United States v. Foye

36 F. Supp. 2d 329, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20320, 1998 WL 909986
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. West Virginia
DecidedDecember 30, 1998
DocketNo. CRIM.A.2:98-00165-01
StatusPublished

This text of 36 F. Supp. 2d 329 (United States v. Foye) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Foye, 36 F. Supp. 2d 329, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20320, 1998 WL 909986 (S.D.W. Va. 1998).

Opinion

ORDER

GOODWIN, District Judge.

Pending before the Court are the defendant’s motion to suppress the incriminating grand jury testimony of the defendant and motion to dismiss the indictment for violation of the Speedy Trial Act.

For reasons explained more fully below, the motion to suppress the defendant’s grand jury testimony is DENIED as moot and the motion to dismiss the indictment for violation of the Speedy Trial Act is GRANTED. Accordingly, the indictment against the defendant is DISMISSED without prejudice.

I.

Anthony Foye was arrested on May 13, 1998 and charged on May 14, 1998 in a criminal complaint with distribution of cocaine base and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. He appeared before Magistrate Judge Jerry D. Hogg on May 14, 1998 and was soon released on $10,000 bond. Four days after his appearance before the Magistrate Judge, on May 18, 1998, Foye signed a plea agreement with the government in which he agreed to plead guilty to a one-count information charging him with possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and to waive his right to indictment by a grand jury. Nearly one month later, on June 10, 1998, the government filed the one-count information, charging Foye with possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. The information did not contain a charge that Foye had distributed cocaine.

The government did not file a motion to schedule a guilty plea hearing at the time the information was filed or assigned. In fact, the government waited more than a month after the filing of the information and a total of more than sixty days after the defendant’s arrest before finally requesting a guilty plea hearing. The government had not forgotten Foye in the interim, however. Foye was called as a witness before the grand jury on July 28, 1998 and delivered — pursuant to a grant of immunity — very self-incriminating testimony.

The Court received the government’s motion for a guilty plea hearing on July 15,1998 and promptly scheduled a hearing. Foye failed to appear. He was arrested several weeks later in Ohio and transported back to this district.

Despite Foye’s obvious second thoughts, the government continued to pursue Foye’s entry of a guilty plea pursuant to the plea agreement and did not exercise its right to void the agreement. The Court scheduled a second plea hearing on September 21, 1998. At that hearing, Foye informed the Court that he no longer desired to plead guilty, but would nevertheless waive his right to indictment. In response to questioning from the Court, Foye explained that he wanted to waive his right to indictment, alleging that the grand jury was racist. The Court, after full inquiry, rejected both the attempt to waive indictment and the proposed plea agreement.

Two days later, the grand jury returned a two-count indictment that charged Foye with distribution of cocaine base and possession [331]*331with intent to distribute cocaine base. Foye has submitted several pretrial motions, two of which are addressed here.

II.

In Foye’s first motion, he argues that the testimony that he gave before the grand jury should be suppressed at trial because it was covered by the immunity paragraph of his plea agreement.1 The plea agreement entered into between Foye and the United States provides:

Unless this agreement becomes void due to a violation of any of its terms by Mr. Foye, nothing contained in any statement or testimony provided by Mr. Foye pursuant to this agreement, or any evidence developed therefrom, will be used against Mr. Foye, directly or indirectly, in any further criminal prosecutions or in determining the applicable guideline range under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The parties agree that courts are to interpret plea agreements with guidance from the law of contracts. United States v. Martin, 25 F.3d 211, 216-17 (4th Cir.1994). The plea agreement here provides unambiguously that “nothing contained in any statement or testimony provided by Mr. Foye pursuant to this agreement” was to be used against Foye unless the agreement became “void due to a violation of any of its terms by Mr. Foye.” The plea agreement further provides — and the government admitted at the pretrial motions hearing2 — that a mere violation of the terms of the agreement does not void the agreement. Rather, a violation by one party creates the right in the non-violating party to void the agreement. In fact, the government conceded at the pretrial motions hearing that the agreement was not void after Foye failed to appear at the initial guilty plea hearing and was not even void at the onset of the second guilty plea hearing when Foye informed that Court that he no longer wished to plead guilty. Rather, it is the government’s position that the agreement became void as an automatic result of the Court’s decision to reject the defendant’s attempt to waive the right to indictment and the plea agreement.3

[332]*332Turning to the immunity paragraph, the Court concludes, therefore, that the immunity granted to Foye in the plea agreement still binds the United States. That paragraph provides that Foye will enjoy immunity for the statements or testimony that he provided pursuant to the agreement. By its terms, the agreement strips immunity from Foye if the agreement became void due to a violation of its terms by Foye, but does not purport to do so if the agreement became void due to the Court’s act.

Given the concessions offered by the attorney for the government, this Court finds that the agreement here became void as a result of the Court’s refusal to accept the agreement and not as a result of Foye’s violation of its terms. It follows that use of Foye’s grand jury testimony at trial could be in violation of the immunity grant.

At the pretrial motions hearing, the Court asked the parties further whether the indictment was secured by use of Foye’s grand jury testimony. The government advised that the grand jury did have access to the testimony; therefore, the indictment also rests on grounds which are suspect. Further evidentiary hearings would be necessary but for the Court’s decision to dismiss the indictment on other grounds. Because the Court dismisses the indictment below, the Court DENIES the motion as moot.

III.

The Speedy Trial Act (Act) requires that the government file an information or secure an indictment within thirty days of the defendant’s arrest and the filing of formal charges against him. 18 U.S.C. § 3161(b). Foye argues that the Act was violated in two respects. First, Foye argues that the information which the government properly filed within the thirty-day window is insufficient because Foye did not waive his right to indictment. Because the filed information is a valid charging paper only after the Court accepts the defendant’s waiver of indictment, Foye concludes that the government failed to file a proper information or secure an indictment within thirty days of the defendant’s arrest and the filing of formal charges against him as required by the Act.

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Bluebook (online)
36 F. Supp. 2d 329, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20320, 1998 WL 909986, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-foye-wvsd-1998.