United States v. Saemisch
United States v. Saemisch
Opinion
United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit
No. 22-1076
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Appellee,
v.
CHRISTOPHER SAEMISCH,
Defendant, Appellant.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
[Hon. George A. O'Toole, Jr., U.S. District Judge]
Before
Barron, Chief Judge, Selya and Thompson, Circuit Judges.
Zainabu Rumala, Assistant Federal Public Defender, for appellant. Raquelle L. Kaye, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Rachael S. Rollins, United States Attorney, was on brief, for appellee.
June 5, 2023 SELYA, Circuit Judge. This appeal requires us, for the
first time, to address the so-called "turnover" statute. See
18 U.S.C. § 3664(n). Under this legislation, prison inmates are
required to put "substantial resources" acquired while
incarcerated toward unpaid restitution obligations.
Id.Concluding, as we do, that the district court's application of the
statute was both lawful and within the compass of its discretion,
we affirm its order regarding the disposition of the appellant's
funds.
I
We briefly rehearse the relevant facts and travel of the
case. In March of 2019, a jury convicted defendant-appellant
Christopher Saemisch of distributing child pornography. See 18
U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2)(A). Following his conviction, the district
court sentenced him to a 360-month term of immurement and a
lifetime of supervised release. It also ordered him to make
restitution to the victims of his crime. See id. § 2259; see also
Paroline v. United States,
572 U.S. 434, 443-48(2014) (explaining
special method of calculating restitution in child pornography
cases).
The district court's restitution order, incorporated in
its amended judgment, fixed the restitution amount at $18,000.
Additionally, the order stated that "[p]ayment of the restitution
shall begin immediately and shall be made according to the
- 2 - requirements of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Inmate Financial
Responsibility Program while the [appellant] is incarcerated and
according to a court-ordered repayment schedule during the term of
supervised release."
During the appellant's incarceration, the government
learned that his inmate trust account — an account maintained for
him by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) into which "[f]amily, friends,
or other sources" may make deposits,
28 C.F.R. § 506.1— reflected
a balance of $10,956.36. Citing an amalgam of statutory
provisions, see
18 U.S.C. §§ 3613(a), 3664(m), (n), the government
moved for an order authorizing the BOP to "turnover to the Clerk
of the Court all funds held" in the appellant's account, to be
used "as payment towards" his outstanding restitution obligation.
At the time, the appellant had paid no more than a few hundred
dollars on account of that debt.1
Proceeding pro se, the appellant opposed the motion. He
explained that — between October 1, 2020 and August 13, 2021 — he
had received money from three principal sources: $10,555 from the
settlement of a lawsuit brought to recover the value of items
stolen from him after he was arrested; $1,725 in COVID-related
1In the court below, the government asserted that the appellant had paid only $46.82 toward restitution. Record evidence, though, suggests that the government's assertion may have undershot the mark. The apparent discrepancy is not material for present purposes, and we do not attempt to resolve it.
- 3 - stimulus checks issued by the federal government, see
26 U.S.C. §§ 6428, 6428A, 6428B; and monthly wages earned while working in
prison.2
Relatedly, the appellant noted that he was participating
in the BOP's Inmate Financial Responsibility Program (IFRP). See
28 C.F.R. § 545.10-11. Through the IFRP, fifty percent of the
appellant's monthly earnings from prison wages was to be allocated
to his restitution obligation.
Against this backdrop, the appellant argued that
turnover of his accumulated funds was not warranted for four
reasons. First, he argued that his direct appeal was pending and
that, therefore, the turnover motion was premature.3 Second, he
argued that both the funds obtained from the lawsuit and the
stimulus checks were beyond the reach of the turnover statute
because they were not income. Third, he argued that the stimulus
checks were exempt from turnover because Congress intended that
money to be used to bolster the economy. Fourth, he argued that,
2 The appellant worked in a UNICOR job. "UNICOR is the trade name for Federal Prison Industries, Inc., a government corporation that provides work and training opportunities for federal inmates." United States v. Thompson,
227 F.3d 43, 45 n.4 (2d Cir. 2000); see
28 C.F.R. § 345.11(a). During the period for which the appellant provided data, his monthly prison wages ranged from a low of $23.23 to a high of $138.98.
