Opinion ID: 204000
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Challenges to the indictments

Text: The United States initially indicted Bucci, along with Belmonte and another co-defendant, Darren Martin, on two drug-trafficking charges: 1) conspiring to possess at least 100 kilograms of marijuana with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846; and 2) possessing at least 100 kilograms of marijuana with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B)(vii). The indictment also charged that any of Bucci's property that represented proceeds from his drug-trafficking offenses was forfeitable under 21 U.S.C. § 853. A year later, in August 2004, Bucci started a website, whosarat.com, where individuals could post information about government informants. Six months after Bucci started this website, the Government, on February 3, 2005, filed a superseding indictment which charged only Bucci and Martin with the same two drug-trafficking counts, but increased the amount of marijuana charged in the alleged conspiracy from 100 to at least 1000 kilograms. The increased amount of marijuana charged raised the statutory mandatory minimum sentence Bucci faced for the conspiracy offense, if convicted, from five to ten years. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(vii). A year after Bucci started whosarat.com, the Government, on July 28, 2005, filed a second superseding indictment charging Bucci with the same two drug-trafficking offenses, but adding fourteen additional counts involving money laundering, tax evasion, and unlawfully structuring financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements. The second superseding indictment also added Bucci's mother, Catherine Bucci, as a co-defendant. Bucci claims that the Government's decision to file the two superseding indictments in his case-which increased the number of charges against him from two to sixteen and the amount of marijuana charged in the alleged drug-trafficking conspiracy from 100 to at least 1,000 kilograms-amounted to vindictive prosecution intended to punish him for exercising his First Amendment right to operate his website, whosarat.com. [2] Bucci sought to prove vindictive prosecution by demonstrating circumstances establishing a likelihood of vindictiveness sufficient to create a presumption that the prosecution was, in fact, acting vindictively. See United States v. Jenkins, 537 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir.2008), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 433, 172 L.Ed.2d 313 (2008). It is difficult to make such a showing pretrial, however, in light of the broad discretion afforded the prosecutor to determine who should be prosecuted and for what crime, and the presumption that the prosecutor has exercised that discretion in good faith. [3] See United States v. Goodwin, 457 U.S. 368, 377, 380-81, 102 S.Ct. 2485, 73 L.Ed.2d 74 (1982); cf. United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, 464-65, 116 S.Ct. 1480, 134 L.Ed.2d 687 (1996) (discussing presumption in context of selective-prosecution claim). In our system, so long as the prosecutor has probable cause to believe that the accused committed an offense defined by statute, the decision whether or not to prosecute, and what charge to file or bring before a grand jury, generally rests entirely in [the prosecutor's] discretion. Within the limits set by the legislature's constitutionally valid definition of chargeable offenses, the conscious exercise of some selectivity in enforcement is not in itself a federal constitutional violation so long as the selection was not deliberately based upon an unjustifiable standard such as race, religion, or other arbitrary classification. Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357, 364, 98 S.Ct. 663, 54 L.Ed.2d 604 (1978) (quotation, citation, alteration, footnote omitted).
In the district court, Bucci sought discovery from the Government in order to support his vindictive-prosecution claim. The district court denied that request. We review that decision for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Lewis, 517 F.3d 20, 23 (1st Cir.2008) (reviewing selective-prosecution claim).
In light of the presumption that a prosecutor has acted in good faith in exercising his discretion to make charging decisions, courts require a defendant seeking discovery first to come forth with some objective evidence tending to show the existence of prosecutorial vindictiveness. See, e.g., United States v. Wilson, 262 F.3d 305, 315 (4th Cir.2001); United States v. Sanders, 211 F.3d 711, 717 (2d Cir.2000). These courts derive this standard from United States v. Armstrong , see 517 U.S. at 468, 116 S.Ct. 1480, in which the Supreme Court addressed discovery sought in support of a selective-prosecution claim. See Wilson, 262 F.3d at 315-16; Sanders, 211 F.3d at 717. This is the standard that the district court applied in Bucci's case, and we adopt it here.
