The appellant, Kevin Gray, was found guilty of mail fraud. He had attempted to convince a businessman, Frank Patti, who was on trial for tax evasion and faced substantial jail time, that for $85,000 he would bribe the jury, thus avoiding the threat of jail for the businessman. The methods used by the appellant were, however, at times hardly believable. As a result, the appellant seeks a judgment of acquittal on the ground that his fraudulent scheme was “so absurd” that a person of ordinary prudence would not have believed it; the scheme, therefore, fell outside the realm of conduct proscribed by the mail fraud statute.

1. Does the rule of law in mail fraud cases require any particular action or belief on the part of the person being defrauded?
Clue: Study the quote in the next-to-last paragraph of the decision.
2. What ethical norm is being emphasized by the rule of law with respect to mail fraud?
Clue: Look back at the list of alternative ethical norms and make a determination about which of them is being advanced by the rule of law as it applies to mail fraud.