United States v. Bowline
Opinion
Defendant Ian Alexander Bowline was convicted by a jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma on a number of charges involving unlawful prescriptions for oxycodone. He appeals his conviction, raising only one issue: whether the district court properly denied his untimely pretrial motion to dismiss his indictment on the ground of vindictive prosecution. The district court ruled (1) that he was procedurally barred because he had not shown good cause under Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(c)(3) to excuse his untimeliness and (2) that on the merits he had not demonstrated that he was being subjected to a vindictive prosecution. Defendant appeals. He does not argue that he had good cause for his untimely motion but contends that he can nevertheless raise his vindictive-prosecution claim on appeal under a plain-error standard of review, which he claims he satisfied. Exercising jurisdiction under
I. BACKGROUND
Defendant's trial was his second on charges arising out of the oxycodone prescriptions. We reversed his convictions after the first trial.
See
United States v. Bowline
,
At his first trial in March 2015, Defendant was convicted of conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute, oxycodone,
see
In January 2017 the government filed a new indictment against Defendant. Rather than again pursuing conspiracy-based charges, the government obtained an indictment on a number of previously uncharged substantive offenses: 11 counts of passing fraudulent prescriptions, see 21 U.S.C. 843(a)(3), and 11 counts of using a registration number of another in creating those prescriptions, see 21 U.S.C. 843(a)(2). Two counts were later dismissed on the government's motion.
The court set January 26 as the deadline for all pretrial motions. After that deadline passed, the government filed an unopposed motion to continue the trial, and the court issued an amended scheduling order postponing the trial date to April 4 and setting March 9 as the new deadline to file all pretrial motions. On April 1, the Saturday before the Tuesday trial and after both pretrial-motion deadlines had expired, Defendant filed a motion to dismiss his indictment for vindictive prosecution. The district court denied the motion as untimely under Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(c)(3). It found that "Defendant's basis for the motion to dismiss was known since the time the Indictment was returned" and Defendant had not shown good cause that would excuse his delay. R., Vol. 1 at 142. The court also rejected Defendant's motion on the merits. Defendant was convicted on 16 counts and sentenced to concurrent terms of 16 months on each count with credit for time served.
II. DISCUSSION
We hold that we cannot review an untimely motion claiming vindictive prosecution absent a showing of good cause. This court so held before the 2014 amendments to Rule 12,
see
United States v. Burke
,
Our conclusion follows from a straightforward reading of the Rule. The pertinent parts of Rule 12 state:
(b) Pretrial Motions
...
(2) Motions That May Be Made at Any Time. A motion that the court lacks jurisdiction may be made at any time while the case is pending.
(3) Motions That Must Be Made Before Trial. The following defenses, objections, and requests must be raised by pretrial motion if the basis for the motion is then reasonably available and the motion can be determined without a trial on the merits:
(A) a defect in instituting the prosecution, including:
(i) improper venue;
(ii) preindictment delay;
(iii) a violation of the constitutional right to a speedy trial;
*1230 (iv) selective or vindictive prosecution ; and
(v) an error in the grand-jury proceeding or preliminary hearing;
(B) a defect in the indictment or information, including:
(i) joining two or more offenses in the same count (duplicity);
(ii) charging the same offense in more than one count (multiplicity);
(iii) lack of specificity;
(iv) improper joinder; and
(v) failure to state an offense;
(C) suppression of evidence;
(D) severance of charges or defendants under Rule 14; and
(E) discovery under Rule 16....
(c) Deadline for a Pretrial Motion; Consequences of Not Making a Timely Motion.
(1) Setting the Deadline. The court may, at the arraignment or as soon afterward as practicable, set a deadline for the parties to make pretrial motions and may also schedule a motion hearing. If the court does not set one, the deadline is the start of trial.
(2) Extending or Resetting the Deadline. At any time before trial, the court may extend or reset the deadline for pretrial motions.
