Opinion ID: 349321
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurisdiction over Government Appeals.

Text: 3 With the enactment of 18 U.S.C. § 3731 in 1971 Congress significantly expanded the jurisdiction of the courts of appeals to entertain government appeals in criminal cases. 1 While the language of the new Act is not dispositive, the legislative history makes it clear that Congress intended to remove all statutory barriers to Government appeals and to allow appeals whenever the Constitution would permit. United States v. Wilson,420 U.S. 332, 337, 95 S.Ct. 1013, 1019, 43 L.Ed.2d 232. In a trilogy of cases decided in 1975, United States v. Wilson, supra ; United States v. Jenkins, 420 U.S. 358, 95 S.Ct. 1006, 43 L.Ed.2d 250; Serfass v. United States, 420 U.S. 377, 95 S.Ct. 1055, 43 L.Ed.2d 265, the Supreme Court delineated the parameters of the Government's newly created rights of appeal reaching the conclusion 4 . . . that when a judge rules in favor of the defendant after a verdict of guilty has been entered by the trier of fact, the Government may appeal from that ruling without running afoul of the Double Jeopardy Clause. 5 United States v. Wilson, supra, at 352-53, 95 S.Ct. at 1026. This conclusion was further explained in United States v. Jenkins, supra : 6 When a case has been tried to a jury, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not prohibit an appeal by the Government providing that a retrial would not be required in the event the Government is successful in its appeal. United States v. Wilson, ante, at 344-345, 352-53, (95 S.Ct. (1013), at 1022-1023, 1026-1027). When this principle is applied to the situation where the jury returns a verdict of guilt but the trial court thereafter enters a judgment of acquittal, an appeal is permitted. In that situation a conclusion by an appellate court that the judgment of acquittal was improper does not require a criminal defendant to submit to a second trial; the error can be corrected on remand by the entry of a judgment on the verdict. To be sure, the defendant would prefer that the Government not be permitted to appeal or that the judgment of conviction not be entered, but this interest of the defendant is not one that the Double Jeopardy Clause was designed to protect. 7 Id. at 365, 95 S.Ct. at 1011. Although the procedural settings in Wilson, Jenkins, and Serfass might be distinguished from that in the case at bar, the clear language of these opinions has been deemed controlling by the various circuit courts of appeals in cases involving the entry of a judgment of acquittal by the trial court upon defendant's motion after a verdict of guilty has been returned by the jury. E. g., United States v. Donahue, 8 Cir., 539 F.2d 1131; United States v. Burroughs, 4 Cir., 537 F.2d 1156; United States v. Cravero, 5 Cir., 530 F.2d 666. We therefore conclude that the trial court's judgment of acquittal in the present case is properly appealable by the Government under 18 U.S.C. § 3731. 8