United States v. Martin

• Citation: 662 F.3d 301
• Decision Date: 30 November 2011
• Docket Number: 10–5304,Nos. 10–5301,10–5306.,s. 10–5301
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Paulette MARTIN, a/k/a Paulette Murphy, a/k/a Paulette Akuffo, a/k/a Paula Murphy, a/k/a Auntie, Defendant–Appellant.United States of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Derrek Lewis Bynum, a/k/a Bo, Defendant–Appellant.United States of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Learley Reed Goodwin, a/k/a Goodie, a/k/a Lonnie Ross, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

662 F.3d 301

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Paulette MARTIN, a/k/a Paulette Murphy, a/k/a Paulette Akuffo, a/k/a Paula Murphy, a/k/a Auntie, Defendant–Appellant.United States of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Derrek Lewis Bynum, a/k/a Bo, Defendant–Appellant.United States of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Learley Reed Goodwin, a/k/a Goodie, a/k/a Lonnie Ross, Defendant–Appellant.

Nos. 10–5301

10–5304

10–5306.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: Sept. 20, 2011.Decided: Nov. 30, 2011.

ARGUED: Robert Whelen Biddle, Nathans & Biddle, LLP, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellants. Anthony William Vitarelli, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Michael D. Montemarano, Michael D. Montemarano, PA, Elkridge, Maryland, for Appellant Martin; Anthony D. Martin, Anthony D. Martin, PC, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellant Goodwin; Timothy S. Mitchell, Law Office of Timothy S. Mitchell, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellant Bynum. Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Deborah A. Johnston, Assistant United States Attorney, Bonnie S. Greenberg, Assistant United States Attorney, Stefan D. Cassella, Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland; Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General, Greg D. Andres, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Daniel Steven Goodman, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

Before MOTZ, GREGORY, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge DUNCAN wrote the opinion, in which Judge MOTZ joined. Judge GREGORY wrote an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

OPINION

DUNCAN, Circuit Judge:

A jury convicted Paulette Martin, Learley Goodwin, Derrek Bynum, and Lavon Dobie (collectively “Appellants”) of various drug related offenses. As part of their sentences, the district court ordered Appellants to forfeit assets connected to their drug crimes pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 853.¹ On appeal, Appellants seek vacature of the district court's orders of forfeiture.² For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

I.

A.

This case involves a large drug trafficking operation that supplied drugs throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.³ On May 5, 2004, a grand jury indicted Appellants on numerous charges relating to their participation in the drug trafficking operation. Authorities arrested Appellants on June 1, 2004. Upon, and subsequent to, the arrests, the government seized various assets belonging to Appellants pursuant to civil forfeiture warrants issued under 18 U.S.C. § 981 and initiated civil forfeiture proceedings.

On January 19, 2005, a grand jury handed down a fourth superseding indictment against Appellants that included criminal forfeiture allegations against Appellants' assets. Thus, by January 2005, the government was pursuing both civil and criminal forfeiture of the same property.

Martin challenged the civil forfeiture of her assets on February 22, 2005, by filing a claim with the U.S. Department of Customs and Border Protection. The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act, 18 U.S.C. § 983 (“CAFRA”), creates a process by which a claimant can challenge the civil forfeiture of assets in which she has an interest. CAFRA provides that when such a claim is made, a 90–day clock begins to run. Before the expiration of that period, the government must do one of three things: (1) “file a [civil] complaint for forfeiture,” (2) “obtain a criminal indictment containing an allegation that the property is subject to forfeiture[ ] and take the steps necessary to preserve its right to maintain custody of the property as provided in the applicable criminal forfeiture statute,” or (3) “return the property.” 18 U.S.C. § 983(a)(3)(B) (emphasis added). If the government fails to complete one of these three steps before the 90 days expires, it is required to “promptly release the property.” Id.

After waiting several months for the government to take action, Martin filed a motion with the district court for “Prompt Return of Property Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g).” ⁴ Martin asserted that she timely filed a claim on February 22, 2005, and that the government failed to complete any of the three actions listed in § 983(a)(3)(B) within 90 days.⁵ Martin contended that the government's continued possession of her property despite its failure to act violated § 983(a)(3)(B).

In response to Martin's motion, the government obtained criminal seizure warrants ⁶ for Martin's assets based on the forfeiture allegations in the fourth superseding indictment. The district court denied Martin's Rule 41(g) motion, holding that Martin's February 22 claim was untimely and, alternatively, that the government's obtaining criminal seizure warrants mooted her motion.

