Opinion ID: 714853
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Independent Counsel's Authority.

Text: 20 Soon after Independent Counsel Fiske obtained the superseding felony indictment, Fitzhugh moved to dismiss that indictment, alleging (i) that the Attorney General had no statutory authority to appoint Fiske, and (ii) that in any event Fiske had exceeded the scope of his appointed authority in prosecuting this case. 1 The district court denied that motion, and Fitzhugh subsequently pleaded guilty to the superseding information issued by Independent Counsel Fiske in accordance with Fitzhugh's plea agreement. Fitzhugh did not again raise the question of Fiske's authority until the case was pending on appeal. We agree with the government that his valid guilty plea waived these issues. 21 A guilty plea waives all but jurisdictional defects. See, e.g., Camp v. United States, 587 F.2d 397, 399 (8th Cir.1978). One type of jurisdictional defect arises when it appears on the face of the record that the government lacked power to prosecute the defendant, for example, because the charge is barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause. See Vaughan, 13 F.3d at 1188, construing Blackledge v. Perry, 417 U.S. 21, 94 S.Ct. 2098, 40 L.Ed.2d 628 (1974), and United States v. Broce, 488 U.S. 563, 575, 109 S.Ct. 757, 765, 102 L.Ed.2d 927 (1989). Another type of jurisdictional defect occurs when the indictment on its face fails to state an offense. O'Leary v. United States, 856 F.2d 1142, 1143 (8th Cir.1988); see United States v. Caperell, 938 F.2d 975, 977-78 (9th Cir.1991). 22 Fitzhugh does not challenge the government's power to prosecute him for misdemeanor bribery, nor does he allege that the superseding information failed to state that offense. He argues, in essence, that the Attorney General sent the wrong prosecutor to charge him with this crime. Of course, deciding what agent should represent the United States in a criminal prosecution is primarily a question for the Executive Branch. To the extent that the Attorney General's answer to that question is subject to judicial supervision or control, the court's power to regulate the attorneys who appear before it does not affect the court's jurisdiction over the underlying prosecution. Thus, alleged defects of this kind have consistently been treated as non-jurisdictional and therefore subject to waiver, either by a valid guilty plea or by the absence of a timely objection. See United States v. Easton, 937 F.2d 160, 162 (5th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1045, 112 S.Ct. 906, 116 L.Ed.2d 807 (1992) (claim that disqualified United States Attorney authorized the indictment waived by guilty plea); King v. United States, 279 F. 103, 104 (5th Cir.1922) (claim that unauthorized prosecutor signed the indictment waived by no timely objection); United States v. Solomon, 216 F.Supp. 835, 837-38 (S.D.N.Y.1963) (claim of unconstitutionally appointed prosecutor waived by no timely objection). Likewise, we conclude that Fitzhugh's challenge to Independent Counsel Fiske's authority raises a non-jurisdictional defect that was waived by Fitzhugh's guilty plea. 23 In addition, Fitzhugh's guilty plea waived his belated claim that he is the victim of selective prosecution. This claim was first raised after Fitzhugh pleaded guilty. It is based on facts entirely outside the record and is therefore barred by the guilty plea. See Vaughan, 13 F.3d at 1188; United States v. Cortez, 973 F.2d 764, 766-67 (9th Cir.1992). 24