FI L ED

U.S. COURT OF APPEAL S

EL EVENTH CI RCUI T

Nov. 30, 2009

THOMAS K. KAH

N

CL ERK [ D O N O T P U B L I S H ]

I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S C O U R T O F A P P E A L S

F O R T H E E L E V E N T H C I R C U I T

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

N o

. 0 8

- 1 1 2 2 9

N o n

- A r g u m e n t C a l e n d a r

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

D

. C

. D o c k e t N o s

. 0 6

- 1 4 3 2 5

- C V

- D L G

0 3

- 1 4 0 1 0 C R

- D L G

R O M A N C

. M E S I N A

,

P e t i t i o n e r

- A p p e l l a n t

,

v e r s u s

U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A

,

R e s p o n d e n t

- A p p e l l e e

.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A p p e a l f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t

f o r t h e S o u t h e r n D i s t r i c t o f F l o r i d a

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

( N o v e m b e r 3 0

, 2 0 0 9 )

B e f o r e E D M O N D S O N

, M A R C U S a n d A N D E R S O N

, C i r c u i t J u d g e s

.

P E R C U R I A M :D e f

e n d a n t

- A p p e l l a n t R o m a n M e s i n a a p p e a l s t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t ’ s d e n i a l o f h i s

m o t i o n

, u n d e r 2 8 U

. S

. C

. § 2 2 5 5

, t o v a c a t e h i s c o n v i c t i o n f o r l a c k o f j u r i s d i c t i o n

.

P u r s u a n t t o a p l e a o f g u i l t y

, M e s i n a w a s c o n v i c t e d f o r c o n s p i r a c y t o c o m m i t

m o n e y l a u n d e r i n g u n d e r 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 1 9 5 6

. N o r e v e r s i b l e e r r o r h a s b e e n s h o w n ;

w e a f f i r m

.

M e s i n a c h a l l e n g e s h i s t r i a l c o u r t ’ s j u r i s d i c t i o n i n t h r e e p a r t s : ( 1 ) t h e

i n d i c t m e n t d i d n o t c o r r e c t l y a l l e g e f i n a n c i a l t r a n s a c t i o n

, ( 2 ) t h e i n d i c t m e n t d i d n o t

a l l e g e a p r o p e r s p e c i f

i e d u n l a w f

u l a c t i v i t y

, a n d ( 3 ) t h e i n d i c t m e n t d i d n o t a l l e g e

t h a t t h e p r o c e e d s w e r e f r o m t h e u n l a w f

u l a c t i v i t y

. T h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t r u l e d t h a t t h e

i n d i c t m e n t w a s p r o p e r a n d t h a t j u r i s d i c t i o n e x i s t e d

.

T h i s c o u r t r e v i e w s j u r i s d i c t i o n a l i s s u e s d e n o v o

. U

. S

. v

. W e i s s

, 4 6 7 F

. 3 d

1 3 0 0

, 1 3 0 7 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 2 0 0 6 )

.

I n e x a m i n i n g a n i n d i c t m e n t

, c o u r t s n o l o n g e r l o o k f o r f o r m a l r i g i d i t y

. “ A s a

g e n e r a l r u l e

, p r a c t i c a l

, r a t h e r t h a n t e c h n i c a l

, c o n s i d e r a t i o n s g o v e r n t h e v a l i d i t y o f

a n i n d i c t m e n t

. ” U n i t e d S t a t e s v

. S e h e r

, 5 6 2 F

. 3 d 1 3 4 4

, 1 3 5 6 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 2 0 0 9 )

. I n

a d d i t i o n

, w h e n “ t h e d e f e n d a n t c h a l l e n g e s t h e i n d i c t m e n t a f t e r t h e g o v e r n m e n t ’ s

c a s e h a s e n d e d

, t h e i n d i c t m e n t s h o u l d b e c o n s t r u e d i n a l i b e r a l m a n n e r i n f a v o r o f

v a l i d i t y

. ” I d

.

T h e g o v e r n m e n t c h a r g e d M e s i n a w i t h l a u n d e r i n g m o n e y

. T h e i n d i c t m e n t

2t r a c k s t h e s t a t u t o r y l a n g u a g e o f 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 1 9 5 6 ( a ) ( 3 ) ( B ) a n d ( h )

. T h i s a p p r o a c h 1

i s g e n e r a l l y s u f

f i c i e n t t o g r a n t a c o u r t j u r i s d i c t i o n

. U n i t e d S t a t e s v

. A d k i n s o n

, 1 3 5

F

. 3 d 1 3 6 3

, 1 3 7 5 n

. 3 7 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 1 9 9 8 )

. M e s i n a b e l i e v e s t h a t h i s c a s e i s a n

e x c e p t i o n t o t h i s r u l e

. H e d o e s n o t a c t u a l l y c l a i m t h a t a n e l e m e n t i s m i s s i n g ; h e

c l a i m s t h a t t h r e e e l e m e n t s w e r e s t a t e d i n s u f f i c i e n t l y : w h a t f

i n a n c i a l t r a n s a c t i o n w a s

c h a r g e d

, w h e t h e r t h e u n l a w f u l a c t i v i t y w a s a s p e c i f

i e d u n l a w f

u l a c t i v i t y

, a n d

w h e t h e r t h e p r o c e e d s w e r e f r o m t h e a l l e g e d u n l a w f

u l a c t i v i t y

.

