Judge Robert Patterson
Barrie conspired with Magassouba and Conde to obtain money from banks by altering, counterfeiting and stealing checks, and by fraudulently transferring funds from a credit card account to one for their own use. Convicted under an eight-count indictment charging conspiracy to commit bank fraud, six counts of substantive bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft, Barrie was sentenced to 41 months in prison on the conspiracy count and each bank fraud count. He also was sentenced to a consecutive 24-month term on the aggravated identity theft count, and ordered to pay $50,409 in restitution. District court denied Barrie sentence’s vacatur under 28 USC §2255, rejecting his claims appellate counsel’s ineffectiveness for failing to challenge the sufficiency of evidence supporting his conviction for aggravated identity theft. The court also rejected Barrie’s claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to inform him of the elements for aggravated identity theft, failing to object to purported hearsay evidence by a bank’s fraud investigator, and by failing to object to alleged violations of the Speedy Trial Act. The court found that any objections to the fraud investigator’s expert testimony would have been overruled.
