Opinion ID: 458933
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: denial of robinson's motion to dismiss based on alleged violation of plea agreement

Text: 18 Robinson next argues that the district court erred in failing to grant his motion to dismiss the indictment, because the Government violated the terms of a plea agreement he signed in the Southern District of Ohio on October 26, 1983. Robinson alleges that the agreement precluded the Government from prosecuting him in any other jurisdiction, and thus the Government violated the agreement by indicting him in the Southern District of Iowa. Robinson further argues that the United States Attorney's Office in Ohio turned over evidence obtained through the plea negotiations to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa, violating the agreement and Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(e)(6). 19 We hold that the district court correctly denied Robinson's motion to dismiss. Paragraph seven of the October 26 plea agreement, which Robinson signed and testified that he had read in full, states: Defendant H. Wesley Robinson expressly understands that this Agreement applies only to the Indictment filed in this particular case in the Southern District of Ohio and that it does not relate or apply to any other Judicial District of the United States. Thus this case is readily distinguishable from United States v. Carter, 454 F.2d 426 (4th Cir.1972), which Robinson cites in support of the proposition that a promise in a plea negotiation is binding in all jurisdictions. What the Fourth Circuit actually held in Carter was that if the Government had actually promised the defendant that he would not be prosecuted anywhere else if he cooperated in an investigation in the District of Columbia, the Government would be obliged to abide by that promise. Here, however, the Government did not breach its promise to Robinson by indicting him in Iowa; the plea agreement was specifically limited by its terms to the Southern District of Ohio. Robinson contends that because his performance of the plea agreement included restitution to clients who lived in many jurisdictions outside Ohio, the agreement became multi-jurisdictional, so that the Government's promise not to prosecute Robinson should be expanded multi-jurisdictionally. This contention is specious. The clients to whom Robinson agreed to make restitution, although they were not all residents of Ohio or named in the indictment against Robinson, were all victims of the fraud scheme charged in the Ohio indictment. 20 As for Robinson's contention that evidence obtained through his cooperation with the United States Attorney in Ohio was used against him in the proceedings in Iowa, he makes only vague allegations, without any substantive proof, that such evidence was used against him in Iowa. In an affidavit in support of the Government's resistance to the motion to dismiss, the Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, Robert C. Dopf, stated that any evidence presented to the grand jury in that district concerning Robinson was based on testimony of witnesses from the district who had had personal contact with Robinson, or from an investigation by the local FBI office and the Iowa Attorney General's office. Dopf further swore that the grand jury received no evidence that originated directly or indirectly from plea negotiations in any other jurisdiction, or from a search conducted by federal authorities on Robinson's offices in California. The line of cases Robinson cites, beginning with Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972), as stating that the Government bears the burden of proving that evidence used against a defendant was derived from a legitimate source and independent of the defendant's compelled testimony are inapposite. These cases deal with the statutory grant of use immunity under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 6002, which is not involved here. In sum, the district court did not err in denying Robinson's motion to dismiss. 21 IV. DENIAL OF APPELLANTS' MOTIONS FOR NEW TRIAL BASED ON GOVERNMENT'S DISMISSAL OF CHARGES AGAINST LIVERCA 22 The next allegation of error, in which Robinson, Wilson, and Milliken all join, centers on the Government's dismissal of charges against Liverca following the joint trial of the appellants. Liverca entered a plea bargaining agreement with the United States Attorney's Office in late 1980 or early 1981, by which he agreed to cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities. In return, the Government agreed to accept Liverca's guilty plea to a single count of mail fraud. Thereafter Liverca did cooperate fully with the Government, providing extensive testimony by deposition, turning over documents, and testifying before the grand jury. The grand jury subsequently indicted Liverca along with all of the other defendants on all fifteen counts of the indictment. On January 13, 1983, the day of Liverca's formal arraignment, Liverca's attorney Don Nickerson, approached Assistant Attorney Robert C. Dopf and told Dopf he felt the charges against Liverca should be completely dismissed. Dopf testified that he responded to Nickerson by saying: 23 I have some questions myself. I'm certainly not in a position to make a determination at this point. Indeed his deal is cut. That's his deal. I have a duty if I think it is not proper at any point in the process, to reexamine it. I might do that, but specifically, I'm not promising to do that. I'm not making any representations to you. I won't even agree to reevaluate it much less change the deal. 24 In February 1984, the district court granted the Government's motions to sever Liverca from the other defendants, and to continue Liverca's trial date to June 18, 1984. On May 29, the trial of Robinson, Wilson, and Milliken began. At trial, Liverca testified and in response to Wilson's defense counsel's questioning, mentioned his plea agreement and his intent to plead guilty to a felony. The jury returned its verdict on Thursday, June 14. On Friday, June 15, three days before Liverca's trial or plea was scheduled to take place, the Government filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Liverca, on the ground that he lacked the requisite criminal intent. The court granted the request after ordering two amendments to the motion. The defendants filed a joint motion for a new trial, and a hearing was held on July 12, 1984. After the hearing, the court denied the new trial motion, making the following findings of fact: 1) that the decision to dismiss Liverca was made following the trial; 2) that no promise or agreement to dismiss charges or reevaluate the plea agreement was ever made to Liverca or his attorney; and 3) that Liverca's testimony at trial concerning the plea agreement was completely true and accurate. 