U.S. v. Lee

Citation159 F.Supp.2d 1241
Decision Date30 August 2001
Docket NumberNo. CR. 01-00132 SOM.,CR. 01-00132 SOM.
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Kil Soo LEE, Defendant.
CourtHawaii Supreme Court

Malachi Jones, Kenneth M. Sorenson, Susan French, Office of U.S. Atty., Honolulu, HI, for plaintiff.

Alexander Silvert, Office of Fed. Public Defenders, Honolulu, HI, for defendant.

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS

MOLLWAY, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION.

This case raises the question of whether a person arrested in American Samoa for allegedly committing federal crimes in American Samoa may be charged and tried by the federal district court in the District of Hawaii. American Samoa is indisputably not part of the District of Hawaii. Under the law applicable to federal crimes, Lee must be tried in a "district" by a "district court." The questions before this court are therefore whether American Samoa is such a "district," and whether any American Samoa court qualifies as a "district court." Because the answer to both questions is "no," and because the District of Hawaii was the first district to which Defendant Kil Soo Lee ("Lee") was brought, the case is properly in Hawaii. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss is denied.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND.

Lee ran a factory in American Samoa. It is asserted that the Samoan government, having supported Lee's business efforts, has so far declined to charge Lee with crimes relating to his business. On March 23, 2001, federal authorities sought and obtained in the District of Hawaii a warrant for Lee's arrest. Federal agents then arrested Lee in American Samoa and brought him directly and without his consent to Hawaii. The agents did not go through the extradition process for bringing Lee from American Samoa to Hawaii.

On April 5, 2001, Lee was indicted for alleged violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1584, 1589, and 1594. The indictment charged Lee with having knowingly and willfully held Vietnamese factory workers in involuntary servitude (Count 1). The indictment further charged Lee with having attempted to provide and obtain the labor of the Vietnamese factory workers by threats of harm, physical restraint, and/or abuse of the law and legal process (Count 2).

III. THE ISSUE BEFORE THIS COURT IS ONE OF VENUE.

Although Lee moves to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction or for improper venue, Lee's motion raises issues only of venue, not of jurisdiction. Lee argues that his trial should be held in American Samoa in what he sees as courts that are federal in nature and equivalent to federal district courts. Lee is arguing nothing more than that "another district court is the proper venue." Accordingly, the court analyzes Lee's motion as a motion to dismiss for improper venue.1

Jurisdiction would be implicated if Lee were arguing that no district court anywhere could try Lee. That might be the case if, for example, Lee were arguing that the charge against him involved a violation of only Samoan law, and that the alleged offense had not been committed within a federal enclave. In that event, Lee would be arguing that no federal court could try him. Lee is not arguing that the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii is the kind of court that cannot try cases brought under Title 18. Lee is instead contending only that the District of Hawaii is the wrong place for this case.

IV. ANALYSIS.
A. 18 U.S.C. § 3231.

American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States. See 48 U.S.C. § 1661 (1987); United States v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 404 U.S. 558, 560, 92 S.Ct. 661, 30 L.Ed.2d 713 (1972) (holding that section 3 of the Sherman Act applies to American Samoa because it is a territory of the United States); King v. Morton, 520 F.2d 1140, 1142 (D.C.Cir. 1975) ("American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States"). American Samoa has no federal district court, see 28 U.S.C. §§ 81-144 (1993 & Supp.2001), and is not part of the District of Hawaii. See 28 U.S.C. § 91 (1993).

Lee is charged with having violated provisions in Title 18 of the United States Code. There is no dispute that these laws apply in American Samoa, a United States territory. See 18 U.S.C. § 5 (2000) (defining "United States" as including "all places and waters, continental or insular, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, except the Canal Zone").