3 We subsequently affirmed the appellant's conviction and sentence. See United States v. Saemisch,
18 F.4th 50, 66(1st Cir. 2021). Consequently, this ground of objection has been rendered moot.
- 4 - as required by the court's earlier order, he had made all payments
required by the IFRP in a timely manner.
The district court found the appellant's objections
wanting. Citing
18 U.S.C. § 3664(m)(1)(A) and
18 U.S.C. § 3664(n),
the court entered a turnover order. The order directed the BOP to
turn over the full amount contained in the appellant's inmate trust
account ($10,956.36) to the Clerk of the Court for application
toward the appellant's outstanding restitution obligation. This
timely appeal followed.
II
The appellant is now represented by counsel, and he
challenges the district court's decision to grant the turnover
motion. Viewed from a high level of generality, he advances two
contentions. First, he contends that the turnover order
"impermissibly supersede[s]" provisions in the restitution order
that dictate both the timing and amount of his restitution
payments. Second, he contends that — even if the turnover order
is not entirely invalid — the district court needed to make certain
factual findings before it granted the government's motion.
We assume, favorably to the appellant, that these claims
of error are preserved. Cf. Estelle v. Gamble,
429 U.S. 97, 106(1976) (explaining that pro se filings are "to be liberally
construed"). Consequently, we review the district court's
turnover order for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Kidd,
- 5 -
23 F.4th 781, 785(8th Cir. 2022); United States v. Rand,
924 F.3d 140, 142(5th Cir. 2019) (per curiam). Within that rubric, we
"examin[e] the court's subsidiary factual findings for clear error
and its answers to abstract legal questions de novo." United
States v. Chiaradio,
684 F.3d 265, 283(1st Cir. 2012); see United
States v. Troy,
618 F.3d 27, 35(1st Cir. 2010) (noting that
"questions of statutory interpretation . . . entail de novo
review").
III
A
We start with the appellant's contention that the
turnover order is invalid because it "impermissibly supersede[s]"
provisions in the restitution order. Because this contention is
premised on a perceived conflict between the terms of the two
orders, some context is useful.
As noted above, the appellant's restitution order stated
that he was to "begin [payment of restitution] immediately." The
order specified that "[p]ayment of the restitution . . . shall be
made according to the requirements of the [IFRP] while the
[appellant] is incarcerated." Although the restitution order does
not otherwise describe the IFRP's payment terms, the record makes
manifest that the IFRP requires the appellant to allocate fifty
percent of his monthly wages to restitution. The appellant
contends that, because the restitution order requires payments to
- 6 - be made "according to . . . the [IFRP]," the district court could
not authorize turnover of any amount exceeding fifty percent of
his monthly wages unless the court first amended the restitution
order. We do not agree.
Congress has directed district courts to "issue[] and
enforce[]" restitution orders under the Mandatory Victims
Restitution Act (MVRA),
18 U.S.C. § 3664, including orders in child
pornography cases, see
id.§ 2259(b)(3). As relevant here, the
MVRA establishes procedures for district courts to follow when
fashioning such restitution orders, see, e.g., id. § 3664(a)-(f),
and creates mechanisms for adjusting those orders once they have
issued, see, e.g., id. § 3664(k). In addition, the MVRA grants
the government authority to enforce a restitution order after it
comes into effect. See id. § 3664(m).
Of particular pertinence here, the MVRA requires certain
defendants to apply to their restitution obligation any sudden
windfalls that they receive. Section 3664(n) — the statutory
provision relied on by the district court and around which this
appeal revolves — states in relevant part that "[i]f a person
obligated to provide restitution . . . receives substantial
resources from any source . . . during a period of incarceration,
such person shall be required to apply the value of such resources
to any restitution . . . still owed." Id. § 3664(n).
