U.S. v. Ferrantino
| Decision Date | 22 September 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-1577,83-1577 |
| Citation | 738 F.2d 109 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael FERRANTINO, Sam Cusenza, and Joseph Valentini, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Richard E. Zuckerman, Fred A. Foley, Raymond, Rupp & Wienberg, Troy, Mich., Neil H. Fink, David DuMochel, Detroit, Mich., for defendants-appellants.
Leonard R. Gilman, U.S. Atty., Maura D. Corrigan, Asst. U.S. Atty., Christopher A. Andreoff, Special Atty., Detroit Strike Force, Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before MERRITT, MARTIN and CONTIE, Circuit Judges.
This matter is before the Court upon consideration of defendants' motions for stay of the district court criminal trial pending appeal and for the advancement of this appeal.
Defendants have been charged with conducting the affairs of several corporations through a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962(c), (d) and Sec. 1963(a)(1), (2). The penalties for violating these sections include forfeiture of all property involved in the criminal enterprise. The government moved to restrain the sale, transfer, or encumbrance of defendants' interests in various sludge-related corporations during the course of the criminal proceedings. In response to the government's motion, defendants argued that no restraints could be placed on the disposition and handling of their properties without first conducting a full evidentiary hearing.
On February 16, 1983, a hearing on the motion was conducted. At the conclusion of this hearing, the parties engaged in informal negotiations, and subsequently stipulated to the entry of the restraining order. Because of this voluntary stipulation, the court found no need to conduct an evidentiary hearing on the matter.
Defendants moved to dissolve the restraining orders on July 26, 1983, on the grounds that the evidence supporting the restraining orders was illegally obtained via a warrant for electronic surveillance issued by a non-neutral judge. The defendants' motion to dissolve the restraining orders was denied without a hearing. Subsequently, defendants filed this interlocutory appeal in which they contend that this Court has jurisdiction to decide an interlocutory appeal from the district court's refusal to dissolve the restraining orders issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1963(b), and that the evidence used by the district court to support the orders was illegally obtained.
While interlocutory appeals are not generally favored in criminal trials, Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 657, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 2039, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977), quoting DiBella v. United States, 369 U.S. 121, 126, 82 S.Ct. 654, 657, 7 L.Ed.2d 614 (1962), we conclude that the allowance of such an appeal is mandated herein. The disputed issues--the propriety of the issuance of the restraining orders and which property, if any, is...
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U.S. v. Lewis
...constitutionality of the seizure is a matter separate from and collateral to the issue of the defendant's guilt. United States v. Ferrantino, 738 F.2d 109, 110 (6th Cir.1983); Spilotro, 680 F.2d at 615.5 We find no significance in the fact that Milburn alone was charged with the CCE violati......
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U.S. v. Musson
...as here, the disputed issues are collateral to and separate from the issue of the defendants' guilt or innocence. United States v. Ferrantino, 738 F.2d 109, 110 (6th Cir.); United States v. Spilotro, 680 F.2d 612, 615 (9th The restraining order arises out of an indictment returned against d......
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United States v. Perholtz
...to be well settled that rulings dissolving or granting restraining orders such as this are appealable. See United States v. Ferrantino, 738 F.2d 109, 110 (6th Cir.1983); United States v. Spilotro, 680 F.2d 612, 615 (9th Cir.1982). Because this ruling involves questions of first impressions ......