United States v. Campestrini
United States v. Campestrini
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Before the Court are defendants Diego Campestrini and Cell Tech Electronics, Inc. (“Cell Tech”)’s motion to transfer venue pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 21(b) (“Rule 21(b)”). (Docket No. 19.) Having considered defendants’ motion, the government’s response, (Docket No. 22), and defendants’ reply, (Docket No. 24), the Court GRANTS the transfer of venue to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
I. Parties’ Arguments
Defendants argue that their trial should be transferred to the Southern District of Florida pursuant to Rule 21(b) for the convenience of the parties and witnesses, and in the interest of justice. They assert that both defendants are located in Doral, a suburb of Miami, Florida: Campestrini lives there with his wife and stepchild, and Cell Tech has one office — located in Doral. (Docket No. 19 at p. 5.) They also claim that neither defendant has “ever had offices in or resided in Puerto Rico;” that all defense witnesses reside in the Southern District of Florida; that a majority of the events in which they were allegedly involved occurred in Doral and Miami as well as Bogota, Colombia' — not Puerto Rico; that most of the relevant documents and records involved in the case were maintained in Doral; that defendants’ primary counsel is from Miami; that a trial in Puerto Rico will shut down Cell Tech, “a result that will be devastating to such a small, family-run business;” that defendants will incur large expenses in order to travel to and from Puerto Rico for trial, as well as pay for their counsel to do the same; that Puerto Rico is significantly less accessible for defendants than Miami; that the Southern District of Florida’s docket favors transfer of the case from the District of Puerto Rico’s “congested criminal dockets;” and that the alleged offenses in the indictment have little or no nexus to Puerto Rico or its citizens. Id. at pp. 5-12.
II. Discussion
Upon a defendant’s motion, the Court may transfer a proceeding to another district “for the convenience of the parties[,] ... the witnesses, and in the interest of justice.” Fed.R.Crim.P. 21(b). In determining whether to grant a transfer motion pursuant to Rule 21(b), a court has broad discretionary power, but should consider: (1) the location of the defendant; (2) the location of possible witnesses; (3) the location of events likely to be in issue; (4) the location of documents and records likely to be involved; (5) the disruption of defendants’ business unless the case is transferred; (6) the expense to the parties; (7) the location of counsel; (8) the relative accessibility of place of trial; (9) the docket condition of each district or division involved; and (10) any other special element which might affect the transfer. Platt v. Minn. Mining & Mfg. Go., 376 U.S. 240, 243-44, 84 S.Ct. 769, 11 L.Ed.2d 674 (1964). “No one factor is likely to be dispositive, but all should be considered under the circumstances.” United States v. Muratoski, 413 F.Supp.2d 8, 9-10 (D.N.H. 2005).
Neither party disputes that venue in Puerto Rico is plainly proper, given the fact that overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy charged in Count 1 are alleged to have occurred in Puerto Rico. See, e.g. United States v. Santiago, 83 F.3d 20, 25 (1st Cir. 1996) (“[I]n a conspiracy case venue is proper in any district in which an act in furtherance of the charged conspiracy has taken place, even if a particular cocon-spirator was not himself physically present in that district.”); 18 U.S.C. § 3237(a) (2013) (“[A]ny offense against the United States begun in one district and completed in another, or committed in more than one district, may be inquired of and prosecuted in any district in which such offense was begun, continued, or completed.”). Although the government ordinarily enjoys broad limits to decide where to bring a conspiracy charge, the rules of criminal procedure require that the Court independently assess defendants’ contention that the Southern District of Florida is the most “convenient” venue. See United States v. Acevedo-Vila, 2008 WL 5130740, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98566 (D.P.R. Dec. 4, 2008) (Barbadoro, J.).
Weighing the relevant factors, it is clear that defendants will suffer greater inconvenience facing trial in Puerto Rico than in Florida. Most importantly, the defendants’ residence and location in Florida, coupled with the expenses to be in
The location of possible witnesses in the more readily accessible venue of southern Florida also heavily weighs in favor of transfer. Attached to defendants’ motion are four declarations of potential witnesses, stating that it would be difficult for them to come to Puerto Rico to serve as character witnesses if trial is conducted in San Juan. (Docket No. 19-1.) To the contrary, were trial to be held in Florida— where the witnesses reside — they “would gladly be” character witnesses. Id. Although the government hypothesizes that it will call “a greater number of witnesses” who reside in Puerto Rico, it makes no showing to support that contention. (See Docket No. 22 at pp. 9-10.) Accordingly, the second and eighth factors weigh in favor of transfer.
The Court also agrees with defendants that the docket conditions of the District Court of Puerto Rico relative to that of the Southern District of Florida support transfer of the case. Although the government alleges to have calculated the number of trials per judge in the District Court of Puerto Rico to be less than that in the Southern District of Florida, the Court echoes the understanding that “the District Court of Puerto Rico has one of the most congested criminal dockets in the country in large part due to the high number of multi-defendant cases in Puerto Rico.” See United States v. Farmer, Criminal No. 13-162, (Dominguez, J.) (Opinion & Order dated Aug. 26, 2013); see also United States v. Flores-Machicote, 706 F.3d 16, 22-24 (1st Cir. 2013) (detailing Puerto Rico’s escalating murder rate and other local criminal trends). Certainly, the recent statistic that 1,867 criminal defendants were “commenced” in the District of Puerto Rico, with six active judges and two senior judges handling criminal trials, is greater than the statistic that 2,526 defendants were commenced in the Southern District of Florida, with 24 judges. See United States Courts, Caseload Statistics 2013, Table D-3 “Defendants Commenced, by Offense and District,” http://www. uscourts.gov/Statistics/FederalJudicial CaseloadStatistics/easeload-statistics-2013.aspx (last visited January 21, 2014); United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico Website, Judges of the United States District Court, http://www. prd.uscourts.gov/? q=judges-united-states-district-court (last visited January 21, 2014); United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida Website, Judge Information, http://www.flsd. uscourts.gov/?page_id=3551 (last visited January 21, 2014). Accordingly, the ninth factor also favors transfer.
The Court finds that the remaining factors neither weigh in favor of nor against transfer. The location of documents and
III. Conclusion
Because a trial in Florida would be manifestly more convenient to defendants than a trial in Puerto Rico, the Court GRANTS defendants’ motion for transfer of venue to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, (Docket No. 19).
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. Diego CAMPESTRINI and Cell Tech Electronics Inc.
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published