United States v. James

162 F. Supp. 3d 1201, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19399, 2016 WL 648091
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Alabama
DecidedFebruary 18, 2016
DocketCRIMINAL ACTION NO. 1:15cr512-MHT
StatusPublished

This text of 162 F. Supp. 3d 1201 (United States v. James) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. James, 162 F. Supp. 3d 1201, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19399, 2016 WL 648091 (M.D. Ala. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

Myron H. Thompson, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Defendant William Brian James has been charged, as relevant here, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2262(a)(1) with interstate violation of an Alabama protection order. This case is now before the court on defendant James’s motion for a pretrial determination regarding his contention that the protection order underlying this charge cannot support a conviction because it was issued by a process that fails to comply with constitutional due process require[1202]*1202ments, and because it would not be entitled to full faith and credit in another jurisdiction. The court holds that a protection order underlying a § 2262(a)(1) prosecution is not subject to collateral attack on constitutional grounds and that a protection order can support a conviction under this provision even when it would not be entitled to full faith and credit.

I. BACKGROUND

As a magistrate judge previously found in a related case involving the same protection order at issue here,1 the order was entered ex parte by an Alabama state-court judge. James was served with the ex parte protection order while still present in Alabama. By the time he received notice of a hearing, however, he had reported to an off-shore work assignment from which it was not feasible to return in time to attend. The hearing was conducted in James’s absence but in the presence of his counsel; the state-court judge extended the ex parte protection order he had previously entered, rather than entering a new order, and transferred the matter to domestic court, consolidating it for further adjudication with a pending divorce petition. Thus, the ex parte order that had been issued before the hearing remained operative afterwards — namely, at the time James allegedly violated it.

II. ANALYSIS

James initially moved for a determination that the validity of the underlying protection order is an element of the offense that the government must prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. However, in light of the contrary conclusion of the only court of appeals to reach the issue, see United States v. Casciano, 124 F.3d 106, 111 (2d Cir.1997), he has since conceded that the validity of the protection order at issue here is for the court to decide.

James continues to argue, though, that the protection order involved here cannot support a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 2262(a)(1) because the process by which it was issued did not meet federal constitutional due process requirements, and because the order would not be entitled to full faith and credit in another jurisdiction. The government, for its part, contends that a protection order underlying a § 2262(a)(1) prosecution need only be valid in the sense that it must be enforceable under the laws of the State in which it was issued.2 For the reasons that follow, the court agrees with the government.

A. Constitutional Due Process

James primarily argues that because the protection order he allegedly crossed state lines to violate was issued ex parte, and because he did not have a meaningful opportunity to contest it in court (because he was off-shore by the time he received notice of the hearing), it would violate his federal constitutional due process rights to allow the protection order to form the predicate to a conviction.3

[1203]*1203The Supreme Court has upheld federal criminal statutes which penalize activity by persons subject to underlying criminal convictions “despite the fact that the predicate felony may be subject to collateral attack on constitutional grounds.” Lewis v. United States, 445 U.S. 55, 65, 100 S.Ct. 915, 63 L.Ed.2d 198 (1980). In Lewis, a defendant challenged his conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm on the ground that he had not been represented by counsel when he was convicted of the underlying felony; he argued that permitting his uncounseled state conviction to form the predicate for a federal prosecution violated his Fifth and Sixth Amendment Rights. Id. at 57-58, 100 S.Ct. 915. The Court upheld the conviction, explaining that it was constitutional for Congress to conclude that “any felony conviction, even an. allegedly invalid one, is a sufficient basis on which to prohibit possession of a firearm[,]” id. at 66, 100 S.Ct. 915, and observing that “[t]he federal gun laws ... focus not on reliability, but on the mere fact of conviction, or even indictment, in order to keep firearms away from potentially dangerous persons!,]” id. at 67, 100 S.Ct. 915. According to Leiois, then, whether a predicate offense — or by extension, criminal or civil court order — is subject to collateral attack during a subsequent criminal prosecution is merely a question of legislative intent. See id. at 60-65,100 S.Ct. 915; see also United States v. Bailey, 115 F.3d 1222, 1232 (5th Cir.1997) (construing the Child Support Recovery Act, 18 U.S.C. § 228, which makes it a federal crime to “willfully fail[ ] to pay a past due support obligation with respect to a child who resides in another state,” as not “allowing the federal court to look beyond the four corners of the state child support order or permitting the defendant to collaterally attack the state court order in federal court[,]” simply because “there is no language in the [Act]” to that effect).

Here, Congress’s intent is clear from the plain text of the statute: 18 U.S.C. § 2266(5) states that “[t]he term ‘protection order’ includes any injunction, restraining order, or any other order issued by a civil or criminal court for the purpose of preventing violent or threatening acts or harassment against, sexual violence, or contact or communication with or physical proximity to, another person, including any temporary or final order issued by a civil or criminal court whether obtained by filing an independent action or as a pendent lite order in another proceeding so long as any civil or criminal order was issued in response to a complaint, petition, or motion filed by or on behalf of a person seeking protection!.]” The ex parte order issued by the state court in this case clearly falls within the broad scope of this term.

Moreover, the contrast between this statutory provision and 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) — pursuant to which James was charged for possessing a firearm while being subject to the protection order — is itself instructive. The § 922(g)(8) charge against James was dismissed on the recommendation of the magistrate judge, based on his finding that this protection order was not — as § 922(g)(8)(A) requires — “issued after a hearing of which [the defendant] received actual notice, and at which [he] had an opportunity to participate.” See

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Related

Lewis v. United States
445 U.S. 55 (Supreme Court, 1980)
United States v. Keith Douglas Bailey
115 F.3d 1222 (Fifth Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Michael A. Casciano
124 F.3d 106 (Second Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Casciano
927 F. Supp. 54 (N.D. New York, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
162 F. Supp. 3d 1201, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19399, 2016 WL 648091, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-james-almd-2016.