- 7 - By its terms, this statutory provision establishes a
conditional obligation that extends to incarcerated defendants who
owe restitution. That conditional obligation is triggered by a
defendant's receipt of "substantial resources," id., which courts
have held to mean a "windfall[] or sudden financial injection[],"
United States v. Hughes,
914 F.3d 947, 951(5th Cir. 2019); accord
United States v. Carson,
55 F.4th 1053, 1056(6th Cir. 2022).
Because section 3664(n) targets only resources that are
"substantial," the windfall or sudden injection of funds must be
"considerable in amount, value, or worth." Substantial, Webster's
Third New International Dictionary (1993); see Carson,
55 F.4th at 1057. The receipt of such a windfall obligates a defendant — if
ordered by the district court — to "apply the value" of that
windfall to any unpaid restitution.
18 U.S.C. § 3664(n); see
Carson,
55 F.4th at 1056("If [a defendant] receives any windfall,
that amount would automatically apply toward his restitution
obligation.").
In the case at hand, the district court found that the
appellant received funds that qualified as "substantial resources"
under section 3664(n). The appellant's settlement payment easily
fits within that taxonomy. See
18 U.S.C. § 3664(n) (expressly
identifying "settlement" payments as eligible for turnover); see
also Carson,
55 F.4th at 1058(explaining that, where inmate
otherwise earned "no more than a hundred dollars a month in wages,"
- 8 - his receipt of "a few thousand dollars" constituted receipt of
substantial resources). Similarly, the COVID-related stimulus
checks remitted to the appellant fit within that taxonomy. See
United States v. Stark,
56 F.4th 1039, 1041(5th Cir. 2023) (per
curiam) (concluding that COVID stimulus payments constitute
"substantial resources" (quoting
18 U.S.C. § 3664(n))). Before
us, the appellant does not reprise the claim, made below, that
Congress intended the stimulus payments to be immune from turnover.
Any such claim is, therefore, waived. See United States v.
Zannino,
895 F.2d 1, 17(1st Cir. 1990).
Inasmuch as the appellant plainly received funds falling
under the umbrella of section 3664(n), his argument necessarily
hinges on whether the district court could compel him to apply
those funds to his unpaid restitution obligation and, if so,
whether the court could require that he apply those funds
immediately as a lump-sum payment. The appellant posits that
resolving these issues requires us to determine the extent to which
the turnover order conflicts with the terms of the restitution
order. In his view, the restitution order establishes a payment
plan (the IFRP) that limits the amount of money he is required to
pay toward restitution to fifty percent of his monthly wages. By
applying a lump sum that greatly exceeds fifty percent of his wages
to his restitution obligation, the appellant's thesis runs, the
turnover order contravenes the terms of the restitution order.
- 9 - Building on this foundation, the appellant suggests that — in the
absence of either amendment of the restitution order or a default
on the payment plan — there is no justification for ordering the
turnover of additional funds (even funds that constitute
"substantial resources").
The government approaches the issue from a different
angle. It says that — through section 3664(m) of the MVRA —
Congress empowered the district court to enforce orders of
restitution in several ways. One such way is to compel a defendant
to turn over the full value of any windfall that he receives while
in prison. See
18 U.S.C. § 3664(m), (n).
The government's approach is more consistent with the
text and purpose of both the MVRA generally and section 3664(n)
specifically. Through the MVRA, Congress sought "to ensure that
victims of a crime receive [prompt and] full restitution." Dolan
v. United States,
560 U.S. 605, 612 (2010). As one means of
achieving that goal, Congress expanded the government's authority
to enforce orders of restitution. See United States v. Ridgeway,
489 F.3d 732, 736 n.6 (5th Cir. 2007) (stating that, in enacting
the MVRA, Congress "g[ave] the [g]overnment a broader grant of
authority to enforce restitution orders"). In addition, Congress
supplied the government with a better stocked armamentarium for
collecting unpaid restitution. Although Congress specifically
enumerated certain of the mechanisms within this armamentarium,
- 10 - see, e.g.,
18 U.S.C. §§ 3613, 3664(m)(1)(A)(i), it did not restrict
the government's ability to collect restitution to the enumerated
mechanisms alone. Instead, Congress clarified that the government
may use "all other available and reasonable means" to ensure that
defendants promptly and completely satisfy restitution
obligations.