B.

Appellants' trial began on June 6, 2006. On August 31, 2006, a jury convicted Appellants on various charges related to their participation in the drug trafficking operation. Subsequent to Appellants' convictions, post-trial forfeiture proceedings took place.

Beginning on November 21, 2006, the district court held two forfeiture hearings, taking evidence regarding the connection between the crimes for which Appellants were convicted and the property for which the government sought forfeiture. After the second hearing on December 19, 2006, the district court stated:

I have considered the testimony ... as well as the arguments of counsel [and] I conclude that the government's preliminary forfeiture order is fully supported by the evidence at trial and ... the evidence presented to me at the prior proceeding on forfeiture in this case.

J.A. 530. The district court referred to the proposed order submitted by the government and noted that the parties had agreed to a minor change in that order concerning joint and several liability. The district court then told the government lawyer, “[I]f you will prepare a modified order that addresses [joint and several liability], I will be glad to enter the order.... I see no reason why not to proceed to the execution of a modified order.” J.A. 532. No one objected to this delay in entering the forfeiture order.

On that same day, immediately following the forfeiture hearing, the district court sentenced Appellants. Although the district court did not mention forfeiture in handing down each individual sentence, no one objected to the district court's omission.

Between January 5, 2007, and January 16, 2007, the court entered its judgments as to Appellants. The government delivered its modified order for preliminary forfeiture to the district court on January 19, 2007, and the district court entered the order that day. On June 14, 2007, the district court issued a final order of forfeiture but did not amend the judgments to include that order.

Almost three years later, on April 15, 2010, Appellants filed a motion in the district court to vacate the prior criminal forfeiture orders and to return all forfeited property. Appellants argued that the district court missed the deadline to finalize forfeiture as set forth in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.2, and therefore lost jurisdiction to enter the forfeiture orders. The district court denied Appellants' motion and amended the judgments to include the final order of forfeiture. This appeal followed.

II.

On appeal, Appellants challenge the criminal forfeiture of their property. Martin individually argues that the government's pre-trial violation of the civil forfeiture statute rendered invalid its later criminal forfeiture. ⁷ In addition, Appellants collectively argue that the district court was without jurisdiction to order the criminal forfeiture of their property after their sentencings and the entry of judgments. In criminal forfeiture proceedings,⁸ we review the district court's findings of fact for clear error and the district court's legal interpretations de novo. United States v. Morgan, 224 F.3d 339, 342 (4th Cir.2000). We consider each challenge in turn.

A.

We first consider Martin's argument that the government's pre-trial actions with respect to her property violated the civil forfeiture statute, thereby rendering the later criminal forfeiture of the property invalid. Martin argues that the district court erred both in holding that her claim was untimely and in holding that the government's attainment of criminal seizure warrants mooted her challenge to its unlawful possession of her property. As a remedy for the government's illegal seizure, Martin seeks the vacature of the subsequent criminal forfeiture of her property.⁹

Even assuming, without deciding, that the government seized Martin's property illegally, we cannot grant the remedy—the vacature of the property's later criminal forfeiture—that she seeks. The illegal seizure of property does not immunize that property from forfeiture as long as the government can sustain the forfeiture claim with independent evidence. See, e.g., United States v. Pierre, 484 F.3d 75, 87 (1st Cir.2007); see also INS v. Lopez–Mendoza, 468 U.S. 1032, 1039–40, 104 S.Ct. 3479, 82 L.Ed.2d 778 (1984) (noting that, just as an unlawful arrest does not result in the suppression of the “body” of the defendant in a criminal proceeding, the unlawful seizure of property does not result in the suppression of that property in a forfeiture proceeding). Here, Martin does not dispute that the evidence produced by the government, independent of the property, was sufficient to justify the criminal forfeiture. We therefore reject Martin's challenge.

B.

We next consider Appellants' argument that the district court was without jurisdiction to order the criminal forfeiture of their property after sentencing and the entry of judgments.

Criminal forfeiture is part of a defendant's sentence. Libretti v. United States, 516 U.S. 29, 38–39, 116 S.Ct. 356, 133 L.Ed.2d 271 (1995). The procedure used to effect criminal forfeiture is set forth in Rule 32.2. First, the...