United States v. Decator

897 F. Supp. 245, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13926, 1995 WL 562257
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedSeptember 19, 1995
DocketCrim. No. K-95-0202
StatusPublished

This text of 897 F. Supp. 245 (United States v. Decator) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Decator, 897 F. Supp. 245, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13926, 1995 WL 562257 (D. Md. 1995).

Opinion

FRANK A. KAUFMAN, Senior District Judge.

Defendants Kittrell Bernard Decator (“De-cator”) and Craig Lamont Scott (“Scott”) have been indicted for one count of bank robbery, one count of attempted bank robbery, one count of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, and two counts of using and carrying a firearm in the course of a violent crime.1 Defendants have noticed appeal from this Court’s denial of their motions to dismiss, and they contend that this Court must await disposition of their appeal before commencing trial. For the following reasons, defendant’s contentions are not persuasive, and this Court retains jurisdiction to proceed with trial as scheduled.

The factual background of this case is as follows: Defendants Decator, Scott and Jonathan Mark Jones2 originally were indicted on July 12,1994 by a United States Grand Jury for the District of Maryland. At that time each defendant was charged with two counts of bank robbery (allegedly committed on September 21, 1993 and June 8, 1994), one count of attempted bank robbery (allegedly committed on June 6, 1994), one count of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, and three counts of using and carrying firearms in the course of a violent crime. Defendants Decator and Scott both moved to sever certain of the counts and/or defendants for separate trial,3 and the government agreed to a partial severance. At the trial of defendants Decator and Scott, the government prosecuted only the two counts arising out of the June 8,1994 robbery.4 In the course of that trial of the non-severed charges, the government moved, pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 48(a), to dismiss without prejudice the remaining five, severed charges — the conspiracy count and the counts related to the September 21, 1993 robbery and the June 6, 1994 attempted robbery. In a hearing on the said motion to dismiss, government counsel told this Court: “I am not in a position at this time to put those cases in front of a jury.”5 This Court granted the government’s motion, requiring, however, that the government would decide by March 15, 1995 whether to seek reindictment. Defendants Decator and Scott were subsequently convicted of the June 8, 1995 bank robbery and of using and carrying a firearm in the course of that robbery, and each was sentenced to 147 months in prison.

On March 15, 1995, the government filed an ex parte motion to extend the deadline until May 5, 1995 for seeking a new indictment. On March 16, 1995, this Court granted that motion. On May 4, 1995, a Grand Jury for the District of Maryland issued a new indictment, which charged defendants Decator and Scott and defendant Keith E. [247]*247Bryant6 with the September 23, 1993 robbery, the June 6,1994 attempt, related weapons charges, and conspiracy to commit bank robbery. The charges are virtually identical to those previously dismissed without prejudice.

Trial with regard to the aforementioned May 4, 1995 indictment is scheduled to commence October 2, 1995 for defendant Scott and in November, 1995 for defendant Decator. Defendant Decator and defendant Scott have filed motions to dismiss the indictment, including a motion to dismiss on the grounds of violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause. After an on-the-record hearing on August 24, 1995, this Court denied those motions, and defendants Decator and Scott thereafter filed notices of appeal from this Court’s said denial. In subsequent, on-the-record conferences with this Court, counsel for defendants Decator and Scott have stated their contention that this Court must await disposition of their appeal before commencing trial.

I

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, the federal courts of appeal have appellate jurisdiction “from all final decisions of the district courts of the United States.” “Finality of judgment has been required as a predicate for federal appellate jurisdiction.” Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 656, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 2038, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977). “Adherence to this rule of finality has been particularly stringent in criminal prosecutions because ‘the delays and disruptions attendant upon intermediate appeal,’ which the rule is designed to avoid, ‘are especially inimical to the effective and fair administration of the criminal law.’ ” Id. at 657, 97 S.Ct. at 2039 (quoting DiBella v. United States, 369 U.S. 121, 126, 82 S.Ct. 654, 658, 7 L.Ed.2d 614 (1962)).

Courts have established a few, limited exceptions to this rule of finality. In Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949), the Supreme Court first announced the “collateral order” exception. Writing for the Court, Justice Jackson said that appellate review was proper in the “small class” of cases “which finally determine claims of rights separable from, and collateral to, rights asserted in the action, too important to be denied review and too independent of the cause itself to require that appellate consideration be deferred until the whole case is adjudicated.” Id. at 546, 69 S.Ct. at 1226.

Since Cohen, courts have applied the “collateral order” exception in a few, limited contexts. As defendants correctly note,7 one such context is double jeopardy. The Supreme Court has said that a pretrial order denying a motion to dismiss an indictment on double jeopardy grounds falls within the Cohen exception and thus is immediately ap-pealable. Abney, 431 U.S. at 659, 97 S.Ct. at 2040.

Later decisions, however, have consistently said that where a double jeopardy claim is frivolous, the district court retains jurisdiction over the case. United States v. Leppo, 634 F.2d 101, 104-05 (3rd Cir.1980); United States v. Dunbar, 611 F.2d 985, 988 (5th Cir.1980); U.S. v. LaMere, 951 F.2d 1106, 1108-09 (9th Cir.1991); U.S. v. Millan, 4 F.3d 1038, 1044 (2nd Cir.1993), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 1375, 128 L.Ed.2d 51 (1994); U.S. v. Brown, 926 F.2d 779, 781 (8th Cir.1991); U.S. v. Farmer, 923 F.2d 1557, 1565 (11th Cir.1991).8 While the Fourth Circuit has not explicitly said that district courts retain jurisdiction in such cases, it has cited two of the above cases with seeming approval. United States v. Head, 697 F.2d 1200, 1204 n. 4 (4th Cir.1982) (citing Leppo and Dunbar), cert. denied,

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Bluebook (online)
897 F. Supp. 245, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13926, 1995 WL 562257, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-decator-mdd-1995.