Id.§ 3664(m)(1)(A)(ii).
In this case, the district court — through its reference
to
18 U.S.C. § 3664(m) in the turnover order — implicitly
determined that immediate application of the windfall amount to
the outstanding restitution obligation was an "available and
reasonable" means of enforcing the restitution order. Thus, the
question reduces to whether that determination is supportable.
The MVRA does not define what it means for a method of
enforcement to be "available." "When Congress uses a term in a
statute and does not define it, we generally assume that the term
carries its plain and ordinary meaning." City of Providence v.
Barr,
954 F.3d 23, 31(1st Cir. 2020); see Octane Fitness, LLC v.
ICON Health & Fitness, Inc.,
572 U.S. 545, 553(2014). The plain
and ordinary meaning of the term "available" is "capable of use
for the accomplishment of a purpose" or "immediately utilizable."
Available, Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1993);
see Available, Oxford English Dictionary Online (3d ed. 2022)
(defining "available" as "[a]ble to be used" or "at one's
disposal").
- 11 - The district court's order plainly indicates that the
court understood the turnover of the funds in the appellant's
inmate trust account to be an immediately utilizable means through
which the appellant could be compelled to satisfy his outstanding
restitution obligation. So, too, the order plainly indicates the
court's understanding that such a turnover was justified by section
3664(n). We conclude that both the structure and the text of the
MVRA support this decision.
In reaching this conclusion, we are guided by the tenet
that statutory provisions must be interpreted by reference to the
structure and context of the broader statutory scheme in which
they reside. See Abramski v. United States,
573 U.S. 169, 179
(2014); see also United States v. Seward,
967 F.3d 57, 66(1st
Cir. 2020). The MVRA generally commits determinations regarding
the timing of restitution payments to the district court's
discretion. See
18 U.S.C. § 3664(f)(2)-(3), (k). And section
3664(n) contains nothing to suggest that this general principle
should not apply with unabated force to situations in which a
defendant receives a sudden and substantial infusion of cash.
We add, moreover, that the text of section 3664(n)
reinforces the idea that district courts retain broad discretion
in determining how the value of the substantial resources may be
put toward restitution. In enacting section 3664(n), Congress
established a clear directive: a defendant must "apply" the value
- 12 - of the newly received substantial resources to restitution.
Id.§ 3664(n); see Apply, Webster's Third New International Dictionary
(1993) (defining "apply" as "to use for a particular purpose");
Apply, Black's Law Dictionary (6th ed. 1990) (defining "apply" as
"to appropriate and devote to a particular use"). And although
section 3664(n) is silent as to how or when those resources must
be applied to restitution, that gap is filled by the statutory
directive that such a turnover obligation must be "reasonable."
18 U.S.C. § 3664(m)(1)(A)(ii).
As we have written in other settings, "[r]easonableness
is a concept, not a constant." McCambridge v. Hall,
303 F.3d 24, 36(1st Cir. 2002) (en banc) (quoting United States v. Ocasio,
914 F.2d 330, 336(1st Cir. 1990)). "What is 'reasonable'" will
"necessarily var[y] from case to case." Lopez v. Garriga,
917 F.2d 63, 69(1st Cir. 1990). Thus, "[w]hat is reasonable in one
set of circumstances may be unreasonable in another set of
circumstances." United States v. Pagán-Rodríguez,
600 F.3d 39, 42(1st Cir. 2010). And some cases will be on the margin, requiring
the district court to choose between reasonable, but conflicting,
alternatives.
Here, the district court's decision to require immediate
payment was reasonable under the circumstances. Although the
appellant complains that he needs the money targeted for turnover
for communication purposes and hygienic items, there is nothing in
- 13 - the record to suggest that his future earnings will be insufficient
to cover those costs. After all, the appellant does not dispute
that he will continue to earn income through his job at the prison.
