v.
Scott Frederick ARTERBURY
Now before the Court are defendant Scott Frederick Arterbury's motion to enforce prior order suppressing evidence on grounds of collateral estoppel (Dkt. # 13), and motion, in the alternative, to suppress evidence and request for an evidentiary hearing (Dkt. # 14).
I. Background
According to plaintiff, defendant Scott Frederick Arterbury is among the hundreds nationwide whom the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) discovered accessing the child pornography website PlayPen. Dkt. # 18, at 1; see generally United States v. Workman,
[*1197] To identify these individuals, the FBI obtained a warrant (the PlayPen warrant) from a magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia (E.D. Va.). Work man,
In prosecuting these so-called PlayPen cases in federal courts throughout the country, plaintiff, in some instances, has encountered a roadblock in the form of a two-part legal question that district courts have answered differently: i.e. does a magistrate judge in the E.D. Va. have the authority to issue a warrant seeking to search property outside of her judicial district? And, even if no, does the good faith exception to the Fourth Amendment's exclusionary rule (see United States v. Leon,
Defendant, who plaintiff alleges accessed PlayPen from a computer in Oklahoma, answers both questions in the negative. And, in a prior prosecution against him, based on facts identical to the instant matter, a different judge in this district agreed. See United States of America v. Scott Frederick Arterbury, 15-CR-182 (N.D. Okla. filed Dec. 7, 2015) (Arterbury I ), Dkt. # 47.
In Arterbury I, on December 7, 2015, a grand jury indicted defendant on one count of possession of child pornography in violation of
Plaintiff's effort to hold defendant accountable for his alleged possession of child pornography, however, would not end there. On July 21, 2017, the Tenth Circuit issued an opinion in Workman,
Currently before the Court are defendant's motion to enforce the Arterbury I suppression order on the ground of collateral estoppel (Dkt. # 13), and, in the alternative, motion to suppress evidence and request for an evidentiary hearing (Dkt. # 14).
II. Defendant's Motion to Enforce the Arterbury I Suppression Order
Defendant argues, on two grounds, that the Arterbury I suppression order binds the parties in this case. First, citing no authority, defendant asserts that because the Tenth Circuit's order dismissing plaintiff's interlocutory appeal of the Arterbury I suppression order did not specify whether the appeal was dismissed with or without prejudice, this Court must presume that the dismissal was with prejudice. Dkt. # 13, at 3. Accordingly, defendant contends, plaintiff waived its right to appeal the Arterbury I suppression order and that order thus binds plaintiff in this case.
In response, plaintiff notes defendant's failure to support his argument that this Court must presume that the Tenth Circuit's dismissal of plaintiff's interlocutory appeal was with prejudice. Dkt. # 17, at 6.
[*1199] Plaintiff adds that where, as here, a district court dismisses an indictment without prejudice, plaintiff has the right to seek reindictment for the same offense.
Defendant replies that the change-in-law exception to collateral estoppel does not apply in this case because Workman did not change the law. Dkt. # 19, at 1.[7] Rather, defendant argues, Workman merely applied existing law (i.e. the good-faith exception) correctly, and there is no exception to collateral estoppel where a previous issue was merely decided erroneously. Id. at 4. An erroneous determination, defendant asserts, can be corrected only on direct review. Id. at 4-12 (discussing Oppenheimer; Federated Dept. Stores Inc. v. Moitie,
The Court considers first defendant's argument that the Court must (1) presume that the Tenth Circuit dismissed plaintiff's interlocutory appeal of the Arterbury I suppression order with prejudice (because the dismissal order was silent as to prejudice), and (2) conclude that plaintiff thus waived its right to appeal the suppression order and that the order thus binds plaintiff in this case. Defendant's argument is grounded in neither law nor logic. Defendant does not provide, and the Court has not found, support for the proposition that voluntarily dismissed appeals are presumed to be with prejudice. Rather, the weight of authority suggests that, under Fed. R. App. P. 42, a voluntarily dismissed appeal may be reinstated if a timely notice of appeal can still be filed. See 16AA C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure § 3998 (4th ed. Updated April 2018) (collecting cases). Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4 provides that the government had thirty-days after the Arterbury I court entered the suppression order, or an order on reconsideration, to file a notice of appeal. That time has obviously passed, and defendant is therefore correct, in a sense, that plaintiff is foreclosed from refiling its interlocutory appeal of the Arterbury I suppression order. But plaintiff is not seeking to do so. And defendant does not proffer, and the Court [*1200] does not see, any reason why the fact that plaintiff is time-barred from refiling its interlocutory appeal of the Arterbury I suppression order leads to the conclusion that plaintiff is also barred from seeking a new indictment against defendant, which the Arterbury I court dismissed, in no uncertain terms, "without prejudice to refiling same." Arterbury I, 15-CR-182 at Dkt. # 47.
