U.S. v. Angleton

Decision Date19 July 2002
Docket NumberCriminal No. H-02-0040.
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Government, v. Robert N. ANGLETON, Defendant.
CourtU.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

Michael Wayne Ramsey, Houston, TX, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND OPINION

ROSENTHAL, District Judge.

In 1997, a Texas grand jury indicted Robert N. Angleton for the capital murder of his wife, Doris Angleton. The indictment alleged that Angleton had promised to pay his brother to have Doris Angleton killed. In August 1998, a Texas state jury acquitted Robert Angleton of the capital murder charge. In January 2002, a federal grand jury indicted Robert Angleton under the federal murder for hire statute, alleging that he had promised to pay his brother to have Doris Angleton killed and caused his brother to travel in interstate commerce and use interstate facilities to accomplish the murder. Angleton has moved to dismiss this federal indictment on the basis of his prior trial and acquittal on the state capital murder charge. The question before this court is whether the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution bars this prosecution and requires the dismissal of the federal indictment.1

This court concludes that although the State of Texas would be foreclosed from reprosecuting Angleton for the murder of his wife, the dual sovereignty doctrine, which permits the federal and state governments to prosecute an individual for the same act if that act violates the laws of each government, defeats Angleton's motion to dismiss. Long-standing precedent affirming and applying the dual sovereignty doctrine leads this court to conclude that double jeopardy does not bar this federal prosecution. However, not all of Angleton's arguments are frivolous, as that term is defined in United States v. Dunbar, 611 F.2d 985 (5th Cir.1980), and United States v. Kalish, 690 F.2d 1144, 1147 (1982), or made for the sole purpose of delaying this federal trial. Based on the finding of nonfrivolousness, Angleton is entitled to an expedited interlocutory appeal under Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977) and Dunbar, 611 F.2d 985, that will postpone the trial until a determination is made of the merits of the appeal.

The reasons for these rulings are explained in detail below.

I. Background2

In April 1997, Doris Angleton was shot to death in her home in Houston, Texas. An extensive investigation followed. The primary investigators were Houston Police Department Homicide Detective Sergeants Jerry Novak and David Ferguson. Suspicion focused on Robert Angleton, from whom Doris Angleton was seeking a divorce. Robert Angleton was familiar to state and federal law enforcement officers as a professional bookmaker who cooperated with local and federal law enforcement agencies, working as an informant while continuing his illegal activities. The investigation led the police officers to suspect that Roger Angleton, Robert Angleton's brother, was involved in the murder. Roger Angleton had lived in San Diego, California. (Docket Entry No. 38, Ex. 6, Vol. 6, at 166). Police developed evidence showing that shortly before the murder of Doris Angleton, Roger Angleton used various aliases to register in different hotel rooms and rent two cars in Houston, Texas. (Id. at 151-169; Vol. 7, at 7-43). A few days after the murder, Roger Angleton abandoned a suitcase at an airport security checkpoint after two guns were detected. (Id. at 25-37; 60-62; 157-58).3 Roger Angleton was later arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada on unrelated California warrants. (Id. at 129-151). Police also developed evidence that showed mail communications between Angleton and his brother shortly before and after the murder. (Docket Entry No. 64, Ex. 3, at 14, 18).

In the fall of 1997, following Roger Angleton's arrest in Las Vegas, Nevada, police arrested both brothers for Doris Angleton's murder. In October 1997, a Texas grand jury returned separate indictments against Roger Angleton and Robert Angleton for capital murder under section 19.03 of the Texas Penal Code. The Texas indictment against Robert Angleton alleged as follows:

The duly organized Grand Jury of Harris County, presents in the District Court of Harris County, Texas, that in Harris County, Texas, ROBERT NICHOLAS ANGLETON, hereinafter styled the Defendant, on or about APRIL 16, 1997, did then and there unlawfully, intentionally, and knowingly cause the death of DORIS ANGLETON, hereafter styled the Complainant, by promising money to ROGER ANGLETON to cause the death of the Complainant for remuneration and the promise of remuneration.

(Docket Entry No. 38, Ex. 2).