M e s i n a c l a i m s t h a t t h e i n d i c t m e n t i s f l a w e d b e c a u s e i t d i d n o t s p e c i f y w h i c h

f i n a n c i a l t r a n s a c t i o n v i o l a t e d t h e l a w

. T h i s a s s e r t i o n i s w r o n g a s a m a t t e r o f l a w

.

M e s i n a c i t e s

, a m o n g o t h e r c a s e s

, U n i t e d S t a t e s v

. B a l l i n g e r

, 3 9 5 F

. 3 d 1 2 1 8 ( 1 1 t h

C i r

. 2 0 0 5 ) ( e n b a n c )

, f

o r t h e p r o p o s i t i o n t h a t a “ f i n a n c i a l t r a n s a c t i o n ” i s a

j u r i s d i c t i o n a l h o o k t h a t m u s t b e p l e a d e d m o r e s p e c i f i c a l l y t h a n t h e s t a t u t o r y

l a n g u a g e

. I n B a l l i n g e r

, t h i s c o u r t w a s d i s c u s s i n g t h e c o n s t i t u t i o n a l i t y o f t h e m o n e y

l a u n d e r i n g s t a t u t e u n d e r t h e C o m m e r c e C l a u s e

, a n d n o t t h e s u f f i c i e n c y o f a n

i n d i c t m e n t ; s o t h e c a s e d o e s n o t a p p l y h e r e

. M e s i n a a l s o c i t e s U n i t e d S t a t e s v

.

The sec tions read this way : (a)( 3)(B ): “Whoever , with the intent . . . to concea l or 1

disguise the nature , location, source , owner ship, or control of pr operty believed to be the

proce eds of spe cified unla wful ac tivity . . . conducts or attempts to conduct a financ ial

transac tion involvi ng proper ty repr esente d to be the proc eeds of specifie d unlawful a ctivity , or

proper ty used to conduc t or fac ilitate specified unla wful ac tivity , shall be fined unde r this titl e or

imprisoned for not more than 20 y ear s, or both. For purposes of this par ag raph a nd para g raph

(2), the te rm “re prese nted” mea ns any repr esenta tion made by

a law e nforc ement off

icer or by

another person a t the direc tion of, or with the appr oval of, a Fe dera l official a

uthorized to

investiga te or prose cute violations of this section. ”; (h) : Any person who c onspires to commit

any offe nse def

ined in this section or section 1957 shall be subjec t to the same pena lties as those

presc ribed for

the offe nse the c ommissi on of which w as the objec t of the conspira cy

.

3G o o d w i n

, 1 4 1 F

. 3 d 3 9 4 ( 2 n d C i r

. 1 9 9 7 )

. I n G o o d w i n

, t h e S e c o n d C i r c u i t

c o n c l u d e d t h a t l a u n d e r i n g t h e p r o c e e d s o f a d r u g t r a n s a c t i o n

– t h e e x a c t c h a r g e i n

M e s i n a ’ s c a s e

– s a t i s f

i e d t h e i n t e r s t a t e c o m m e r c e r e q u i r e m e n t w i t h o u t f u r t h e r

s p e c i f i c a t i o n i n t h e i n d i c t m e n t

. I d

. A t 4 0 0

.

M e s i n a a l s o a l l e g e s t h a t t h e i n d i c t m e n t f a i l s t o s t a t e a s p e c i f

i e d u n l a w f

u l

a c t i v i t y

. T h e s t a t u t e r e q u i r e s t h a t t h e m o n e y l a u n d e r e d b e t h e r e s u l t s o f c e r t a i n

u n l a w f u l a c t i v i t i e s

. T h e t r i a l c o u r t d e t e r m i n e d t h a t d r u g t r a f f i c k i n g w a s t h e

u n l a w f u l a c t i v i t y

, a n d t h a t i t w a s a n u n l a w f u l a c t i v i t y c o v e r e d b y t h e s t a t u t e

. T h e

s t a t u t e e x p l i c i t l y l i s t s “ t h e m a n u f a c t u r e

, i m p o r t a t i o n

, s a l e

, o r d i s t r i b u t i o n o f a

c o n t r o l l e d s u b s t a n c e

. ” 1 8 U

. S

. C

. § 1 9 5 6 ( c ) ( 7 ) ( A )

. M e s i n a c l a i m s t h a t w h a t t h e

l a n g u a g e o f t h e s t a t u t e d e s c r i b e s a n d d r u g t r a f f i c k i n g a r e n o t t h e s a m e

. B u t d r u g

t r a f f i c k i n g i s c o v e r e d b y t h e e x p l i c i t w o r d s o f t h e s t a t u t e

.

M e s i n a f i n a l l y a l l e g e s t h a t t h e i n d i c t m e n t f a i l s t o c h a r g e a n o f

f e n s e

. M o s t o f

t h i s c o n t e n t i o n i s a r e s t a t e m e n t o f h i s p r e v i o u s t w o a r g u m e n t s

. M e s i n a w a i v e d a n y

a r g u m e n t o n t h e i n d i c t m e n t ’ s f a i l u r e t o s t a t e t h e p r o c e e d s o r p r o p e r t y o f t h e

s p e c i f i e d u n l a w f

u l a c t i v i t y b y f

a i l i n g t o r a i s e t h e i s s u e s b e f o r e t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t

.

H e w a s f u l l y o n n o t i c e o f w h a t s t a t u t e h e w a s c h a r g e d u n d e r a n d w h a t a c t i v i t i e s

f e l l u n d e r t h a t s t a t u t e

. T h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t h a d j u r i s d i c t i o n

.

A F F I R M E D

.

4