U.S. v. Mardis

• Decision Date: 23 November 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-20021.,08-20021.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Dale MARDIS, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Tennessee

Page 696

670 F.Supp.2d 696

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Dale MARDIS, Defendant.

No. 08-20021.

United States District Court, W.D. Tennessee, Western Division.

November 23, 2009.

Stephen C. Parker, U.S. Attorney's Office, Memphis, TN, for Plaintiff.

ORDER ADOPTING THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE'S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION AND DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS INDICTMENT FOR VIOLATION OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS

BERNICE BOUIE DONALD, District Judge.

Before the Court is Defendant Dale Mardis's ("Defendant") Motion to Dismiss Indictment for Violation of the Separation of Powers filed on March 10, 2009. (D.E. #128.) The Government filed its response in opposition on March 25, 2009, and Defendant filed a reply two days later on March 27th. The Court then referred this motion to the United States Magistrate Judge for a report and recommendation. On July 21, 2009, the Magistrate Judge recommended denial of Defendant's motion. (D.E. # 179.) Defendant filed his objections to the Magistrate Judge's report and recommendation on August 4, 2009. For the reasons stated herein, the Court OVERRULES Defendant's objections, ADOPTS the Magistrate Judge's report and recommendation, and DENIES Defendant's motion.

I. BACKGROUND

A. General Factual Background

In 2001, a federal grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee convened to investigate the disappearance of Mickey Wright, a Memphis and Shelby County Codes Enforcement Officer. A task force comprising federal and local law enforcement agencies uncovered evidence indicating that Mr. Wright disappeared on April 17, 2001 and that his last known location was on property owned by Defendant in Memphis, Tennessee. While there, Mr. Wright appears to have written a "courtesy" citation as part of his duties.

This first federal grand jury ultimately did not return charges against any individuals. State authorities investigated the matter while federal prosecutors held in abeyance further investigation of potential violations of federal law. After concluding its investigation, the State of Tennessee indicted Defendant for first degree murder and sought the death penalty. In the week before Defendant's state court trial was to commence, Defendant and the State of Tennessee reached a tentative plea deal whereby Defendant would plead nolo contendere to second degree murder and serve a sentence of 13.5 years incarceration. After Defendant's attorney contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office concerning potential federal charges, Defendant agreed to a sentence of 15 years in order to resolve a contemplated federal firearms charge.

Accordingly, on April 5, 2007, Defendant entered a nolo contendere plea to the charge of second degree murder in the Criminal Court for Shelby County (Tennessee) and was sentenced to 15 years in prison to be served at 100%. The prosecutor for the State of Tennessee required as a condition of the plea agreement that Defendant reveal what happened to Mr. Wright's body so that his family might obtain some sense of closure. To satisfy this requirement, Defendant's attorney handwrote a note describing the disposition of Mr. Wright's remains. The note does not mention Defendant or how Defendant's attorney obtained the information.

A subsequent federal investigation commenced, and a second federal grand jury was impaneled. This grand jury indicted Defendant on January 30, 2008 for civil rights murder in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 245 and for using a firearm to accomplish the alleged murder in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(j). The federal indictment currently pending charges that Defendant murdered Mr. Wright on account of his race and color¹ as well as on account of Mr. Wright's employment by a governmental entity. Defendant faces the possibility of a death sentence if he is convicted.

Defendant moves the Court to dismiss this indictment because of actions allegedly taken by United States Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee's Ninth Congressional District² ("Congressman Cohen") to cause the Government to bring federal charges against Defendant.

B. Defendant's Assertions as to Congressman Cohen

According to the allegations contained in Defendant's motion and his objections to the Magistrate Judge's report and recommendation, Congressman Cohen actively sought a federal indictment of Defendant following Defendant's state court guilty plea in April 2007. Defendant contends that the Wright family contacted Congressman Cohen, who was still in his first term at the time. Congressman Cohen then allegedly contacted the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee about the matter. Congressman Cohen, Defendant states, held a press conference at which he publicly promised to assist the Wright family in obtaining a federal prosecution of Defendant. Congressman Cohen was then, and is currently, a member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

