car; he had been shot in the back with a 9-millimeter handgun. Goode had told his sister that he was going to visit D at her house, where police later found 9-millimeter bullets and a large blood stain on the floor of the garage. Because D's guilt could not be proved at that time, the parties settled the interpleader action and Interstate Assurance paid D $ 99,990 in benefits under Goode's policy. D got a new boyfriend and also made inquiries about getting life insurance on him as well. D was brought to trial and convicted of mail fraud and three counts of wire fraud, 18 U.S.C.S. 1341, 1343, relating to her receipt of insurance proceeds following the deaths of her second husband and a former paramour. She denied having any involvement in the murders. In part D seeks a new trial based on admission of out of court statements made by Gray before he was murdered. The district court admitted into evidence several out-of-court statements made by Robert Gray during the three months preceding his murder: Robert Gray's criminal complaint alleging that Goode had tossed a 9-millimeter handgun on the table at his house to provoke an argument; Robert Gray's criminal complaint alleging that Gray had tried to stab him with a knife and attack him with a club; Statements made by Robert Gray to Darnell Gray and a police detective, claiming that Gray and Goode had assaulted him in October 1990; and Statements made by Robert Gray to Rodney Gray claiming that Goode had pulled a gun on him outside a restaurant in September or October 1990. D contends that Rule 804(b)(6) should not apply in this case because she did not intend to procure Robert Gray's unavailability as a witness at this trial.

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LEGAL ANALYSIS:

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