United States v. Diego Javier Castro Vargas

563 F. App'x 684
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 17, 2014
Docket12-14855
StatusUnpublished

This text of 563 F. App'x 684 (United States v. Diego Javier Castro Vargas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Diego Javier Castro Vargas, 563 F. App'x 684 (11th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Diego Castro Vargas appeals his convictions for conspiracy to structure financial transactions to evade financial reporting requirements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Count 1), and for structuring financial transactions to evade financial reporting requirements, in violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5324(a)(3) (Count 4). On appeal, Castro Vargas challenges his convictions on three grounds. First, he argues that his indict *686 ment was defective, as it did not allege the necessary facts and elements required to support the charges against him. Second, he contends that the district court erred in accepting his guilty plea, as it was not supported by a sufficient factual basis. Third, he argues that his indictment was impermissibly multiplicitous, and that, as the court sentenced him to consecutive sentences, he was effectively punished twice for the same offense, in excess of the applicable statutory maximum. Upon review of the record and consideration of the parties’ briefs, we affirm.

I.

A defendant’s unconditional guilty plea acts as a waiver of all non jurisdictional challenges to his conviction. United States v. Betancourth, 554 F.3d 1329, 1832 (11th Cir.2009). Challenges to the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal courts, however, cannot be waived. Id. Federal district courts have jurisdiction over offenses against the laws of the United States. 18 U.S.C. § 3231. Accordingly, we have held that a defendant’s argument that the indictment against him failed to charge an offense that implicates the district court’s jurisdiction cannot be waived. See United States v. Thompson, 702 F.3d 604, 606 (11th Cir.2012), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 2826, 186 L.Ed.2d 887 (2013) (discussing the effect of an unconditional guilty plea).

Not all defects in an indictment are jurisdictional, however, and should not be treated categorically. See United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 631, 122 S.Ct. 1781, 1785, 152 L.Ed.2d 860 (2002); United States v. McIntosh, 704 F.3d 894, 902 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 134 S.Ct. 470, 187 L.Ed.2d 316 (2013). Indictments that affirmatively allege conduct that does not represent a federal offense contain jurisdictional defects “because Congress’s grant of jurisdiction to the district courts in criminal cases extends only to offenses against the laws of the United States.” McIntosh, 704 F.3d at 902 (internal quotation marks omitted); see 18 U.S.C. § 3231. Omissions in an indictment, however, such as failing to allege an element of an offense, are not jurisdictional errors. See Cotton, 535 U.S. at 630-31, 122 S.Ct. at 1785; see also McIntosh, 704 F.3d at 903 (“An indictment’s relationship to jurisdiction is thus based on whether it alleges conduct constituting a federal offense, not on some intrinsic value of an indictment as such.”).

Castro Vargas waived his challenge to his indictment by virtue of his guilty plea. On appeal, he argues that the indictment was insufficient insofar as Counts 1 and 4 failed to allege the necessary facts and elements required for the charged offenses. As the alleged indictment defect is one of omission — i.e., that the indictment failed to allege the necessary facts and elements of the charged offenses — Castro Vargas has not alleged a jurisdictional error. See Cotton, 535 U.S. at 630-31, 122 S.Ct. at 1785. Accordingly, he has waived his opportunity to challenge his indictment on this ground by virtue of his guilty plea. See Betancourth, 554 F.3d at 1332. 1

II.

As noted, a defendant, by pleading guilty, waives the ability to appeal non jurisdictional defects in his proceedings. Betancourth, 554 F.3d at 1332. Further, *687 we have held that a defendant’s factual-basis challenge presents a non jurisdictional defect and, as such, is waived by a guilty plea. See United States v. Johnson, 89 F.3d 778, 784 (11th Cir.1996) (holding that the defendant’s contention that there was no factual basis for his guilty plea was barred by the plea); United States v. Fairchild, 803 F.2d 1121, 1124 (11th Cir.1986) (per curiam) (holding that the defendant’s claim of an insufficient factual basis to support the indictment was a non jurisdictional defect that was waived by his guilty plea).

Castro Vargas waived, by virtue of his guilty plea, his challenge to the factual basis underlying his plea. Thus, as Castro Vargas’s claim alleging that there was an insufficient factual basis in support of his plea constitutes a nonjurisdictional challenge, it was waived by virtue of his guilty plea. See Johnson, 89 F.3d at 784. 2

III.

The failure to object to multiplicity in the, indictment before trial waives the issue with regard to error in the indictment. United States v. Mastrangelo, 733 F.2d 793, 800 (11th Cir.1984). A failure to object to the indictment, however, -will not bar a defendant from objecting to the imposition of multiple sentences. Id. If a defendant does not object to his multiple sentences below, we review only for plain error. United States v. Frank, 599 F.3d 1221, 1239 (11th Cir.2010).

“An indictment is multiplicitous if it charges a single offense in more than one count.” United States v. Williams, 527 F.3d 1235, 1241 (11th Cir.2008). As a multiplicitous indictment gives the jury more than one opportunity to convict the defendant for the same offense, such an indictment violates double-jeopardy principles. Id.

We “use the Blockburger[ 3 ] test to determine whether an indictment is multiplici-tous, verifying that each count requires an element of proof that the other counts do not require.” Williams, 527 F.3d at 1241.

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Related

United States v. Frank
599 F.3d 1221 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Johnson
89 F.3d 778 (Eleventh Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Jorge Guerra
293 F.3d 1279 (Eleventh Circuit, 2002)
United States v. Williams
527 F.3d 1235 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Betancourth
554 F.3d 1329 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Ternus
598 F.3d 1251 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
Blockburger v. United States
284 U.S. 299 (Supreme Court, 1931)
Ratzlaf v. United States
510 U.S. 135 (Supreme Court, 1994)
United States v. Cotton
535 U.S. 625 (Supreme Court, 2002)
United States v. Dominguez Benitez
542 U.S. 74 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Ralph Leo Fairchild
803 F.2d 1121 (Eleventh Circuit, 1986)
United States v. Rodney Edward Thompson
702 F.3d 604 (Eleventh Circuit, 2012)
United States v. James LeRay McIntosh
704 F.3d 894 (Eleventh Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Lang
732 F.3d 1246 (Eleventh Circuit, 2013)

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563 F. App'x 684, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-diego-javier-castro-vargas-ca11-2014.