He will retain fifty percent of his prison wages under the IFRP.
The retained portion will enable him to satisfy his general needs
to the extent that those needs are not already met by the BOP.
See United States v. Lillard,
935 F.3d 827, 835(9th Cir. 2019)
(explaining that section 3664(n) only applies to defendant's
receipt of substantial resources during period of incarceration
"because, during such a period, defendants can rely on the [BOP]
to provide for their subsistence needs").
What is more, the district court's turnover order is in
keeping with Congress's expressed intent in enacting both section
3664(n) and the MVRA writ large. In enacting section 3664(n),
Congress sought to ensure "that windfalls received by prisoners
from all sources . . . will go to pay victims" and "not to the
prisoner." 142 Cong. Rec. S3379 (1996) (statement of Sen. Charles
Grassley). That intent matches the intent that underlies the MVRA
as a whole: "ensur[ing] that victims of a crime receive [prompt
and] full restitution." Dolan, 560 U.S. at 612. The district
court's decision to require immediate payment of what remains of
the appellant's windfall amount serves both of these aims. That
fact — coupled with the appellant's failure to show a demonstrated
- 14 - need for the funds — anchors our conclusion that the district
court's requirement of immediate payment was reasonable.
B
Contrary to the appellant's importunings, the mere
circumstance that the restitution order contains a payment
schedule does not demand a different result.4 When a defendant
obtains substantial resources while in prison, section
3664(m)(1)(A)(ii) and section 3664(n), in combination, empower the
district court to enforce the defendant's obligation to apply newly
emergent funds, constituting substantial resources, toward unpaid
restitution immediately, notwithstanding the existence of a
payment schedule. See Rand,
924 F.3d at 142-44(explaining that
payment schedule does not function as "shield against collection"
and permitting turnover notwithstanding fact that defendant's
restitution payments were not to begin, under existing order, until
after release from prison).
4 We assume, without deciding, that the restitution order establishes a payment schedule. The order states that restitution payments "shall be made according to the requirements of the [IFRP]." In turn, the IFRP requires the appellant to remit fifty percent of his monthly wages to restitution. Evidence in the record suggests, though, that the district court may have referred to the IFRP simply to identify the mechanism through which restitution payments were to be made. If that is the case, the default presumption would be that the order does not establish a payment plan. See United States v. Diehl,
848 F.3d 629, 631(5th Cir. 2017); United States v. Wykoff,
839 F.3d 581, 582(7th Cir. 2016).
- 15 - This case illustrates the practical wisdom of such a
rule. The payment schedule contained in the initial restitution
order only accounted for funds that the appellant either possessed
or was reasonably expected to possess when the order was entered.
See
18 U.S.C. § 3664(f)(2) (requiring that restitution order
account for defendant's current assets and projected earnings).
His later windfall constituted a sudden and unusual infusion of
cash that was not anticipated when the district court crafted its
initial order. It would, therefore, make no sense to construe the
initial order's payment schedule as a bar to the district court's
authority (pursuant to sections 3664(m) and (n)) to determine the
timing through which the value of the appellant's later-acquired
windfall should be applied to restitution.
The appellant's reliance on Hughes,
914 F.3d at 949, and
United States v. Martinez,
812 F.3d 1200, 1207(10th Cir. 2015),
is mislaid. Neither of those cases turned on an inmate's receipt
of substantial resources. See Hughes,
914 F.3d at 951; Martinez,
812 F.3d at 1203-07.
C
We summarize succinctly. Section 3664(m)(1)(A)(ii)
authorizes the use of all "available and reasonable means" to
enforce restitution.
18 U.S.C. § 3664(m)(1)(A)(ii). When a
defendant receives a sudden, unanticipated windfall while in
prison, and is required by section 3664(n) to surrender the
- 16 - proceeds, an order requiring the application of those funds to an
outstanding restitution obligation is permissible as long as the
timing and manner of their application is reasonable. Here, the
court's decision to compel the appellant to apply almost the entire
balance of his windfall to unpaid restitution without delay was
reasonable under the circumstances.
