United States v. Wright

259 F. App'x 50
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided December 10, 2007·No. No. 06-10553·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Jason Wright, who was indicted for advertisement, distribution, and possession of child pornography, interlocutorily appeals the district court’s protective discovery order entered pursuant to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, Pub.L. No. 109-248, 120 Stat. 587 (effective July 27, 2006) (“the Act”).1 In accor[52] dance with the Act, the district court rejected Wright’s request to obtain mirror copies of the data storage equipment seized from Wright’s residence (“mirror copies”), which, according to the United States, contain child pornography. Instead, the district court entered a protective order requiring Wright’s forensic expert to conduct his examination of the mirror copies in a secure room at the United States Attorney’s Office.

We dismiss the appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction. Because the facts are known to the parties, we revisit them only as necessary.

We have appellate jurisdiction over “all final decisions of the district courts.” 28 U.S.C. § 1291. “A ‘final decision’ generally is one which ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment.” Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233, 65 S.Ct. 631, 89 L.Ed. 911 (1945). Wright does not contend the district court’s protective order was a final decision.

Instead, Wright asserts the protective order is appealable under the collateral order doctrine. The Supreme Court has recognized a “narrow exception” to the final decision requirement under § 1291, known as the collateral order doctrine. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Risjord, 449 U.S. 368, 374-75, 101 S.Ct. 669, 66 L.Ed.2d 571 (1981). Under the collateral order doctrine, this court has jurisdiction over interlocutory appeals of pretrial district court orders that: (1) “conclusively determine the disputed question”; (2) “resolve an important issue completely separate from the merits of the action”; and (3) are “effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment.” Id. at 375, 101 S.Ct. 669 (citation omitted). “Collateral orders are ... limited to those situations where the right asserted is one that must be upheld prior to trial if it is to be enjoyed at all or when the practical effect of the order will be irreparable by any subsequent appeal.” United States v. Griffin, 440 F.3d 1138, 1142 (9th Cir.2006) (citations omitted). “Courts interpret the collateral order doctrine strictly in criminal cases because of the compelling interest in prompt trialsf.]” Id. at 1141 (citation omitted).

This interlocutory appeal does not satisfy the third prong of the collateral order doctrine because the protective order is effectively renewable on appeal from a final judgment. Wright asserts an appeal from the district court’s final judgment would come too late to preserve his constitutional rights and to remedy the violations of the attorney-client privilege and the attorney work-product doctrine. Wright’s contentions are without merit.

Wright asserts the protective order violates his constitutional rights to: (1) effective assistance of counsel, (2) a speedy trial; (3) confront witnesses, and (4) prepare an adequate defense. According to Wright, the violations of these rights are effectively unreviewable after final judgment. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has held that the violations of the right to assistance of counsel and the right to a speedy trial cannot be immediately appealed under the collateral order doctrine. United States v. MacDonald, 435 U.S. 850, [53]*53863, 98 S.Ct. 1547, 56 L.Ed.2d 18 (1978) (speedy trial); Flanagan v. United States, 465 U.S. 259, 266-67, 104 S.Ct. 1051, 79 L.Ed.2d 288 (1984) (assistance of counsel). Thus, we must decide whether the violations of the remaining constitutional rights—the right to prepare a defense and the right to confront witnesses—are effectively reviewable after final judgment.

As a general matter, “reversal of the conviction and ... the provision of a new trial free of prejudicial error normally are adequate means of vindicating the constitutional rights of the accused.” Griffin, 440 F.3d at 1142 (citation omitted). In criminal cases, the Supreme Court has recognized three exceptions to this general rule and held the violations of the following constitutional rights are immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine: (1) the right to pretrial bail; (2) the right not to be placed in double jeopardy; and (3) the right to avoid exposure to questioning as a member of Congress under the Speech or Debate Clause. United States v. Austin, 416 F.3d 1016, 1022 (9th Cir.2005). These three constitutional rights share one fundamental characteristic: the “legal and practical value of [each] would be destroyed if it were not vindicated before trial.” Id. (citation omitted).2

For this court to have jurisdiction over this appeal, the right to prepare a defense or the right to confront witnesses must be analogous to the three constitutional rights whose violations the Supreme Court has held to be immediately appealable. See Flanagan, 465 U.S. at 266-67, 104 S.Ct. 1051. Wright cannot make this showing. Both the right to prepare a defense and the right to confront witnesses are Sixth Amendment rights that ensure the defendant has a fair trial.3 But neither right would be moot if review awaited final judgment, nor do they constitute a right not to stand trial at all. Thus, the practical value of these two rights would not be destroyed if review had to await final judgment.

Wright also contends violations of the attorney-client privilege and the attorney work-product doctrine are not effectively reviewable after final judgment. In support of his contention, Wright relies on our decisions in Griffin, 440 F.3d at 114-42 (allowing an interlocutory appeal of a protective order that required the disclosure of what the defendant asserted were privileged letters), and Bittaker v. Woodford, 331 F.3d 715, 716-18 (9th Cir.2003) (en banc) (allowing an interlocutory appeal of a protective order that precluded the use of privileged materials outside the context of a habeas petition for ineffective assistance of counsel, which petition required the waiver of the attorney-client privilege as to all communications with the allegedly ineffective counsel).

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United States v. Wright, 259 F. App'x 50 (9th Cir. 2007).

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