Court Opinion

ID: 9467226
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:41:59.483595+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:14.030444
License: Public Domain

CORNELIA G. KENNEDY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I am unable to concur in either Judge Keith’s opinion for the majority or Judge Merritt’s dissent. I cannot join the majority since I would find that the prosecutor’s stake in preventing a defendant’s release on bond is so slight that where it. is the only fact before the Court tending to show vindictiveness, the Court cannot find a realistic likelihood of vindictiveness (which I would define to be an improper retaliation for the exercise of a constitutional right). Particularly where, as here, if any vindictiveness or retaliatory motive prompted the prosecutor to add a count, it could equally be due to the belief that defendant had threatened *461witnesses and should therefore be charged to the fullest extent possible, rather than because defendant had sought bond. This is retaliation for a threat against the witnesses; it is not retaliation for the exercise of the right to bond, and it is a type of retaliation that I think is a proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion. The fervor with which a prosecutor opposes bond should not be a factor since it is a prosecutor’s obligation to perform vigorously.
My judgment is tempered by the fact that the prosecutor is only one player in the drama leading up to trial. The grand jury exists to protect against prosecutorial abuse. Whatever the prosecutor’s motive in bringing or substituting charges, the defendant is protected from charges that lack a probable cause basis.
Further, I would hold that the prosecutor could in all instances refute allegations of vindictiveness. See Jackson v. Walker, 585 F.2d 139,148 (5th Cir. 1978). The majority has expressed concern that the Court should not be placed in the undesirable position of having to determine the actual motive of the prosecutor in a particular instance. However difficult the task of determining the credibility of a prosecutor and the unseemliness of finding a prosecutor untruthful, dismissal with prejudice of a charge for which a grand jury has returned an indictment is such a serious sanction that it should not be imposed where the prosecutor was guilty of nothing more than oversight or inadvertence.
Moreover, I would limit our holding to circumstances similar to those before us. The instant case involves bond set after the indictment. Bail is also often set following arrest on a complaint and warrant or on probable cause. Would the majority hold that the addition of charges after the setting of that initial bail also requires objective on-the-record explanation? Would the majority confine its holding to the constitutional right to bail? If an indictment is dismissed for failure to properly advise the defendant of the charge or a count is substituted because a defendant has prevailed on a motion to suppress evidence required to support some charge, is the prosecutor foreclosed from substituting a charge? In such instances, the prosecutor might well admit that the addition or substitution of these charges resulted from the defendant’s exercise of a constitutional right. Surely such retaliation on the part of the prosecutor is permissible, even expected; what we are called upon to do is define exactly when retaliation by the prosecutor is impermissible.
For that we look to the due process clause of the fifth amendment. The prosecutorial conduct that we must proscribe under that clause is conduct which is fundamentally unfair. We must examine the prosecutor’s actions while mindful of the fact that we expect prosecutors to exercise broad discretion in deciding when to charge a particular defendant, what charges to bring against him, whether to deal with him through the plea bargaining process, etc. It is inevitable when a prosecutor is exercising this much discretion that much of what he does can be seen as vindictive or retaliatory for the defendant’s exercise of some right. A test for prosecutorial retaliation that too easily lets a defendant challenge prosecuto-rial conduct will have the undesirable effect of curbing prosecutorial discretion to a significant degree. For example, as a prophylactic measure, the prosecutor may be forced to bring every charge he conceivably can against each defendant at the initiation of the proceedings to avoid later becoming embroiled in a “retaliation” controversy. Breakdowns are inevitable in the administration of a busy prosecutor’s office. The majority’s opinion would make bringing legitimate charges after the initial proceedings extremely difficult.
I do not think that this is a good or a necessary result. I would find very few cases in the pre-trial stage in which the prosecutor’s conduct appeared impermissi-bly to retaliate for the defendant’s exercise of a constitutional right, such that the prosecutor should be called upon to explain his action. As I stated, I would not require explanation here.
*462One of my chief concerns with the majority opinion is that it provides no guidance to the district courts. The Court does not even say whether it would find impermissible retaliation on the facts alleged in this case. After considerable thought, I can only conclude that the phrase “realistic likelihood of vindictiveness” will have to be given content on a case-by-case basis. I am unable to produce, and I do not think that the majority has produced, a test that is useful in general application.
Judge Merritt’s bright line rule is attractive for its pragmatic advantages. However, tempting as it is, I am not prepared to take the position that a prosecutor can never be impermissibly retaliatory before trial. I conceive of situations, not present here, where I would find that retaliatory conduct by a prosecutor violates due process (for example, explicit verbalized threats that should a defendant seek bond more serious charges would be substituted or added, or possibly a retaliatory pattern or practice of adding or substituting more serious charges).
I would, therefore, reverse the judgment of the district court and order reinstatement of the count of the indictment.