Next, the Court addresses defendant's argument that the doctrine of collateral estoppel makes the Arterbury I suppression order binding here. The precise question that this argument presents is, as far as the Court can tell, one of first impression. It is the following: does collateral estoppel bar a prosecuting authority from prosecuting a defendant where a suppression order was granted in defendant's favor in a prior litigation at a procedural stage where jeopardy had not attached, and where, since the prior litigation, a higher court has issued controlling precedent overruling the legal basis upon which the suppression order was granted? For reasons now explained, in the Court's opinion, the answer is no.
Though rooted in and usually associated with civil litigation, courts have applied the doctrine of collateral estoppel in the criminal context since at least 1916. Michelle S. Simon, Offensive Issue Preclusion in the Criminal Context: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back,
The Arterbury I court, however, entered the suppression order before trial, and jeopardy, therefore, had not attached. See United States v. Wampler,
In Oppenheimer, the Supreme Court (with Justice Holmes delivering the opinion) affirmed a dismissal of an indictment on the ground that an indictment for the same offense had previously been dismissed, in a separate action, as time-barred.
The safeguard provided by the Constitution against the gravest abuses has tended to give the impression that when it did not apply in terms, there was no other principle that could. But the 5th Amendment was not intended to do away with what in the civil law is a fundamental principle of justice in order, when a man once has been acquitted on the merits, to enable the government to prosecute him a second time.
In considering Oppenheimer in light of Ashe, one might be tempted to conclude that the latter, in grounding criminal collateral estoppel in the Double Jeopardy Clause, overruled the former's holding that the doctrine applies outside of a double jeopardy context, "as a fundamental principle of justice in order."
The Courts in DiGiangiemo and Evans recognized that Ashe left the door open for future courts to employ the due process-oriented, federal rule of criminal collateral estoppel first articulated in Oppenheimer. In DiGiangiemo, a state prisoner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing [*1202] that his due process rights were violated when, at trial, the state introduced evidence against him obtained during a search that had been adjudicated illegal on a pretrial motion to suppress at a prior proceeding regarding a separate indictment.
In Evans, defendant was indicted in the Eastern District of Lousiana (E.D. La.) and had previously been indicted on a related charge in the District of Connecticut (D. Conn.).
Under Oppenheimer, Ashe, DiGiangiemo, and Evans, it is thus clear that a federal court may apply criminal collateral estoppel-as a venerable, due process-oriented rule of federal law-to bar a prosecuting authority from relitigating an issue against the same defendant that was already determined at a prior, separate proceeding, despite the fact that jeopardy had not attached at that proceeding. See also Loera v. United States,
Contrary to defendant's belief, however, neither Oppenheimer, DiGiangiemo, nor Evans address the precise issue before the Court, let alone compel the Court to bar plaintiff from prosecuting defendant on this charge. It is true that the facts of this case hew closely to those in Oppenheimer: there, the Supreme Court collaterally estopped plaintiff from seeking a new indictment, notwithstanding the facts that jeopardy had not attached when the first indictment was dismissed and, since that dismissal, the Court had issued a [*1203] statement of controlling authority in a separate case overruling the dismissal's legal basis. But the Oppenheimer Court held only that collateral estoppel bars seeking grand jury reissuance of a previously dismissed indictment-irrespective of whether jeopardy had attached or there has been an intervening change in law-after a "judgment of acquittal," which the Court deemed a dismissal pursuant to the statute of limitations to be.
The Court is thus left to answer, as a question of first impression, whether the due process-oriented, federal rule of criminal collateral estoppel bars plaintiff from reprosecuting Arterbury in spite of Workman-i.e. a statement of controlling authority that overruled the legal basis upon which an earlier motion to suppress was granted.