That ends this aspect of the matter. We hold that —
under
18 U.S.C. § 3664(m) and (n) — the district court had the
authority to order the BOP to turn over the substantial resources
garnered by the appellant and remaining in his trust account, so
that those funds could be applied immediately to the appellant's
outstanding restitution obligation.
IV
This leaves the appellant's assertion that the district
court overstepped the bounds of its discretion by ordering the
turnover of substantial resources without first making certain
antecedent factual findings. That assertion encompasses two
independent claims, which we treat separately.
A
We begin with the appellant's claim that the district
court was required to assess his financial circumstances before
granting the government's turnover motion. In particular, the
appellant contends that the court needed to consider the matters
limned in
18 U.S.C. § 3664(f)(2)(A)-(C), such as the appellant's
- 17 - assets, projected earnings, and financial obligations. We think
not.
By its terms, section 3664(f)(2) only applies when the
district court is fashioning its original restitution order. See
United States v. Tarnawa,
26 F.4th 720, 724(5th Cir.), cert.
denied,
142 S. Ct. 2887(2022); Lillard,
935 F.3d at 834-35. The
statute's commands have no application to a district court's
decision to authorize a turnover under sections 3664(m) and (n).
The text of section 3664(f)(2) leads inexorably to this
conclusion. The statute states that it applies "[u]pon [the
court's] determination of the amount of restitution owed to each
victim."
18 U.S.C. § 3664(f)(2). That determination occurs only
once in the lifecycle of a restitution order — and it must be made
before the court issues the original restitution order.
To cinch the matter, the statute is framed as a set of
instructions regarding the information that the district court
must include "in the restitution order."
Id.Neither section
3664(f)(2) nor section 3664(n) in any way suggests that those
instructions have any application when a court, months or years
later, considers whether and to what extent a turnover of
substantial resources may be appropriate. Cf. Tarnawa,
26 F.4th at 724-25(declining to "import" section 3664(f)(2) factors into
section 3664(k) because there is no textual link between them).
- 18 - The structure of section 3664(n) fortifies this
conclusion. Unlike section 3664(f), section 3664(n) does not
contain any reference to factors relating to a defendant's
financial condition. That omission is critically important, given
that courts generally should presume that Congress "acts
intentionally when it uses particular language in one section of
a statute but omits it in another." Dep't of Homeland Sec. v.
MacLean,
574 U.S. 383, 391 (2015); see United States ex rel.
Heineman-Guta v. Guidant Corp.,
718 F.3d 28, 35(1st Cir. 2013).
Giving weight to that presumption here, it is conspicuously clear
that Congress's decision not to embed in section 3664(n) language
directing courts to consider a defendant's financial circumstances
was deliberate and that, therefore, Congress did not intend that
such factors should inform the turnover calculus.
That is game, set, and match. We hold that the district
court did not abuse its discretion by issuing the turnover order
without making any findings anent the section 3664(f)(2) factors.
B
Sounding a loosely related theme, the appellant argues
that the district court needed to make a different collocation of
findings. In his view, the court had to identify and
"distinguish[]" the source of the funds in his trust account and
determine whether those funds could be applied toward restitution
before authorizing a turnover.
- 19 - To put this argument into perspective, we note that a
total of $12,280 in funds that fit within the "substantial
resources" taxonomy were deposited into the appellant's inmate
trust account between November of 2020 and March of 2021. Five
months then elapsed before the government moved for a turnover
order in August of 2021.