Defendant contends further that in the 2008 election, during which Congressman Cohen faced two African-American opponents in the Democratic primary, the Congressman publicly touted his assistance to the Wright family. Specifically, Defendant states that Congressman Cohen mentioned the federal prosecution of Defendant on his campaign website and that during a televised debate with his primary opponents, the Congressman referred to the federal prosecution of Defendant as one of his accomplishments during his first term. Congressman Cohen also introduced legislation in the U.S. House titled the "Mickey Wright Act," which would have criminalized the transportation of the corpse of a homicide victim across state lines with the intent to prevent the body's use as evidence. See Mickey Wright Act, H.R. 3386, 110th Cong. (2007). Defendant makes no specific allegation that Congressman Cohen ever explicitly threatened federal officials in order to secure Defendant's federal prosecution, though Defendant does generally assert that the Congressman "used his political stature to coerce" federal prosecutors into pursuing charges against Defendant. (Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss at 5.)

The Government does not dispute that Congressman Cohen engaged in the specific actions alleged by Defendant. Rather, the Government contends that, even assuming all of Defendant's allegations about Congressman Cohen to be true, there was no separation of powers violation. Similarly, the Magistrate Judge's report and recommendation also assumed Defendant's allegations to be true for purposes of deciding this motion and concluded that Congressman Cohen's actions did not violate the Constitution's separation of powers.

II. LAW AND ANALYSIS

A. Separation of Powers

Unlike many state constitutions,³ the United States Constitution does not have an express provision mandating the separation of powers among the branches of government. See Nat'l Mut. Ins. Co. of Dist. of Columbia v. Tidewater Transfer Co., 337 U.S. 582, 590-91, 69 S.Ct. 1173, 93 L.Ed. 1556 (1949) ("The doctrine of separation of powers is fundamental in our system. It arises, however, not from Art. III nor any other single provision of the Constitution, but because behind the words of the constitutional provisions are postulates which limit and control.") (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Nevertheless, the separation of powers has long been recognized as part of the federal constitutional system. See, e.g., Humphrey's Ex'r v. United States, 295 U.S. 602, 629-30, 55 S.Ct. 869, 79 L.Ed. 1611 (1935); O'Donoghue v. United States, 289 U.S. 516, 530-31, 53 S.Ct. 740, 77 L.Ed. 1356 (1933); Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 488-89, 43 S.Ct. 597, 67 L.Ed. 1078 (1923); United States v. Am. Bell Tel. Co., 128 U.S. 315, 357-58, 9 S.Ct. 90, 32 L.Ed. 450 (1888); Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 190-91, 26 L.Ed. 377 (1880) ("[T]he persons intrusted with power in any one of these branches shall not be permitted to encroach upon the powers confided to the others, but that each shall by the law of its creation be limited to the exercise of the powers appropriate to its own department and no other."); cf. Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515, 569-70, 8 L.Ed. 483 (1832).

While the United States Supreme Court has at times described the separation-of-powers doctrine as requiring each branch to operate "entirely free from the control or coercive influence, direct or indirect, of either of the others" Humphrey's Ex'r, 295 U.S. at 629, 55 S.Ct. 869, recent jurisprudence has clearly adhered to a more flexible view of the doctrine. In so doing, the Supreme Court has "recognized, as [James] Madison admonished at the founding that the Framers did not require—and indeed rejected—the notion that the three Branches must be entirely separate and distinct." Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 380, 109 S.Ct. 647, 102 L.Ed.2d 714 (1989) (citing Nixon v. Admin'r of Gen. Servs., 433 U.S. 425, 443, 97 S.Ct. 2777, 53 L.Ed.2d 867 (1977) and United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974)). This flexible position holds that one branch of the federal government need not exercise its power totally uninfluenced by the others. Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654, 693-94, 108 S.Ct. 2597, 101 L.Ed.2d 569 (1988) ("[W]e have never held that the Constitution requires that the three branches of Government operate with absolute independence.") (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 707, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974); Nixon v. Admin'r of Gen. Servs., 433 U.S. 425, 442-43, 97 S.Ct. 2777, 53 L.Ed.2d 867 (1977) ("[T]he [Supreme] Court squarely rejected the argument that the Constitution contemplates a complete division of authority between the three branches."); see also Anderson v. Dunn, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) 204, 220-24, 5 L.Ed. 242 (1821) ("The different departments of the government could not be divided in this exact, artificial manner. They all run...