United States v. Romero

967 F.2d 63, 1992 WL 133334
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided June 12, 1992·No. No. 1603, Docket 92-1153·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

MESKILL, Circuit Judge:

This is an expedited appeal from a decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Patterson, J., 786 F.Supp. 1173, denying appellant’s motion to dismiss certain counts of a criminal indictment as barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment and by a prior plea agreement between appellant and federal prosecutors. Because the indictment does not constitute prosecution for the same offense as that to which appellant had previously pled guilty and because the prior plea agreement does not encompass the present indictment, we affirm the decision of the district court to deny the motion to dismiss.

BACKGROUND

In 1987 Eugene Romero entered a guilty plea in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Parker, J. pursuant to an agreement between himself and the offices of the United States Attorneys for the District of Columbia and the Southern District of New York. That agreement provided that Romero would plead guilty to one count from each of two indictments then pending against him. In connection with the District of Columbia indictment (the D.C. indictment), Romero pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 100 grams of heroin on April 21, 1987. In connection with the Southern District of [65]*65New York indictment (the 1987 New York indictment), Romero pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1). The RICO conspiracy count of the 1987 New York indictment alleged a conspiracy to engage in racketeering acts beginning in 1980 and continuing through the date of the indictment. Romero was named in two of the twenty-nine racketeering acts alleged in that indictment. The first involved the murder of a man named Norman Bannister and the second concerned a conspiracy with nineteen other individuals to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin. After pleading guilty, Romero was sentenced and the remaining counts against him in each indictment were dismissed.

In 1991, Romero was again indicted in the Southern District of New York. That four count indictment (the 1991 Indictment) forms the basis for this appeal. Count One alleges that, beginning in late 1979, Romero conspired with others to violate federal narcotics laws. Seventeen of the thirty-five overt acts alleged to have been taken in furtherance of the conspiracy pre-date the 1987 plea agreement. Although none of the specific overt acts alleged in the 1991 indictment is identical to those alleged in the 1987 New York indictment, many of the same people are named in both indictments and are alleged to have engaged in similar conduct. Count Four of the 1991 indictment alleges that from 1979 until the date of the indictment, Romero engaged in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(a). That count incorporates by reference the factual allegations contained in Count One. The other counts of the instant indictment do not concern us on this appéal.

Romero moved in the district court to dismiss Count One and Count Four of the 1991 indictment on the grounds that they violated the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition against twice putting any person in jeopardy for the same offense and because the government was estopped from bringing those counts by virtue of the 1987 plea agreement. The government submitted a superseding indictment which clarified that, with regard to Count One, the narcotics conspiracy count, Romero could be convicted only for his conduct that occurred after the date of the 1987 plea agreement. The district court announced that it would instruct the jury to that effect.

The district court held that the superseding indictment violated neither the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment nor the 1987 plea agreement between the government and Romero. The district court thus refused to dismiss the indictment. Romero now appeals, arguing that Count One, as currently drafted, violates the Double Jeopardy Clause and that both Counts One and Four, as currently drafted, are contrary to the terms of the 1987 plea agreement. Romero does not argue on appeal that Count Four is barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause.

, On May 14, 1992 we affirmed Judge Patterson’s decision by summary order, stating that an opinion would follow.

DISCUSSION

1. Appellate Jurisdiction

We first address briefly our jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal. Federal Courts of Appeals are generally limited to hearing appeals only from “final decisions” of the district courts. 28 U.S.C. § 1291. However, because the Double Jeopardy Clause protects the right of an individual to be free from a second prosecution, rather than simply a second conviction, for the same offense, the Supreme Court has held that an appeal will lie from a pre-trial order denying a motion to dismiss an indictment on double jeopardy grounds. Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 656-62, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 2038-41, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977). Similarly, at least in this Circuit, an order denying a colorable claim to dismiss an indictment for violation of a prior plea agreement may properly be appealed prior to a final judgment on the entire criminal case in the district court. United States v. Abbamonte, 759 F.2d 1065, 1071 (2d Cir.1985). But see United States v. Dederich, 825 F.2d 1317, 1321 (9th Cir.1987) (“[T]he majority of courts [66]*66have denied interlocutory appeals grounded in plea-bargain promises.”) (collecting cases). This appeal, therefore, is appropriately before us.

2. Double Jeopardy

The Fifth Amendment provides: “[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” In arguing that Count One of the instant indictment is barred by this provision, Romero relies heavily on Grady v. Corbin, 495 U.S. 508, 110 S.Ct. 2084, 109 L.Ed.2d 548 (1990), in which the Supreme Court announced that “the Double Jeopardy Clause bars any subsequent prosecution in which the government, to establish an essential element of an offense charged in that prosecution, will prove conduct that constitutes an offense for which the defendant has already been prosecuted.” Id. at 521, 110 S.Ct. at 2093 (footnote omitted). Romero contends that the pre-plea conduct alleged in Count One of the indictment is the same conduct to which he pleaded guilty in 1987. He argues that, although the specific acts alleged to demonstrate the existence of the conspiracy may be different in the two indictments, the conspiracy itself is the same. Romero asserts that because the government plans to use this pre-plea conduct to prove an essential element of the offense, the fact that there was a conspiracy, the prosecution is barred.

In Grady,

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United States v. Romero, 967 F.2d 63, 1992 WL 133334 (2d Cir. 1992).

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