Plaintiff contends that collateral estoppel is inapplicable here because Workman, which was issued after Arterbury I was dismissed, constitutes an intervening change in law. See Spradling,
Having established that criminal collateral estoppel has application outside of a double jeopardy context, as a due process-oriented rule of federal law, and that no authority indicates whether there exists a change-in-law exception to this rule, the question before the Court boils down to this: is it fundamentally unfair to defendant, in light of Workman, for the Court to allow plaintiff to reprosecute Arterbury? To aid in this determination, the Court harkens back to the basic aims of the due-process oriented, federal rule of criminal collateral estoppel. These include: (1) reducing the chance that relitigation of an acquitted act could result in the conviction of an innocent defendant; (2) promoting [*1204] finality; (3) promoting judicial economy; (4) denying the prosecution the opportunity to improve its case for a second trial; (5) preventing prosecutorial harassment; and (6) preventing prosecutorial forum shopping. See Evans,
Considering these aims in light of the facts of this case, the Court finds that allowing plaintiff to reprosecute Arterbury is not fundamentally unfair to defendant. In Arterbury I, defendant was not acquitted of any acts. As to finality, the Arterbury I court's dismissal order specified that the case was dismissed without prejudice to refiling same; defendant, therefore, was on notice that plaintiff could refile its case against him. Regarding judicial economy, this principle cuts in defendant's favor, but its importance in the criminal context is lessened because of the "public interest in the accuracy and justice of criminal results." Standefer v. U.S.,
Accordingly, defendant's motion to enforce prior order suppressing evidence on grounds of collateral estoppel (Dkt. # 13) is denied.
III. Defendant's Motion to Suppress and Request for an Evidentiary Hearing
Defendant argues that, even if the Arterbury I suppression order does not bind the parties in this case (which, as this opinion and order establishes, it does not), the Court must suppress the evidence that the FBI obtained in searching his residence and computer (including photos and videos of child pornography), as well as his statements to law enforcement officers. Dkt. # 14, at 1, 26. Defendant provides three reasons in support of this argument. First, he asserts that the E.D. Va. magistrate judge, under Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(b), lacked the authority to issue the PlayPen warrant. Id. at 5. Second, he contends that the affiant, in obtaining the PlayPen warrant, recklessly failed to disclose material information to the E.D. Va. magistrate judge, and defendant requests an evidentiary hearing on this issue. Id. at 14-15 (citing Franks v. Delaware,
Plaintiff responds that Workman forecloses all of defendant's arguments. Dkt. # 18, at 4. Plaintiff is correct. As discussed, Workman held that the good faith exception applies to evidence obtained pursuant to the PlayPen warrant.
1. the affiant obtains the warrant by recklessly or intentionally supplying [*1205] false information to the judge, [and] [...]
3. the executing officers cannot reasonably believe that probable cause existed [.]
Id at 1317-18 (citing Leon,
Accordingly, defendant's motion, in the alternative, to suppress and request for an evidentiary hearing (Dkt. # 14) are denied.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that defendant's motion to enforce prior order suppressing evidence on the ground of collateral estoppel (Dkt. # 13) is denied.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that defendant's motion, in the alternative, to suppress evidence and request for an evidentiary hearing (Dkt. # 14) are denied.
Although the Tenth Circuit's dismissal order does not state whether the appeal was dismissed with or without prejudice, the Tenth Circuit docket sheet states that it was a "[p]rocedural termination without judicial action by the Clerk of the Court." Docket Entry for October 20, 2016, at 2:15 p.m., United States v. Arterbury, No. 16-5117 (10th Cir. July 27, 2016).
It appears, for courts in the Tenth Circuit, that Workman is the last word on this issue; on April 16, 2018, the Supreme Court denied Andrew Workman's (i.e. the defendant in Workman ) petition for writ of certiorari. --- U.S. ----,
Plaintiff filed a notice of related case, acknowledging that the instant matter is based on the same facts as Arterbury I. Dkt. # 5.
In addition, defendant asserts broadly that plaintiff's seeking a new indictment against him is "unconscionable and a violation of his procedural due process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution." Id. at 5.
This and other cited unpublished decisions are not precedential, but may be cited for their persuasive value. See Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 ; 10th Cir. R. 32.1.
Defense counsel is advised that in the Northern District of Oklahoma replies in criminal cases are to be filed only with permission of the court (which defense counsel did not seek prior to filing defendant's reply). See N.D. Okla. LCrR 47. Accordingly, the scheduling order in this case did not set a due date for a reply. See Dkt. # 11. However, the Court has reviewed and considered his reply.
In addition, in his reply, defendant clarifies that he makes no argument under the doctrine of the law of the case. Id. at 12. See generally United States v. Alvarez,
Two ways, alluded to above, in which the Supreme Court has limited its holding in Ashe warrant mention. First, in Heath v. Alabama,
In addition, defendant discusses Searing, also cited above. But Searing is inapposite, as it applies collateral estoppel in a civil rights lawsuit. The Court, therefore, excludes Searing from its analysis of criminal collateral estoppel outside of the double jeopardy context.
See supra pages 1997-98.