Angleton and his brother were held without bond pending trial. In February 1997, Roger Angleton committed suicide in jail. He left behind a handwritten note indicating that he alone was responsible for Doris Angleton's murder.

The state trial of Robert Angleton began in July 1998. During the trial, HPD Detective Sergeants Novak and Ferguson testified and HPD Officer Jewel acted as the liaison between the police department and the Harris County District Attorney's Office. (Docket Entry No. 64, Ex. 3, at 27). During the trial, state prosecutors introduced at least one piece of evidence obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a surveillance tape from an unrelated investigation containing Angleton's voice.4 On August 12, 1998, the jury acquitted Angleton of the capital murder for hire charge. (Docket Entry No. 38, Ex. 3). Angleton's acquittal was the first acquittal in a capital murder case tried in Harris County since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. (Docket Entry No. 64, Ex. 3, at 34).

Approximately six months after the acquittal, FBI Special Agent Cynthia Rosenthal and another FBI agent began investigating Angleton for violations of federal law, including money laundering and RICO violations relating to his gambling and bookmaking activities and income tax evasion. (Id. at 11, 26). This investigation did not include the murder of Doris Angleton. State officials cooperated with this federal investigation. (Id. at 26). At some later date, the Harris County District Attorney's Office asked the United States Attorney's Office to investigate Angleton for murder for hire under federal law. (Id. at 28). In April 2000, the United States Attorney's Office asked the FBI to expand its investigation of Robert Angleton's activities to include his role in the murder of his wife. (Id.). An ad hoc, undocumented joint task force of federal and state officials, consisting of Special Agent Cynthia Rosenthal, other FBI agents, HPD Sergeants Novak and Ferguson, and HPD Officer Jewel, was formed. (Id. at 27-28).5 Sergeants Novak and Ferguson were the primary case agents who originally investigated Doris Angleton's murder and testified in Angleton's state trial; officer Jewel was the liaison between the HPD and the state prosecutors. (Id.; Docket Entry No. 38, Ex. 6, Vol. 1, at 5-6). The three HPD members of the joint task force were deputized as United States Deputy Marshals so that they could access FBI files. (Docket Entry No. 64, Ex. 3, at 45-46). The HPD continued to pay their salaries. (Id.). The joint task force received all the information the HPD had gathered for use in the state prosecution. (Id. at 28). The two assistant district attorneys who prosecuted Angleton in the state trial, who are personal friends of FBI Special Agent Rosenthal, also cooperated with and encouraged the federal/state joint task force. (Id. at 35). As part of the investigation, FBI agents interviewed members of the jury that had acquitted Angleton.6 Angleton's counsel have been allowed to review and summarize the FBI reports of these interviews. From these summaries, it appears that the questioning focused on how various pieces of evidence and other trial strategies impacted the jurors' decision to vote not guilty. (Docket Entry No. 64, Ex. 1). The parties agree that the federal prosecution will rely on much of the same evidence as the state prosecution.7

No federal indictment was returned alleging that Angleton had violated RICO or committed money laundering or income tax evasion, charges that the federal agents had first investigated. In January 2002, a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Angleton, based on the 1997 murder of Doris Angleton. Count One of the indictment charges Angleton with conspiring to commit murder for hire, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1958.8 It states:

From an unknown date believed to be in January, 1997, in the Southern District and Northern Districts of Texas and the State of California, the defendant, did knowingly and willfully combine, conspire, confederate and agree with Roger Angleton, not indicted herein, to cause another to travel in interstate commerce and use a facility in interstate commerce with intent that the murder of Doris Angleton be committed in violation of the laws of the State of Texas and the United States, as consideration for the receipt of, and as consideration for a promise and agreement to pay, a thing of pecuniary value, that is, United States Currency, such conduct resulting in the death of Doris Angleton.

(Docket Entry No. 38, Ex. 1). The indictment then alleges the methods, means, and overt acts of the conspiracy, including that Robert Angleton agreed to pay Roger Angleton to have Doris Angleton murdered; that Roger Angleton traveled from California to Texas to prepare for the killing; that Roger Angleton shot Doris Angleton in Houston, then left the city; and that the plan included Robert Angleton's agreement to pay Roger Angleton even if he was captured...

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