25 The appellants argue that the district court erred in denying their motion for a new trial. They contend that they were prejudiced by the Government's failure to disclose the possibility of dismissal of the charges against Liverca because had they known of such a possibility, they would have changed their trial strategy accordingly. Specifically, appellants contend that they could have told the jury that just as Liverca acted without criminal intent, they likewise conducted activities similar to Liverca's without criminal intent. Robinson contends that the failure to disclose the possibility of dismissal was in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), in which the Supreme Court held that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused who requests it violates due process. Further, appellants allege that the Government had all of the information it needed to make the dismissal decision before their trial, and that by waiting until after trial to dismiss Liverca, the Government allowed the jury to hear about Liverca's plan to admit his criminal intent, by pleading guilty, in doing substantially the same things the appellants were standing trial for having done. 26 After carefully reviewing the record and particularly the district court's ruling on the new trial motion, we conclude that no reversible error exists and that appellants were not denied a fair trial. The district court's findings of fact that Dopf made no promises to Liverca or his attorney to dismiss charges or reevaluate the plea agreement, that Liverca's trial testimony regarding the plea agreement was true and accurate, and that the dismissal decision was made after trial are not clearly erroneous. See United States v. Jones, 759 F.2d 633, 637 n. 3 (8th Cir.1985) (district court's findings are entitled to great deference and may not be rejected unless clearly erroneous). The district court found credible Dopf's testimony that his concerns as to Liverca's testimony heightened during trial preparation and at trial, and that he chose to wait until after the trial to make his decision so he could benefit from any knowledge he gained from the evidence presented at trial, particularly the testimony of the defense witnesses and Liverca's own demeanor. Although Dopf admitted in his final amended motion to dismiss Liverca that the factors on which his decision to dismiss was ultimately based were all known to him prior to appellants' trial, it is not inconceivable that some new facts could have come out at trial, for example, through the testimony of Milliken or Wilson, which could have tipped the scales one way or the other. Further, a prosecutor has the continuing duty to evaluate the sufficiency of the evidence as to the guilt of a defendant, and he must dismiss a defendant as soon as he determines that such evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction. See, e.g., United States v. Weber, 721 F.2d 266, 268 (9th Cir.1983); United States v. DeLucca, 630 F.2d 294, 298 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 983, 101 S.Ct. 1520, 67 L.Ed.2d 819 (1981). Finally, a sufficient difference seems to exist between the conduct of Liverca and the conduct of appellants to warrant Dopf's determination that Liverca lacked the requisite criminal intent to continue to press the charges against him. 5 For these reasons we cannot conclude that Dopf acted other than in good faith in seeking dismissal of the indictment against Liverca. 27 Appellants contend that, notwithstanding the good faith on the part of Dopf, the failure to disclose to them the possibility of dismissal prejudiced their rights to a fair trial. Although we acknowledge that some prejudice undoubtedly resulted from the Government's delay in seeking dismissal of Liverca, we conclude that such prejudice did not rise to the level of reversible error. As we pointed out above, the district court found that Liverca's trial testimony as to his plea agreement was true and accurate, and that no promise had been made to Liverca or his attorney that the plea agreement would be changed or even reevaluated. Any prejudice that occurred most likely would have stemmed from Liverca's testimony that he had entered a plea agreement with the Government and that he intended to plead guilty to a felony. The district court, however, cautioned the jury that they could consider the plea agreement only for evaluating the credibility of Liverca, and that they could not consider it in any way as evidence of guilt of the appellants. Moreover, the Government did not touch on the plea agreement on direct examination of Liverca; it was only on cross-examination of Liverca by Wilson's defense counsel that the facts as to the agreement were elicited. Finally, because we have upheld the district court's finding that Dopf did not decide to dismiss Liverca until after the trial, the most that he could have advised appellants is that he might reevaluate Liverca's plea agreement following their trial. Although this information may have been helpful to appellants, it does not constitute exculpatory Brady material, the disclosure of which is required before trial. For Dopf to have advised appellants of the possibility that he might reevaluate Liverca's agreement if he determined that the facts warranted such a reevaluation would have been merely an articulation of his general duty. Indeed, Wilson's defense counsel acknowledged the possibility that the Government might change the terms of the plea agreement when he cross-examined Liverca about the agreement. 6 Because we conclude that Dopf acted in good faith in dismissing Liverca, and the appellants were not unduly prejudiced, the district court did not err in denying appellants' motion for a new trial. 28