Opinion ID: 466323
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidentiary Hearing on Motion to Dismiss.

Text: 16 Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure permits any defense which is capable of determination without the trial of the general issue to be raised by pretrial motion. The motion must be decided before trial unless the court, for good cause, orders that it be deferred for determination at the trial of the general issue or until after verdict, but no such determination shall be deferred if a party's right to appeal is adversely affected. Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(e). SAC argues that this language required the district court to hold an evidentiary hearing on the issue of whether government informant Wilson intended his SAC prepared return to be his true return. Presumably, SAC further contends that the issue should have been decided before trial. 17 A pretrial motion is generally capable of determination before trial if it involves questions of law rather than fact. United States v. Korn, 5 Cir., 1977, 557 F.2d 1089, 1090; United States v. Jones, 6 Cir., 1976, 542 F.2d 661, 664; United States v. Miller, 5 Cir., 1974, 491 F.2d 638, 647. However, a district court may make preliminary findings of fact necessary to decide the questions of law presented by pre-trial motions so long as the court's findings on the motion do not invade the province of the ultimate finder of fact. Jones, 542 F.2d at 664 (footnote omitted). See United States v. Coia, 11 Cir., 1983, 719 F.2d 1120, 1123. As the ultimate finder of fact is concerned with the general issue of guilt, a motion requiring factual determinations may be decided before trial if trial of the facts surrounding the commission of the alleged offense would be of no assistance in determining the validity of the defense. United States v. Covington, 1969, 395 U.S. 57, 60, 89 S.Ct. 1559, 1561, 23 L.Ed.2d 94 . See 8 Moore's p 12.04 at 12-39 (1985). 18 Under this standard, the district court must decide the issue raised in the pretrial motion before trial if it is entirely segregable from the evidence to be presented at trial. United States v. Barletta, 1 Cir., 1981, 644 F.2d 50, 57-58. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(e); Jones, 542 F.2d at 664-65. If the pretrial claim is substantially founded upon and intertwined with evidence concerning the alleged offense, the motion falls within the province of the ultimate finder of fact and must be deferred. United States v. Williams, 2 Cir., 1981, 644 F.2d 950, 952-53. See Barletta, 644 F.2d at 58. Finally, if an issue raised in a pretrial motion is not entirely segregable from the evidence to be presented at trial, but also does not require review of a substantial portion of that evidence, the district court has discretion to defer decision on the motion. Barletta, 644 F.2d at 58. See Notes of Advisory Committee on Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(4). 19 In this case, SAC's pretrial motion to dismiss raised both a question of fact and a question of law: (1) whether Wilson intended his SAC-prepared return to be his true return for 1981; and (2) whether such intent was required for SAC to be convicted under Sec. 7206(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. Determination of Wilson's intent would have required, among other things, review of Wilson's understanding with the IRS, his participation with SAC in preparing his return, and the handling of the return after SAC returned it to him. While evidence of these matters was not substantially founded upon and intertwined with evidence concerning the charges of making and subscribing false tax returns, there was certainly some overlap that prevented the issue from being entirely segregable from the evidence to be presented at trial. As a result, it was within the trial judge's sound discretion to defer the issue to jury consideration. See Barletta, 644 F.2d at 58. 20