Opinion ID: 221722
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Criminal Appeals Act

Text: Mitchell correctly cites the well-established rule that `an appeal by the prosecution in a criminal case is not favored and must be based upon express statutory authority.' United States v. Farnsworth, 456 F.3d 394, 399 (3d Cir. 2006) (quoting United States v. Gilchrist, 215 F.3d 333, 335-36 (3d Cir.2000)). In general, the United States may appeal in a criminal case only as permitted by the Criminal Appeals Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3731, which limits appeals to cases involving the dismissal of charges, suppression or exclusion of evidence, return of seized property, or release of a defendant. [5] Neither party argues that the present appeal falls into one of the categories of orders appealable pursuant to § 3731. Mitchell contends that this alone resolves the question and strips us of jurisdiction. The Supreme Court has concluded to the contrary, however, holding that in certain limited instances, orders relating to a criminal case may be found to possess sufficient independence from the main course of the prosecution to warrant treatment as plenary orders, and thus be appealable on the authority of 28 U.S.C. § 1291 without regard to the limitations of 18 U.S.C. § 3731. Carroll v. United States, 354 U.S. 394, 403, 77 S.Ct. 1332, 1 L.Ed.2d 1442 (1957). In other words, while the Government must have express statutory authority to appeal in a criminal case, there are two statutes that provide this authority: (1) 18 U.S.C. § 3731, for a circumscribed list of orders; and (2) 28 U.S.C. § 1291, for collateral orders. The appeal of a collateral order by the Government is thus an exception to the strictures of § 3731. See United States v. Ferri, 686 F.2d 147, 150-52 (3d Cir.1982) (examining whether jurisdiction was proper under the collateral order doctrine of § 1291 after the Government conceded that jurisdiction was lacking under § 3731); United States v. Moussaoui, 483 F.3d 220, 227 (4th Cir. 2007) (same); United States v. Peterson, 394 F.3d 98, 103 (2d Cir.2005) (deciding whether the appeal is sufficiently independent from [the defendant's] underlying criminal case to make it one of the few criminal appeals permitted under section 1291); United States v. Horn, 29 F.3d 754, 768 (1st Cir.1994) (holding that under what we choose to call the `special circumstance' exception, a government appeal may be entertained in a criminal case on the authority of section 1291 if the appeal satisfies the conditions of the so-called collateral order doctrine). This authority makes clear that even though the challenged order is not appealable under § 3731, the Government may still maintain this appeal if the order qualifies as collateral.