In order to obtain discovery, then, Bucci first had to advance some evidence tending to establish his vindictive-prosecution claim. He failed to do so. In support of his discovery motion, Bucci relied on the statements of law enforcement and government officers reporting whosarat.com contained in ... newspaper articles, documents, and security reports. While the reported statements of these officers expressed serious concern about the danger to informants posed by postings made on Bucci's website, Bucci set forth no evidence suggesting that this concern ever affected the prosecutors making the specific charging decisions in his case. To obtain discovery, Bucci must do more than simply identify a potential motive for prosecutorial animus. Sanders, 211 F.3d at 718. He must connect any vindictive animus to those making the challenged charging decisions in his case. See United States v. Goulding, 26 F.3d 656, 662 (7th Cir.1994). Bucci also relied on evidence regarding the Government's opposition to a pretrial motion Bucci's co-defendant, Catherine Bucci, filed in this case seeking early disclosure of statements made by Government witnesses. In opposing that request, the Government noted that, while it generally would not oppose early disclosure, in this case it would not agree to it because of the Government's concern that Bucci was trying to intimidate Government witnesses through whosarat.com. In opposing Catherine Bucci's motion, however, the Government was only asserting a legitimate litigation strategy. The fact that it was based in part on the effects the information posted on Bucci's website might have on this specific prosecution did not suggest that prosecutors filed the superseding indictments against Bucci to retaliate against him for operating the website. See United States v. Segal, 495 F.3d 826, 833 (7th Cir.2007) (A prosecutor cannot be said to act vindictively by taking into account a defendant's perceived efforts to intimidate witnesses.). In support of his discovery request, Bucci further relied on the general circumstances attendant to his prosecution, asserting that the prosecutor all along had enough evidence to charge him with the added offenses and increased amount of marijuana, but did not bring those charges until after Bucci started whosarat.com. Assuming that the Government had enough evidence to indict Bucci initially on the increased charges, this fact alone is insufficient to establish that the Government later filed the superseding indictments to punish Bucci for whosarat.com. See United States v. Roach, 502 F.3d 425, 444-45 (6th Cir.2007) (rejecting argument that the fact that the Government could have brought charges initially, but did not do so, indicated the prosecutor's vindictiveness), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 2051, 170 L.Ed.2d 797 (2008). Moreover, evidence of suspicious timing alone does not indicate prosecutorial animus. United States v. Cooper, 461 F.3d 850, 856 (7th Cir.2006) (quotations omitted). In any event, the district court noted that the sequence of events in this case is not so remarkable as to justify discovery. We agree. Bucci began operating his website in August 2004. It was six months later that the Government filed the first superseding indictment, and another six months before the Government filed the second superseding indictment against Bucci. These superseding indictments were not so close in time to Bucci's starting the whosarat.com website to provide strong evidence that the prosecutor acted vindictively. See United States v. Marrapese, 826 F.2d 145, 147 (1st Cir.1987) (noting two events that were well removed in time were not strong evidence of actual vindictiveness). For all of these reasons, we cannot conclude that the district court abused its discretion in denying Bucci discovery in support of his vindictive-prosecution claim.
Despite not being able to conduct discovery, Bucci nevertheless moved for the dismissal of the second superseding indictment, asserting that it was the result of vindictive prosecution. The district court denied Bucci's motion. We review that decision for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Poole, 407 F.3d 767, 772 (6th Cir.2005). But in applying this deferential standard, we review any ancillary factual findings for clear error and relevant legal determinations de novo. See United States v. Aviles-Sierra, 531 F.3d 123, 126 (1st Cir.2008). We agree with the Government that the subsidiary question presented here, whether Bucci established a presumption of vindictiveness, is a legal determination that we should review de novo. See United States v. Barner, 441 F.3d 1310, 1315 n. 5 (11th Cir.2006); Wilson, 262 F.3d at 316. Bucci argues that he presented evidence to the district court sufficient to establish a presumption of vindictiveness and shift the burden to the prosecution to show it had legitimate reasons for increasing the charges against him. We reject that argument, for the same reasons discussed above.
Bucci moved for the dismissal of the second superseding indictment's fifth count, arguing that it was time-barred. Because the pertinent facts are undisputed, this court reviews de novo the district court's decision to deny that motion. See United States v. DeLeon, 444 F.3d 41, 51 (1st Cir.2006). The relevant statute of limitations, 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a), provides that [e]xcept as otherwise provided by law, no person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense, not capital, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within five years next after such offense shall have been committed. Ordinarily the limitation period begins to run when the crime is complete, see Toussie v. United States, 397 U.S. 112, 115, 90 S.Ct. 858, 25 L.Ed.2d 156 (1970), and the parties do not argue otherwise here. The fifth count of the second superseding indictment charged that Bucci, [o]n or about July 28, 2000 ... did knowingly and intentionally engage in a monetary transaction in property derived from specified unlawful activity-to wit: the deposit of approximately $222,179.88 into his Checking Account... at First Massachusetts Bank ... with proceeds derived from the sale of controlled substances. All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957. [4] The Government filed the second superseding indictment on July 28, 2005, exactly five years to the day after the charged offense. But the parties agree that Bucci actually submitted the deposit at issue to the bank after 2:30 p.m. on July 27, 2000. The bank did not credit that deposit to Bucci's account until the next business day, July 28. The question presented in this case, then, is when was this charged offense complete: when Bucci submitted the deposit on July 27 or when the bank credited Bucci's account on July 28. The parties do not cite, and we have not found, any authority addressing this exact question. In resolving this question, we look to the relevant language of § 1957(a). The statute proscribes knowingly engaging in a monetary transaction. The transaction at issue here was the deposit of funds. Pursuant to the express terms of the bank's policy, of which the bank informed Bucci, a submission of funds to the bank after 2:00 p.m. would not be deposited into the depositor's account until the following business day. Thus, Bucci did not engage in this monetary transaction until July 28, 2000, and the indictment charging this offense was, therefore, timely filed.