United States v. Gilley

689 F. Supp. 1078, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7501, 1988 WL 75070
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedMay 6, 1988
DocketNo. TCR 87-04052-WS
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 689 F. Supp. 1078 (United States v. Gilley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Gilley, 689 F. Supp. 1078, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7501, 1988 WL 75070 (N.D. Fla. 1988).

Opinion

ORDER

STAFFORD, Chief Judge.

The above-styled cause is before this court upon defendant’s motion for new trial, motion for arrest of judgment and supplemental memorandum. See, documents [1079]*107950, 51, and 59. The government has responded to the defendant’s motions and objects to the relief requested therein. See, document 53. On April 29, 1988 this court heard oral argument on Mr. Gilley’s motion for arrest of judgment and denied the motion ore tenus. This order is entered to explain the reasons for this court’s ruling.

At the outset, this court notes that the government argues that defendant’s motion under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 34 is untimely, and that, in ruling on the motion, this court’s inquiry is restricted to the “record” consisting of the indictment, the plea and the verdict. This court concludes that whether Mr. Gilley’s motion is treated as a timely-filed Rule 34 motion or a timely-filed motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(2), and whether this court’s attention is restricted to the record, or this court should peruse all of the evidence and arguments presented, the defendant is not entitled to a dismissal of the indictment based on prosecutorial vindictiveness.

The basis of Mr. Gilley’s motion for arrest of judgment is his contention that the state and federal prosecuting authorities involved in this case decided to enter a nolle prosequi in the state case and instead prosecute him federally for the same criminal acts, in order to punish him for exercising his procedural right to file a motion to suppress in state court. The “punishment” is this: if convicted in state court, Mr. Gilley would have served approximately 19 months of a 3 year sentence. Based on his conviction in this court, he faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years. The defendant’s underlying premise cannot be doubted: “To punish a person because he has done what the law plainly allows him to do is a due process violation of the most basic sort.” United States v. Goodwin, 457 U.S. 368, 372, 102 S.Ct. 2485, 2488, 73 L.Ed.2d 74, 80 (1982). See also, Goodwin, 457 U.S. at 381, 102 S.Ct. at 2492, 73 L.Ed.2d at 85 (arguably recognizing the filing of a motion to suppress as a “procedural right”).

In a series of opinions starting with North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969) and including Blackledge v. Perry, 417 U.S. 21, 94 S.Ct. 2098, 40 L.Ed.2d 628 (1974), Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357, 98 S.Ct. 663, 54 L.Ed.2d 604 (1978) and United States v. Goodwin, supra, the Supreme Court has enunciated the reasons for its rulings on prosecutorial vindictiveness claims. “[T]he Due Process Clause is not offended by all possibilities of increased punishment upon retrial after appeal, but only by those that pose a realistic likelihood of vindictiveness.” Perry, supra, 417 U.S. at 27, 94 S.Ct. at 2102, 40 L.Ed.2d at 634. Evidence that the prosecutor acted in bad faith or with malice is not required, for a defendant should be free of the apprehension of vindictiveness or retaliatory behavior.

In United States v. Taylor, 749 F.2d 1511, 1513 (11th Cir.1985), the Eleventh Circuit sets out its interpretation of the pertinent Supreme Court cases:

Whenever, following a defendant’s appeal, a prosecutor brings a charge carrying a potentially greater sentence than the original charge, vindictiveness is presumed, provided that the circumstances demonstrate either actual vindictiveness or a realistic fear of vindictiveness. The government may rebut this presumption of vindictiveness by offering “objective proof which explains or justifies the prosecutor’s decision.” (citations omitted)

See also, United States v. Spence, 719 F.2d 358, 361 (11th Cir.1983) and Hardwick v. Doolittle, 558 F.2d 292, 299 (5th Cir.1977).

Of course,- Mr. Gilley’s case does not exactly fit the scenario discussed in Perry and in Spence, supra, because the federal indictment challenged in this case was not brought after his successful appeal of the state court conviction. Indeed, the factual scenario presented here does not quite fit the typical pretrial vindictiveness claim either, wherein the defendant challenges the prosecutor’s decision to “up the ante” against him by filing new charges after he has taken some step in his defense. See, e.g., United States v. Chagra, 669 F.2d [1080]*1080241, 248 (5th Cir.1982); and United States v. Mays, 738 F.2d 1188, 1189 (11th Cir.1984).

Interestingly, in United States v. Goodwin, supra, 457 U.S. 368, 102 S.Ct. 2485, 73 L.Ed.2d 74, the Supreme Court found that prosecutorial vindictiveness was more likely and application of a presumption of vindictiveness therefore more justifiable, in a charging decision made after trial, rather than before trial.

In the course of preparing a case for trial, the prosecutor may uncover additional information that suggests a basis for further prosecution or he simply may come to realize that information possessed by the State has a broader significance. At this stage of the proceedings, the prosecutor’s assessment of the proper extent of prosecution may not have crystallized. In contrast, once a trial begins — and certainly by the time a conviction has been obtained — it is much more likely that the State has discovered and assessed all of the information against' an accused and has made a determination, on the basis of that information, of the extent to which he should be prosecuted. Goodwin, 457 U.S. at 381, 102 S.Ct. at 2492-93, 73 L.Ed.2d at 85.

At the hearing on defendant’s motion, counsel admitted that he could not find one case in which a defendant raised a vindictiveness claim based on the pretrial filing of new criminal charges by a new prosecutor representing a different sovereign. After a somewhat exhaustive search, this court found several cases in which vindictive prosecution claims were raised in the context of prosecutions by two sovereigns. In United States v. Burt, 619 F.2d 831 (9th Cir.1980), the defendants were charged in state court with conspiracy to violate the drug laws. Defendant Dennis, also charged with possession, successfully moved to suppress evidence seized during a house search. The prosecutor then dismissed the possession charge.

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Related

United States v. Gilley
874 F.2d 819 (Eleventh Circuit, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
689 F. Supp. 1078, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7501, 1988 WL 75070, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gilley-flnd-1988.