Opinion ID: 431097
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: District Courts Jurisdiction to Proceed

Text: 35 Having determined that Claiborne's first claim, though appealable, lacks merit, we must determine whether the district court ever lost jurisdiction to proceed. Specifically, we must decide whether the district court had jurisdiction to hear the pre-trial motions of February 21, 1984. 36 Ordinarily, if a defendant's interlocutory claim is considered immediately appealable under Abney, the district court loses its power to proceed from the time the defendant files its notice of appeal until the appeal is resolved. United States v. Yellow Freight System, Inc., 637 F.2d 1248, 1252 (9th Cir.1980), citing Moroyoqui v. United States, 570 F.2d 862, 864 (9th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 997, 98 S.Ct. 1651, 56 L.Ed.2d 86 (1978); United States v. Garner, 663 F.2d 834, 837-38 (9th Cir.1981); United States v. Burt, 619 F.2d 831, 838 (9th Cir.1980). See Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co., 459 U.S. 56, 103 S.Ct. 400, 74 L.Ed.2d 225 (1982). This divestiture of jurisdiction rule is not based upon statutory provisions or the rules of civil or criminal procedure. Instead, it is a judge made rule originally devised in the context of civil appeals to avoid confusion or waste of time resulting from having the same issues before two courts at the same time. United States v. Leppo, 634 F.2d 101, 104 (3rd Cir.1980); United States v. Hitchmon, 602 F.2d 689, 691-92 (5th Cir.1979) (en banc). Given this purpose, it has been suggested that the rule should not be employed to defeat its purpose or to induce needless paper shuffling. 9 J. Moore, Federal Practice, p 203.11 at 3-44 n. 1 (1980); see also C. Wright, A. Miller, E. Cooper & E. Gressman, Federal Practice and Procedure, Sec. 3949, at 358-59 (1977). 37 The divestiture rule takes on added significance when applied to interlocutory Abney -type criminal appeals since two important countervailing policies are at work. On the one hand, a defendant raising a meritorious Abney -type claim--asserting a valid, constitutional right not to be tried--would be irreparably harmed if the trial court continued to proceed to trial prior to the disposition of the appeal. On the other hand, under an automatic divestiture rule, a defendant raising a meritless Abney -type claim could significantly delay and disrupt criminal trial court proceedings. Burt, 619 F.2d at 838. See also Abney, 431 U.S. at 656-57, 97 S.Ct. at 2038-39 (the delays and disruptions attendant upon intermediate appeal ... are especially inimical to the effective and fair administration of the criminal law). The Court in Abney, mindful of the need to balance these two interests, directed appellate courts to exercise their supervisory powers to establish summary procedures for quickly disposing of frivolous, dilatory pre-trial appeals. 38 The Fifth Circuit in United States v. Dunbar, 611 F.2d 985, 987-89 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 447 U.S. 926, 100 S.Ct. 3022, 65 L.Ed.2d 1120 (1980) (en banc; twenty five judges) followed Abney's directive and adopted the dual jurisdiction rule that appeal from the denial of a frivolous [Abney -type] motion does not divest the district court of jurisdiction to proceed with trial, if the district court has found the motion to be frivolous. This approach has been uniformly followed by other circuits. United States v. Leppo, 634 F.2d 101, 104 (3rd Cir.1980); United States v. Head, 697 F.2d 1200, 1204 n. 4 (4th Cir.1982); United States v. Lanci, 669 F.2d 391, 394 (6th Cir.1982); United States v. Cannon, 715 F.2d 1228 (7th Cir.1983); United States v. Grabinski, 674 F.2d 677, 679 (8th Cir.1982) (en banc). 39 The Ninth Circuit 7 implicitly adopted Dunbar's dual jurisdiction approach in United States v. Spilotro, 680 F.2d 612, 615 (9th Cir.1982) and in United States v. Crozier, 674 F.2d 1293, 1297 (9th Cir.1982). Both Spilotro and Crozier held that the interlocutory review of a collateral order restraining the sale or transfer of defendant's property did not divest the district court of jurisdiction to proceed. The Ninth Circuit, however, has yet to adopt Dunbar in the context of an Abney -type claim involving a right not to be tried. This reluctance is due to the Ninth Circuit's concern that a defendant who has raised a meritorious Abney -type claim would be irreparably harmed if the trial court were allowed to proceed to trial prior to the appellate court's disposition of the claim. Burt, 619 F.2d at 838. This concern is not as vitally involved when only pre-trial hearings proceed in the district court rather than the trial itself. Because this court has now determined that Claiborne's asserted right not to be tried claim lacks merit, the trial court's continuation of pre-trial hearings was harmless. Requiring the district court to rehear and rule again on the same matters would achieve nothing other than to significantly disrupt and delay an ongoing criminal trial, a result running afoul of the purpose behind the divestiture rule and the court's dictum in Abney. As the court stated in Leppo, 634 F.2d at 104, [a] ritualistic application of the divestiture rule in the Abney context conflicts with the public policy favoring rapid adjudication of criminal prosecutions. 40 The district court scrupulously followed the procedures set forth in Dunbar by finding, as a predicate to its assertion of retained jurisdiction, that Claiborne's separation of powers claim was frivolous. Though we now disagree with that characterization of Claiborne's claim, no useful purpose would be served by requiring that court to redecide the pre-trial motions of February 21, 1984. Under the circumstances, therefore, it was harmless for the district court to proceed to hear the motions of February 21, 1984. See Hastings, 681 F.2d at 709, n. 4. (Court, while characterizing defendant's separation of powers claim as nonfrivolous, nevertheless recognized that under Dunbar the trial court could have determined that the issues raised ... were frivolous and then proceeded to trial without awaiting the determination of the court of appeals). 41 However, in view of the jurisdictional problems to which we have referred, we suggest that the district court re-enter on the record the motions, findings, and other matters contained in the hearing transcript of February 21, 1984, without the need for reargument or retaking testimony. 42 We therefore affirm the district court's order denying Claiborne's motion to quash the indictment; we deny the petitions for writs of mandamus and prohibition, and deny as moot the renewed motion for a stay. Let the mandate issue forthwith.