Court Opinion

ID: 9481061
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:06:46.19007+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:04.521277
License: Public Domain

POLITZ, Circuit Judge, specially
concurring:
I concur in the affirmance of the conviction but am persuaded that Wylie’s “sur-plusage” objection addressed in Part II of the opinion should be rejected because it was untimely advanced. The opinion’s analysis of this issue rests largely on the conclusion that “it was Hamilton’s, not the government’s, responsibility to request [Wylie’s] removal” from the indictment. At 973. The record offers scant support for this proposition for it reflects that Hamilton joined in the “surplusage” motion which the trial court reluctantly granted. Moreover, United States Attorneys routinely move to dismiss some or all of the charges against a defendant, and likewise move to strike portions of an indictment not essential to the offense charged. United States v. Miller, 471 U.S. 130, 105 S.Ct. 1811, 85 L.Ed.2d 99 (1985).
Hamilton noted his willingness to plead guilty but he was not prepared to implicate Wylie. The prosecutor considered the references to Wylie to be nonessential to the question of Hamilton’s guilt of the offense charged. In that setting, Hamilton could have waived indictment and the prosecutor could have filed an information, omitting all references to Wylie, Fed.R.Crim.P. 7(b). After acceptance of Hamilton’s guilty plea to the information, the indictment as to Hamilton could have been dismissed. The prosecutor’s unwise haste to shortcut the process, which the trial court questioned, would have thus been avoided, the defendant’s rights would have been safeguarded, a valid conviction would have been secured, and there would have been no jeopardy to any other prosecution.
Nonetheless, I concur in the affirmance because Wylie’s objection to the indictment was filed untimely. Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b) requires that defenses and objections “based on defects in the institution of the prosecution” or on “defects in the indictment or information” be timely presented. All such objections “must be raised prior to trial.” Wylie’s objection was not raised prior to trial and it does not fall into any category which may be urged during or after the trial. United States v. Smith, 890 F.2d 711 (5th Cir.1989). I would not now consider this untimely objection. Having so ruled, I would not have reached the problematic question about the effect or scope of the alteration of the indictment.