In the nine-month period between the time when the
appellant received the first windfall payment and the time when
the government moved for a turnover order, the "substantial
resources" deposited into the account were comingled with other
funds (such as the appellant's prison wages). The appellant
contends that this comingling is significant because neither
prison wages nor the gradual accumulation thereof trigger the
possibility of turnover under sections 3664(m) and (n). See
Hughes,
914 F.3d at 951; see also Carson,
55 F.4th at 1057; Kidd,
23 F.4th at 787.
During the same period, money also flowed out of the
account: the appellant made expenditures for books, gifts,
purchases from the commissary, and other sundries. After
accounting for the more than one hundred transactions (including
both deposits and withdrawals) that occurred within this time
frame, the account held a balance of $10,956.36. The government's
motion sought turnover of that amount.
- 20 - Seizing upon the fact that his trust account contained
a mixture of funds, some of which triggered the possibility of
turnover and some of which did not, the appellant argues that —
before the district court could order the turnover of a sum of
money from the account — it should first have identified the source
of that money and restricted any turnover to funds that could
specifically be earmarked as "substantial resources." We think
that this suggestion overstates the district court's duty.
Of course, a district court must examine the source or
sources of an inmate's account before it may order the turnover of
funds contained in that account under sections 3664(m) and (n).
See Kidd,
23 F.4th at 783-85, 787-88(vacating turnover when source
of funds in inmate's account was "unknown"). If the examination
discloses that the account is comprised, wholly or partially, of
funds properly characterized as "substantial resources," then that
account — up to the total amount of the "substantial resources" —
may be targeted in a turnover order. See
id. at 787. If, however,
the examination discloses that the monies in the account consist
only of gradually accumulated prison wages or other funds that do
not qualify as "substantial resources," section 3664(n) is not
implicated and the district court may not enter a turnover order
under sections 3664(m) and (n). See id.; Hughes,
914 F.3d at 951.
In this instance, an examination of the trust account
shows that the balance derived from a combination of sources,
- 21 - including the appellant's prison wages. That comingling, the
appellant contends, required the district court to conduct
additional factfinding to trace the source of every dollar
remaining in his trust account and isolate the amount that stemmed
from his UNICOR wages. This contention is ill-conceived. Where,
as here, a district court finds that funds that constitute
substantial resources have been comingled with other funds in a
single account, the court should consider whether it is practicable
to segregate the amount of money derived from substantial
resources.
But money is fungible, see United States v. Rivera-
Izquierdo,
850 F.3d 38, 45 n.6 (1st Cir. 2017), and in many cases
it will be impossible for the court to make a dollar-by-dollar
accounting, tracing individual dollars back to their original
sources, see United States v. Ayika,
837 F.3d 460, 472(5th Cir.
2016) ("[W]hen legitimate money and illegitimate money are placed
in the same account, and various withdrawals and other deposits
occur over time, there is no method to determine the exact source
of any specific dollar or dollars."); United States v. Moore,
27 F.3d 969, 976-77(4th Cir. 1994) (explaining that, once combined,
illicitly obtained funds cannot be distinguished from legitimately
acquired funds). In that event, the court — under sections 3664(m)
and (n) — may order the turnover of any sum of money up to the
amount of substantial resources deposited into the account. An
- 22 - important limiting principle is that the district court's turnover
order must be in an amount that is reasonable under the
circumstances. See
18 U.S.C. § 3664(m)(1)(A)(ii).
The order appealed from satisfies these criteria.
Although the court did not expressly consider whether it was
practicable to determine how much of the appellant's account
balance derived from substantial resources, the record makes
pellucid that — given the pervasive comingling — it would have
been impossible for the court to segregate the funds that triggered
the possibility of turnover from those that did not. Thus, it was
sufficient for the court to find — as it did — that the appellant
had received substantial resources totaling $12,280, which had
been deposited into his trust account. That figure then became
the ceiling for a turnover order, and the court's decision to order
the immediate turnover of $10,956.36 was reasonable (especially
since the reason that the account held less than $12,280 was that
the appellant had already spent some of the money).
Given this reasoning, we reject the appellant's claim
that additional factfinding was required. Relatedly, we hold that
the turnover order was within the ambit of the district court's
discretion.
- 23 - V
We need go no further. For the reasons elucidated above,
the turnover order is
Affirmed.
- 24 -
Reference
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published