backATLANTA, April 26, 2017— King & Spalding lawyers successfully overturned the criminal conviction of former Florida State University finance professor, Dr. James Doran. In its April 26 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed Dr. Doran’s 2015 conviction and instructed the district court to enter a judgment of acquittal.
Dr. Doran was convicted by a jury of embezzlement from Florida State under 18 U.S.C. 666, which criminalizes embezzlement in connection with federal programs. The court of appeals reversed that conviction because “the Government ha[d] not demonstrated any federal interest” that justified Dr. Doran’s prosecution for a federal crime. Dr. Doran was accused of misappropriating money from the Student Investment Fund, which was legally and financially separate from Florida State and received no federal money at all.
The court clarified that to sustain a conviction under section 666, the government “must prove . . . that the organization which was victimized received federal benefits in excess of $10,000.” The victim here—the Student Investment Fund—concededly received no federal benefits. The court rejected the government’s expansive construction of section 666 and its conflation between Florida State and the Student Investment Fund.
Judge Jill Pryor concurred in the judgment, explaining that, in her view, the government could rely on the federal benefits received by Florida State, but it had failed to prove that Florida State received such benefits with the required specificity.
The King & Spalding team was led by partner Merritt McAlister and associate Billie Pritchard.
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