Opinion ID: 719368
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Factual Background Regarding Alan Wildman

Text: 13 To review the district court's determination that Alan Wildman was not a government agent when he furnished the FBI with information obtained from Hamilton, we first examine the chronology of Wildman's relationship with the government. In early November 1992, Wildman and his attorney Kris Thomas attended a debriefing session with Assistant United States Attorney Chris Van Wagner and two agents from the Dunn County Sheriff's Department and the West Central Drug Unit. Van Wagner testified that he told Wildman to provide truthful and accurate historical information in response to the agents' questions about Wildman's own activities. Attorney Thomas corroborated Van Wagner's account, asserting that the debriefing provided all the information about all the criminal activity [Wildman] was aware of at that time. (R. 91, at 192.) Thomas added that [w]e didn't talk about future activity because I didn't anticipate anything would be coming up in the future since he was incarcerated. Id. at 192-93. Thomas emphasized that she did not ask Wildman to try to get more information on others. Id. at 193. 14 In late December 1992, Wildman pled guilty to the cocaine conspiracy charges. After the plea hearing, Wildman informed Thomas for the first time about Hamilton's bank robbery and the threats Hamilton had made about Special Agent Schulte and his family. Shortly thereafter, Thomas conveyed Wildman's information to Van Wagner, who, in turn, passed on the information to the prosecutor assigned to the case, Kevin Potter. At Potter's request, Special Agent Schulte obtained permission from Thomas to interview Wildman on January 6, 1993. After Schulte's interview, Hamilton and Wildman were immediately separated. 15 In May 1993, Judge Crabb granted Wildman a four-level downward departure under U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1 and sentenced him to 87 months' imprisonment. Wildman, however, believed that his cooperation warranted more than a four-level departure and thus moved under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to withdraw his guilty plea. An evidentiary hearing was held on the motion before Judge Crabb. Wildman testified that the government had promised him that he would not have to serve jail time and that he would be placed in the witness protection program. (R. 169, at 27-28.) Judge Crabb, however, denied Wildman's motion. Finding his testimony not to be credible, she rejected Wildman's argument that he had misunderstood his plea agreement at the time he pled guilty. (R. 168, at 84, 86.) 16