U.S. v. Robinson

• Decision Date: 22 December 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-20222.,04-20222.
• Citation: 434 F.3d 357
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Anthony ROBINSON, also known as Tony Marcel Robinson, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

434 F.3d 357

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Anthony ROBINSON, also known as Tony Marcel Robinson, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 04-20222.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

December 22, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Katherine L. Haden (argued), James Lee Turner, Renata Ann Gowie, Asst. U.S. Attys., Houston, TX, for U.S.

Colin Bryan Amann (argued), Gaither & Amann, Houston, TX, for Robinson.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before HIGGINBOTHAM, WIENER, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.

EDITH BROWN CLEMENT, Circuit Judge:

Anthony Robinson, a federal prisoner, appeals from the district court's denial of his motion for return of property, in which Robinson sought to recover cash that was administratively forfeited by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

This case concerns whether the FBI, after seizing cash from Anthony Robinson during a narcotics investigation, satisfied the notice requirements of due process before declaring the cash to be administratively forfeited. The underlying facts of the seizure and forfeiture are not in dispute. On November 1, 1998, Houston police effected a traffic stop of Robinson at the request of the FBI, who were investigating Robinson as part of a multi-party drug investigation. Inside Robinson's car, officers discovered large sums of cash in a Crown Royal bag under the driver's seat, in the glove compartment, and in a small black suitcase. FBI agents seized the money but released Robinson. Robinson provided the agents with a home address of 18062 Forest Cedar, Houston, Texas, which was also on his driver's license, and a business address of 12719C Bissonnet.

The FBI subsequently initiated administrative forfeiture proceedings for $188,980.¹ Almost eight months after the seizure, the FBI sent a certified letter postmarked June 22, 1999 to Robinson's home address, informing him of the seizure and the intent to forfeit. The letter provided information about a claimant's right to contest the seizure by filing a claim of ownership and the right to file a petition for remission or mitigation of the forfeiture. The letter was returned on December 1, 1999, marked "UNCLAIMED."

The FBI then searched its ChoicePoint database and discovered four additional addresses associated with Robinson's name and Social Security Number. Within one week of the return of the unclaimed letter, four similar certified letters notifying Robinson of the seizure and forfeiture were sent to the alternate addresses. One of the letters was sent to Robinson's business address at 12719C Bissonnet and one letter was sent to 18062 Forest Cedars, which is a variation of the home address on Robinson's driver's license. Another letter was sent to 7810 Pouter. Each letter was returned marked "UNCLAIMED," "ATTEMPTED, NOT KNOWN," or "MOVED, LEFT NO ADDRESS."

A few months later, the FBI searched its ChoicePoint database once again and discovered two more addresses linked to Robinson. The FBI mailed to these addresses certified letters postmarked March 27, 2000. One of the letters was addressed "12719 Bissonnet St., Apt. C," which is a variation on the business address that Robinson had given the FBI. The letters were returned marked "UNCLAIMED" and "MOVED, LEFT NO ADDRESS."

The FBI also published public notice of the seizure and forfeiture for three successive weeks on three different occasions in the New York Times. The notice appeared on July 4, 1999, July 11, 1999, July 18, 1999, December 19, 1999, December 26, 1999, January 2, 2000, April 9, 2000, April 16, 2000, and April 23, 2000. When no one filed a claim of ownership or a petition for remission or mitigation, the FBI declared the cash to be administratively forfeited on June 15, 2000.

Meanwhile, Robinson was initially indicted along with two codefendants on May 8, 2000 for drug offenses. Robinson was charged in a six-count superseding indictment on September 27, 2000 with drug trafficking and money laundering. A jury found Robinson guilty on four counts, and the district court sentenced him to concurrent terms of 235 months in prison. This Court affirmed the conviction on direct appeal. United States v. Ingram, 96 Fed.Appx. 946 (5th Cir.2004).

On June 25, 2003, Robinson filed a pro se motion in district court for return of property under FED. R.CRIM. P. 41(e)² and 19 U.S.C. §§ 1601-15. Robinson argued that the money was seized during an illegal search and seizure, that he was not given notice of the forfeiture as required by 19 U.S.C. § 1607, that the delay prior to the government's initial notice deprived him of due process, and that the criminal judgment did not order any property forfeited.

