Court Opinion

ID: 9477699
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:28:59.46232+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:59.921213
License: Public Domain

BREYER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The majority evidently believes that the district court either (1) considered “an irrelevant or improper factor” or (2) when weighing relevant factors, committed “a clear error of judgment.” supra at 924 (quoting United States v. Kramer, 827 F.2d 1174, 1179 (8th Cir.1987)). I do not agree.
In my view, the district court could consider the government’s misconduct as relevant even though it did not harm this particular defendant. The “misconduct” amounted to violating frequently a local rule that instructed the government to give defendants certain information automatically; instead, the government forced defendants either (a) to file a motion asking for the information, thereby stopping the speedy trial clock, 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)(F) (1982), or (b) to do without early access to the information. This kind of rule violation may harm other defendants to whom the local rule applies, in ways related to the Speedy Trial Act, but which do not directly involve a violation of that Act (e.g., some defendants may forego early access to the information). Where governmental misconduct is serious, courts sometimes dismiss indictments even though the defendant fails to show the misconduct prejudiced him in particular. See United States v. Ballivian, 819 F.2d 266, 267 (11th Cir.1987) (observing that “a pattern of widespread and continuous misconduct” might warrant a dismissal of an indictment with prejudice for governmental misconduct even if defendant fails to show such misconduct seriously prejudiced him). See also Kyle v. United States, 297 F.2d 507, 514 (2d Cir.1961) (Friendly, J.). Here, the misconduct is not as serious as in the cited cases, but neither does dismissal here rest on the misconduct alone; rather, what is at stake is the district court’s authority to take the misconduct into account as one of several relevant factors, when deciding whether to dismiss with or without prejudice. The Act’s references to “impact of reprosecution on the administration of this chapter and on the administration of justice” seem *931adequate statutory authority to place this sort of speedy-trial-related governmental misconduct in the balance.
If we concede the misconduct is relevant to the reprosecution decision, I do not see how we can say the district court made a “clear error of judgment.” As a general rule, appellate courts have recognized that the district courts have considerable power to decide whether or not to»permit reprose-cution. I have found 29 appellate court cases decided since January 1, 1981 reviewing district court determinations to dismiss with or without prejudice; of these, only one involved a straight reversal of a district court’s determination supported by reasons. United States v. Caparella, 716 F.2d 976 (2d Cir.1983). (Two others involved reversals where the district court failed to provide reasons for its decisions. United States v. Kramer, 827 F.2d 1174, 1179 (8th Cir.1987); United States v. Phillips, 775 F.2d 1454 (11th Cir.1985).) Moreover, the government’s “misconduct” here also concerns a local rule that the district courts must administer, a matter where those courts have particular authority. Though the question seems a close one, I cannot say the district court has made a mistake of law.