(3) Consequences of Not Making a Timely Motion Under Rule 12(b)(3). If a party does not meet the deadline for making a Rule 12(b)(3) motion, the motion is untimely. But a court may consider the defense, objection, or request if the party shows good cause.
Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(b), (c) (emphasis added).
The Rule clearly provides only one circumstance in which an untimely motion can be considered-when the movant "shows good cause." Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(c)(3). Defendant acknowledges that a district court has no authority to consider an untimely motion absent good cause, but he contends that this court is not so bound. This makes little sense. Correction of error is almost always better if done at the trial level rather than on appeal. In
United States v. Dieter
,
The present language of the Rule supports this commonsense view. In all but one of the 11 times that Rule 12 uses the word
court
, it speaks in terms of "
the
court"-clearly referring to the court in which the trial is pending. Rule 12(c)(3), in contrast, states, "But
a
court may consider the defense, objection, or request if the party shows good cause." (emphasis added). Why the change in locution if the Rule is still referring to the trial court? We think it clear that in this paragraph the Rule is referring to an appellate court (or perhaps a court hearing a postconviction challenge) as well as the trial court. We note that the Rules of Criminal Procedure, although directed principally at the trial courts, plainly state that the word
court
can refer to an appellate court as well. The Rules "govern the procedure in all criminal proceedings in the United States district
*1231
courts,
the United States courts of appeals
, and the Supreme Court of the United States." Fed. R. Crim. Proc. 1(a)(1) (emphasis added). Also, they define
Court
as a "federal judge performing functions authorized by law." Fed. R. Crim. Proc. 1(b)(2). And the definition of
federal judge
incorporates the definition of
judge
in
Despite this clear language, Defendant argues that the 2014 amendments to Rule 12 indicate that plain-error review of an untimely motion is permissible. Before the amendments, Rule 12(e) (the counterpart of present Rule 12(c)(3) ) read: "A party waives any Rule 12(b)(3) defense, objection, or request not raised by the deadline the court sets under Rule 12(c) or by any extension the court provides. For good cause, the court may grant relief from the waiver." Defendant interprets the removal of the words waive and waiver from the Rule in 2014 as signaling a change in the operative standard of review.
Defendant's argument appears to be as follows: First, the only time a party is precluded from raising an issue on appeal is when the party has "waived" the issue in the district court. Otherwise, the party may seek relief for plain error under Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(b) (which states, "A plain error that affects substantial rights may be considered even though it was not brought to the court's attention."). Second, a party waives an issue only if the failure to raise it is an intentional relinquishment of a known right. Otherwise (for example, when the failure to raise an issue was an oversight or mere negligence), the failure amounts to only a forfeiture, and the issue is reviewable for plain error. Third, elimination of the word waiver from the Rule indicates that a failure to raise a timely motion subject to Rule 12 may be a forfeiture, rather than a waiver, and the issue is then reviewable under plain error.
Defendant's analysis rests on the false premise that there are only two alternatives with respect to appellate review of an issue not properly raised by a party: One alternative is that a party knowingly and intentionally relinquishes a known right, thereby precluding appellate review. The other is that a party fails to raise an issue by some action (or inaction) short of a knowing relinquishment of a right, in which case appellate review for plain error is available. But there are common circumstances in which appellate review of an issue is precluded even when a party's failure to raise the issue was not an intentional relinquishment of a known right. The failure to raise an issue in a timely fashion may have institutional consequences that justify precluding review even if the untimeliness was the result of mere oversight or negligence, even when barring review would be of great consequence to the neglectful party.
For example, failure to file a timely notice of appeal in a criminal case is generally dispositive whenever the failure is raised by the opposing party.
See
United States v. Garduno
,
To be sure, the Supreme Court has used the two-alternative framework advanced by Defendant when describing in general the consequences for appeal of a failure to timely raise an issue. In
United States v. Olano
,
In particular,
Olano
did not overrule, or even cite,
Davis v. United States
,
Defenses and objections based on defects in the institution of the prosecution or in the indictment or information other than that it fails to show jurisdiction in the court or to charge an offense may be raised only by motion before trial. The motion shall include all such defenses and objections then available to the defendant. Failure to present any such defense or objection as herein provided constitutes a waiver thereof, but the court for cause shown may grant relief from the waiver ....
Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(b)(2) (1944), as quoted in 1A Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 190 n.2 (4th ed. 2018) (emphasis added), and 24 Moore's Federal Practice, § 612.100 (3d ed. 2018) (emphasis added). One might have questioned whether the term waiver as used in the original Rule required an intentional relinquishment of a known right and whether the rule had any consequences for appellate review. But Davis answered those questions: waiver under Rule 12 did not require an intentional relinquishment of a known right, and a waiver barred appellate (or collateral) review absent a showing of cause and prejudice.
In
Davis
the defendant raised a constitutional challenge to the composition of his grand jury for the first time in a
But the Court rejected that argument, explaining that when a rule "promulgated by this Court and ... adopted by Congress, governs by its terms the manner in which the claims of defects in the institution of criminal proceedings may be waived," the standard specified in the rule controls.
Davis
,
Interpreting Rule 12 in this manner, the Court explained, accords with both the Rule's origins and good policy. Rule 12 was intended to codify the long-recognized notion that "defendants who pleaded to an indictment and went to trial without making any nonjurisdictional objection to the grand jury, even one unconstitutionally composed, waived any right of subsequent complaint on account thereof."
If defendants were allowed to flout [the] time limitations [in Rule 12 ], ... there would be little incentive to comply with its terms when a successful attack might simply result in a new indictment prior to trial. Strong tactical considerations would militate in favor of delaying the raising of the claim in hopes of an acquittal, with the thought that if those hopes did not materialize, the claim could be used to upset an otherwise valid conviction at a time when reprosecution might well be difficult.
Davis
on its own might be read as permitting review of an untimely claim if either "cause"
or
"prejudice" is shown.
See
In sum, relevant to this decision Davis establishes that (1) waiver as used in Rule 12 did not require an intentional relinquishment of a known right, and (2) an untimely argument subject to Rule 12 is not reviewable either in district court or in any subsequent proceedings absent a showing of an excuse for being untimely. 1
As previously noted, Olano did not overrule Davis . It did not even mention Davis . Nor did it purport to address the meaning or consequence of the term waiver in any specific rule or statute. 2 As the D.C. Circuit nicely explained the point:
Olano and Davis ... are not inconsistent with each other. Although Olano indicates that untimely objections are generally regarded as forfeitures subject to [plain-error review under] Rule 52(b), Davis dictates that untimely objections that come within the ambit of Rule 12(b)(2) must be considered waivers and may not be revived on appeal. We cannot conclude that the Court intended Olano , a case which mentioned neither Rule 12 nor Davis , to overrule Davis by redefining sub silentio the meaning of the word "waiver" in Rule 12.
United States v. Weathers
,
Unfortunately, some appellate decisions concluded that the
Olano
standard must be pasted into Rule 12, at least for purposes of appellate review, so that a "waiver" under Rule 12 did not preclude appellate review unless the waiver was knowing and intelligent.
See, e.g.
,
United States v. Clarke
,
This confusion about the meaning and consequences of the word waiver led to its elimination from Rule 12. Under Davis there could be a waiver without satisfaction *1235 of the Olano intentional-relinquishment standard. But the Olano standard had become dominant in the case law in determining when there had been a waiver, rendering the use of that term in Rule 12 idiosyncratic. Consistent use of a legal term of art is good practice, particularly when there is no need to retain a term with a meaning that differs from its ordinary sense. The Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules thus decided to remove the term waiver . As the Advisory Committee Notes explain:
Although the term waiver in the context of a criminal case ordinarily refers to the intentional relinquishment of a known right, Rule 12(e) has never required any determination that a party who failed to make a timely motion intended to relinquish a defense, objection, or request that was not raised in a timely fashion. Accordingly, to avoid possible confusion the Committee decided not to employ the term "waiver" in new paragraph (c)(3).
