Appeal - Government Appeal

United States v. Chaudhry, 630 F.3d 875 (9th Cir. 2011)

The government may not appeal a decision by the trial court to commit a defendant to a psychiatric facility pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4241.

United States v. Weyhrauch, 544 F.3d 969 (9th Cir. 2008)

The government failed to provide an adequate certification under 18 U.S.C. § 3731, because it was not signed by the U.S. Attorney himself, nor was there proof that a proper Department of Justice official approved the pretrial appeal.

United States v. Giffen, 473 F.3d 30 (2d Cir. 2006)

The government is authorized to appeal an adverse decision by the district court relating to the Classified Information Procedure Act (CIPA) insofar as the district court’s ruling relates to the admissibility or non-admissibility of classified evidence. In this case, no specific ruling was made by the district court relating to any item of evidence; rather, the court simply held that the defendant’s “public authority defense” would be considered in evaluating the CIPA issues.

United States v. Arce-Jasso, 389 F.3d 124 (5th Cir. 2004)

The district court granted a motion to suppress after the trial was concluded. The government’s appeal of this order more than thirty days after the decision was reached was untimely. The government’s argument – that the time to appeal did not start until the trial court granted the post-verdict judgment of acquittal – was meritless, in light of the clear requirement of § 3731.

United States v. Watson, 386 F.3d 304 (1st Cir. 2004)

The government may not appeal a trial court’s denial of a government motion to appeal. See 18 U.S.C. § 3731. In this case, the prosecutor requested a continuance in order to secure the attendance of a witness who was out of the country and would not return voluntarily. The prosecutor wanted additional time to take the witness’s deposition.

United States v. Pharis, 298 F.3d 228 (3rd Cir. 2002)

During the course of trial, the trial court redacted certain portions of the indictment and limited certain evidence that the government could introduce. The government appealed, arguing that the trial court’s ruling was tantamount to dismissing the indictment. The Third Circuit disagreed. 18 U.S.C. § 3731 only authorizes the government to appeal when the indictment, or some count in the indictment is actually dismissed, not when an evidentiary ruling makes it difficult to prove the case. Another sub-section of § 3731 authorizes the government to appeal when evidence is excluded or suppressed, but that only applies if the appeal is filed prior to trial.

United States v. Hundley, 858 F.2d 58 (2d Cir. 1988)

The trial court wanted to permit the government to appeal his sentencing decision which did not include a government-sought fifteen year enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act. In order to facilitate the government’s appeal, the Court sentenced the defendant as the government proposed and then granted an immediate §2255 motion and set aside the sentence. Since the government can appeal a §2255 decision, an appeal was taken to the Second Circuit. The Second Circuit held that this “contrivance of a staged plea and sentence” could not confer jurisdiction on the appellate court.

United States v. Carrillo-Bernal, 58 F.3d 1490 (10th Cir. 1995)

When the government appeals pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3731, the government must certify that the appeal is not taken for purpose of delay and that the evidence suppressed represents a substantial proof of a material fact in the proceeding. The government may not comply with this requirement with a mere rubber stamp determination that the issue is important. Every district court order which suppresses evidence is not appropriately appealed under §3731.