Court Opinion

ID: 9585498
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:01:06.459321+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:45:32.602935
License: Public Domain

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the judgment.
Even assuming that a district court enjoys inherent power, in cases of fraud on the court, to vacate a judgment in a criminal case outside the limits established by 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c) and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(b), the court explains that “fraud on the court” must be “narrowly defined as ‘fraud which is directed to the judicial machinery itself and is not fraud between the parties or fraudulent documents, false statements or perjury.’ ” Ante, at 1144 (quoting Bulloch v. United States, 763 F.2d 1115, 1121 (10th Cir.1985)); see also United States v. Throckmorton, 98 U.S. 61, 65-67, 25 L.Ed. 93 (1878) (“The doctrine is ... well settled that the court will not set aside a judgment because it was founded on a fraudulent instrument, or perjured evidence, or for any matter that was actually presented and considered in the judgment assailed.”); Commentary, Effect of Rule 60b on Other Methods of Relief from Judgment, 4 Fed. Rules Serv. 942, 945 (1941) (“[B]y the majority view intrinsic fraud, such as perjury *1147or use of falsified documentary evidence, is not a ground for relief in federal courts.”). Because the district court in this case relied exclusively on misrepresentations, incomplete disclosures, and failures to disclose by Angela Smiley during the pre-sentencing process and at her sentencing hearing, I concur in the court’s judgment. Even application of the inherent power available in civil cases would not authorize the district court to vacate the judgment in this case, because there was no “fraud on the court” as defined in that context. I express no view on whether the evidence is sufficient to establish clearly and convincingly that Smiley made misrepresentations to the district court. I agree with the court’s disposition of Smiley’s challenge to the district court’s order of restitution.