Advisory Comm. Notes to Fed. R. Crim. Proc. 12 (2014); see also Advisory Comm. on Crim. Rules Report (May 2011) ("May 2011 Report") at 375 ("Because the ordinary meaning of waiver is a knowing and intentional relinquishment of a right, the non-standard use of that term in Rule 12 creates unnecessary confusion and difficulties. ... After discussion the Advisory Committee concluded that it would be feasible and desirable to revise the rule to avoid [using the term waiver ].").
But elimination of the word waiver from the Rule did not change the operative standard. The Advisory Committee Notes could not be clearer on this point. See Advisory Comm. Notes to Fed. R. Crim. Proc. 12 (2014) ("New paragraph 12(c)(3) retains the existing standard for untimely claims . The party seeking relief must show 'good cause' for failure to raise a claim by the deadline, a flexible standard that requires consideration of all interests in the particular case." (emphasis added)); see also 1A Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 193 (4th ed. 2018) ("One immediate benefit of [removing 'waiver' from the Rule] is that it allows courts to free themselves from the waiver/forfeiture distinction, and apply instead the familiar 'good cause' standard."). And the plain text of the Rule still states that review of any untimely claim subject to Rule 12 is permissible only if the party shows "good cause." Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(c)(3). A term to describe that effect-whether it be waiver or procedural bar or the equivalent-is hardly essential.
Finally, we recognize that the Advisory Committee considered, but ultimately rejected, new language in Rule 12 expressly excluding plain-error review. But the omission of that language from the Rule was not because the committee had endorsed plain-error review. As mentioned above, in the wake of
Olano
some circuit authority (misbegotten in our view because of the failure to consider
Davis
) would apply plain-error review to untimely Rule 12 claims even in the absence of a showing of good cause.
See, e.g.
,
Buchanon
,
At a minimum, the 2014 amendments did not purport to reject
Davis
and authorize plain-error review under the
Olano
standard even when there was no good cause for the failure to raise a timely Rule 12 motion. Given the discretion granted the appellate courts, we would, as a matter of first impression, adhere to the
Davis
standard. But there is an even more compelling reason to do so: circuit precedent. In
Burke
,
Several other circuit courts to consider this issue have reached the same conclusion.
See, e.g.
,
United States v. Sweeney
,
We recognize that other circuits have said that they would apply plain-error review to untimely Rule 12 claims raised for the first time on appeal without requiring
*1237
good cause.
See, e.g.
,
United States v. Vasquez
,
In sum, we will not review an untimely Rule 12 argument absent good cause. Because Defendant raised his untimely argument before the district court, and the district court ruled that Defendant
*1238
failed to demonstrate good cause, we review that ruling for abuse of discretion.
See
Davis
,
III. CONCLUSION
We AFFIRM the district court's denial of Defendant's motion to dismiss. We grant Defendant's unopposed motion to take judicial notice of the record in his prior appeal.
We need not address what, if any, requirement of prejudice must be satisfied before a court can consider an excusably tardy Rule 12 motion.
Even absent such a rule or statute,
Olano
recognized that "[w]hether a particular right is waivable; whether the defendant must participate personally in the waiver; whether certain procedures are required for waiver; and whether the defendant's choice must be particularly informed or voluntary, all depend on the right at stake."
Absent the language in the committee note, there would be a better argument that failure to make a timely Rule 12 motion might sometimes be merely a forfeiture and the appellate court could review for plain error.
See
Burke
,
One argument made against applying the good-cause standard on appellate review is that it "may be difficult to apply on appeal if the issue was not first raised at the district court because review for good cause often requires developing and analyzing facts to determine whether a defendant has shown good cause for the late filing."
Soto
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. Ian Alexander BOWLINE, Defendant - Appellant.
- Cited By
- 36 cases
- Status
- Published