Opinion ID: 869748
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: RICO, RICO Conspiracy, and Money

Text: Laundering Conspiracy (Counts 1, 2, and 21) Ciavarella argues that the two predicate acts for his RICO conviction—honest services wire fraud based on three wire transfers, the last of which occurred on January 28, 2003, and money laundering conspiracy—occurred more than five years before the September 9, 2009 Indictment, and thus the RICO count is time barred. Additionally, the conspiracy convictions are time barred, according to Ciavarella, because the conspiracy was completed on the date of its final act— January 28, 2003. However, while Ciavarella objected prior to trial to other counts as time-barred, he did not include Counts 1, 2, or 21 in his objection. “[I]n criminal cases[,] the statute of limitations does not go to the jurisdiction of the court but is an affirmative defense that will be considered waived if not raised in the district court before or at trial.” United States v. Karlin, 785 F.2d 90, 92-93 (3d Cir. 1986). While Ciavarella would have been entitled to an instruction on the applicable statute of limitations to inform the jury of the need to prove that at least one predicate act occurred within five years of the date of the indictment, Jake, 281 F.3d at 129, he did not request it. Accordingly, under our current precedent, Ciavarella failed to preserve this objection, and we will not consider it on appeal. Ciavarella looks to the Sixth Circuit, which has held that while the statute of limitations is not a jurisdictional bar, it is of such importance that it can be raised for the first time on appeal. United States v. Titterington, 374 F.3d 453, 458-60 48 (6th Cir. 2004). But this is not the law in our Circuit. Rather, we have held, consistent with nearly all of our sister Circuits, that the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense that will be waived if not properly preserved prior to or during trial. See Karlin, 785 F.2d at 92-93; see also United States v. Arky, 938 F.2d 579, 582 (5th Cir. 1991) (“[I]t is difficult to conceive why [the statute of limitations defense] alone, of all the defendant‟s affirmative defenses, should not be waived if not asserted at trial.”).