Opinion ID: 692069
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Conditional Guilty Plea and Appeal

Text: 16 On December 16, 1991, Guthrie changed his plea to a Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(a)(2) conditional guilty plea. The district court approved the plea as conditioned on Guthrie's right to appeal the following issues: whether the district court erred in excluding DNA evidence, in finding that the Alabama red-bellied turtle is a valid species, and in holding that evidence relating to the existence of the Alabama red-bellied turtle as a species would have been inadmissible at trial; whether the Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation had authority to promulgate rules protecting the alligator snapping turtle, and if so, whether that authority was valid under the state constitution; and whether Congress could have delegated to state regulatory agencies the power to create a federal felony, or if it could have transformed a state violation or misdemeanor into a federal felony. 2 17 Guthrie filed an appeal, which this Court dismissed because Guthrie had not received a sentence and therefore had no final judgment from which to appeal. 18 Back in the district court, before sentencing, Guthrie filed an additional discovery request relating to the Alabama red-bellied turtle counts. In that request, Guthrie claimed that a Texas A & M study, one which he apparently co-authored, had been completed that showed beyond peradventure ... that the animal described in the indictment is in fact a mongrel or amalgamation of many species. Guthrie asked for permission to test the actual turtles involved in the case in order to sample their DNA. The district court denied the request and sentenced Guthrie to thirteen months in prison, with three years supervised release. The court also ordered Guthrie to pay $150 in special assessments and $5,000 in the form of either a fine or, alternatively, a donation to the Alabama Department of Conservation or the United States Department of the Interior for the preservation of the Alabama red-bellied turtle. Guthrie appealed.