Opinion ID: 624033
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Allegation of Material Misrepresentation to the Grand Jury

Text: Louper-Morris alleges that the district court erred by denying Appellants' joint motion to dismiss the indictment because the United States allegedly made a material misrepresentation to the grand jury. In reviewing the district court's denial of a motion to dismiss the indictment for alleged government misconduct, we review the district court's factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. United States v. Pumpkin Seed, 572 F.3d 552, 557 (8th Cir.2009) (internal citations and quotations omitted). Approximately two months after the deadline for filing pretrial motions, Appellants moved to dismiss the indictment. They alleged that the United States misinformed the grand jury by representing to the grand jury that no program materials or educational content existed on the CyberStudy website in 2000. The magistrate judge heard oral arguments on the motion. It concluded that Appellants had no good cause for untimely filing the motion and also ruled that the motion failed on the merits. Specifically, the magistrate judge found that the record was devoid of any facts to support the proposition that the United States made any misrepresentations in the indictment or to the grand jury. Thus, the magistrate judge denied the motion. We find no reversible error in the district court's denial of the dismissal of the indictment, because even assuming that there were errors in the charging decision that may have followed from the conduct of the prosecution, the petit jury's guilty verdict rendered those errors harmless. Id. (internal citation and quotation omitted). [6]