Lee argues that he should be charged and tried by American Samoan authorities. In deciding this issue, the court begins with the United States Constitution, which states that the "Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed." U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 3. With certain exceptions not relevant here, Rule 18 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure similarly requires a prosecution to be in the "district in which the offense was committed." Fed. R.Crim.P. 18; see 18 U.S.C. § 3232 (2000). If an alleged offense was not committed in an area that is a "district," Congress has directed that the trial "shall be in the district in which the offender ... is arrested or is first brought."2 18 U.S.C. § 3238 (2000). Accordingly, to determine whether venue is proper in American Samoa or in this court, the court must first determine whether American Samoa is a "district."

Lee argues that American Samoa is a "district" and that its courts are equivalent to "district courts." When it accepted American Samoa's cession of land to the United States, Congress specified that, "[u]ntil Congress shall provide for the government of [American Samoa], all ... judicial ... powers shall be vested in such person or persons ... as the President of the United States shall direct." 48 U.S.C. § 1661(c) (1987). As of July 1, 1951, the administration of American Samoa was transferred to the Secretary of the Interior. See Exec. Order No. 10264, 16 Fed Reg. 6419, reprinted in 48 U.S.C. § 1662 (1987). Lee argues that, because the Secretary of the Interior has been vested with "all judicial ... powers," and because the Secretary of the Interior has set up American Samoa's courts, those courts necessarily have the exclusive power to try him for violations of Title 18 of the United States Code. This court disagrees.

The federal judicial "districts" are statutorily defined. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 81-144 (listing all judicial "districts"). American Samoa is nowhere defined as a judicial district. Moreover, its courts have never been given the powers that the "district courts" in the statutorily defined "districts" have. American Samoa's courts therefore lack the power to prosecute violations of Title 18.

There is no dispute that the courts of American Samoa have jurisdiction to prosecute violations of American Samoan law. American Samoan law has apparently incorporated all of Title 18 of the United States Code, making violations of Title 18 violations of American Samoan law. However, under 18 U.S.C. § 3231, the United States district courts have the exclusive jurisdiction to prosecute federal crimes. 18 U.S.C. § 3231 (2000) (the "district courts of the United States shall have original jurisdiction, exclusive of the courts of the States, of all offenses against the laws of the United States"). Thus, unless the courts of American Samoa are "district courts of the United States," the courts of American Samoa have jurisdiction to prosecute violations of American Samoan law only. This is so even if violations of American Samoan law are also violations of federal law. The identical federal crimes would have to be tried in a federal district court.

Lee's argument that the term "district" was intended to encompass United States territories with courts vested with authority by Congress falls short in several respects.

Lee's argument would require the conclusion that Congress intended that defendants tried for federal crimes in American Samoa be denied the full panoply of rights and protections available to defendants in the United States district courts. Lee's argument would have defendants in both systems subject to the same federal penalties without having been afforded the same rights. The court finds no reason to conclude that Congress intended this disparity.

American Samoa does not have a grand jury system. A felony charge is initiated by the filing of an information. See Amer. Samoa Rules of Crim. P. 7(a).

Trial by jury in American Samoa is a relatively recent phenomenon. American Samoa's constitution does not provide for trial by jury, although defendants in American Samoa are apparently receiving jury trials as a matter of practice. This appears to have occurred in the wake of a decision by the federal district court for the District of Columbia holding that, in a criminal trial for violation of American Samoan tax law, a defendant tried in American Samoa must be offered a jury trial as a matter of federal law. King v. Andrus, 452 F.Supp. 11 (D.D.C.1977). That case enjoined the Secretary of the Interior from enforcing the judgment entered against a defendant who had not been offered a jury trial.

There is no appeal as of right of any conviction in an American Samoan court to an Article III court. Instead, defendants may petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, or bring a civil action against the Secretary of the Interior, assuming they satisfy the jurisdictional requirements for such civil suits. See Morton, 520 F.2d at 1145.

Moreover, in American Samoa, lawyers are not required to have attended an American law school. Even if, in practice, most of American Samoa's attorneys have graduated from American law schools, High Court Rule 137 (1989) allows someone who is a member of only a foreign country's bar to join American Samoa's bar if, among other things, "the English common law forms...

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