United States v. Timothy Parkes, Case No. 09-625
On February 2, 2012 the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its unanimous decision in the case of United States v. Timothy Parkes, Case No. 09-6525, reversing the convictions of bank fraud on all counts and granting the defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal. The Court held that the District Court had incorrectly denied Mr. Parkes' motion for acquittal following the jury trial.
Mr. Parkes and his partner Mark Mourier were each charged with thirteen counts of bank fraud arising from loans that were made to over ten LLCs for millions of dollars by Benton Bank. The bank president was separately charged and pled guilty. Ultimately, the bank failed. Mr. Parkes was also charged with making a false statement to the special agents during the investigation.
The jury found Mr. Mourier not guilty on all counts. Mr. Parkes was found not guilty on three counts of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement. During the trial the Court prohibited Mr. Parkes from presenting evidence to support the theory of his defense, i.e., that the bank president had acted alone. In addition, Mr. Parkes' motion for mistrial was denied when the prosecutor improperly told the jury if they acquitted Parkes, he would get to keep over $4,000,000 of the bank's money. Mr. Parkes timely moved for judgment of acquittal based upon insufficient evidence. The District Court denied the motion. Mr. Parkes appealed.
The Sixth Circuit Court of appeals found that the District Court erred when it prevented Mr. Parkes from introducing evidence in support of his defense. The Court also found that the District Court erred when it denied Mr. Parkes' motion for mistrial based upon the prosecutor's misconduct and most importantly when the District Court denied Mr. Parkes' Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal due to insufficient evidence.
Mr. Parkes was represented at trial and on appeal by David M. Garvin, Esq. and Wade V. Davies, Esq. Congratulations to Timothy Parkes.