The government filed a response, asserting that it should be granted summary judgment because its attempts to notify Robinson about the forfeiture satisfied due process. The government attached to its motion an affidavit from an FBI paralegal specialist in the Forfeiture and Seized Property Unit and copies of the certified letters and newspaper publications discussed above.

Robinson filed a reply in which he argued that the government's first notice was sent almost eight months after the seizure, constituting an unreasonable delay in violation of due process. He also asserted that he had lived at the home address on Forest Cedar for four months after the seizure before moving to 7810 Pouter. He argued that he had spoken to an FBI agent, who advised him that he had to get an attorney and file a claim for the money. His attorney allegedly then called the FBI, learned the amount of money involved, and was told that a notice would be sent to Robinson. Robinson further argued that the FBI did not send a notice to his business address until thirteen months after the seizure, that delivery was unreasonably attempted on Christmas Day, and that the notice published in the New York Times was unreasonable because he lives in Houston.

The district court treated Robinson's motion as a civil complaint for equitable relief because no criminal charges were pending, and it granted summary judgment to the government. The court held that the government's efforts to contact Robinson about the forfeiture, evidenced by the seven certified letters that were returned unclaimed, and its publishing of notice in the New York Times, which it found was a newspaper of general distribution within the district, were reasonably calculated to give Robinson notice and satisfied due process. The court noted that letters had been sent to three addresses at which Robinson acknowledged he had lived and done business, i.e., the addresses on Forest Cedar, Bissonnet, and Pouter.

With respect to the delay between the seizure on November 1, 1998 and the government's first letter in June 1999, the court first noted that Robinson supported his argument that the delay was unreasonable by relying on cases involving delays by the government in initiating civil or criminal forfeiture proceedings. Because the forfeiture proceeding in this case was administrative, not judicial, the court opined that it was unclear whether the cases cited by Robinson were applicable.

The court then noted that the cases cited by Robinson used a four-part balancing test for determining an unreasonable delay, analyzing 1) the length of the delay, 2) the reason for the delay, 3) the claimant's assertion of his rights, and 4) prejudice to the claimant. See United States v. Eight Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($8,850) in U.S. Currency, 461 U.S. 555, 564, 103 S.Ct. 2005, 76 L.Ed.2d 143 (1983) (citing Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972)). The district court held that, even assuming the applicability of this test, the delay in this case was not unreasonable.

The court held that the eight-month delay was reasonable because Robinson had not sought the return of his funds or otherwise contested the forfeiture during the criminal proceeding. Robinson also failed to show that the delay caused him any prejudice. In addition, the delay was justified because the seizure was made during the course of a lengthy criminal investigation and the Supreme Court has indicated that pending criminal proceedings may present justification for a delay in instituting civil forfeiture proceedings. See $8,850, 461 U.S. at 567, 103 S.Ct. 2005. The court concluded that there was no showing that the government was lax in its investigation or that the subsequent criminal charges against Robinson were not pursued with reasonable diligence. Robinson filed a timely notice of appeal.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Although Robinson filed his motion for return of property pursuant to Rule 41(g), the district court properly construed it as a civil complaint and the denial of the motion as a grant of summary judgment. See Clymore v. United States, 217 F.3d 370, 373 (5th Cir.2000); United States v. Robinson, 78 F.3d 172, 174 (5th Cir.1996). This court reviews the grant of summary judgment de novo. Robinson, 78 F.3d at 174. Summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c).

III. DISCUSSION

Robinson raises four arguments on appeal. He argues that 1) the delay of over seven months between the seizure of the cash and the government's first notice of forfeiture was unjustified and violated due process; 2) the government's written notice included only one letter to his residence and one letter to his business address without any attempt to resend the notice to those addresses; 3) the publication of notice in the New York Times, rather than the Houston Chronicle, was not reasonably calculated to provide him notice of the forfeiture; and 4) because...