853 F. Supp. 2d 835 | N.D. Iowa | 2012
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING THE IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS AND THE PROSECUTION’S MOTION TO RECONSIDER
On April 10, 2012, 853 F.Supp.2d 818, 2012 WL 1188456, I entered a Memorandum Opinion And Order Regarding Defendant Angel Amaya’s Motion To Suppress GPS System (docket no. 350), in which I denied the motion to suppress, but found that Special Agent Jensen had acted in bad faith in failing to disclose the use of GPS monitoring in his reports regarding surveillance of Amaya. I set a hearing on sanctions for the prosecution’s discovery violation for April 20, 2012, and requested briefing on the issue of what sanctions I may and should impose. Subsequently, the prosecution, on April 18, 2012, filed a Motion To Reconsider (docket no. 362) my finding that the agent acted in bad faith, and included in this briefing its arguments regarding what sanctions, if any, should be imposed. I moved the hearing on sanctions to April 30, 2012, and ordered that Amaya file any response to the prosecution’s Motion To Reconsider by April 26, 2012. On April 19, 2012, Amaya filed his brief (docket no. 365) responding to my request for briefing on what sanctions should be imposed. The prosecution filed a response (docket no. 368) to Amaya’s brief on April 24, 2012, and Amaya filed his resistance (docket no. 374) to the prosecution’s Motion To Reconsider on April 26, 2012.
On April 30, 2012, I held a hearing on sanctions and the prosecution’s Motion To Reconsider. Special Agent David Jensen testified, and both parties presented argument. I orally withdrew my finding that Special Agent Jensen acted in bad faith but indicated that a written order would follow, explaining my reasoning. After hearing Special Agent Jensen’s testi
I also impose no sanctions on the prosecution for its failure to disclose the use of GPS devices. I have evaluated the factors that district courts should consider when crafting sanctions for discovery violations, as identified by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Pherigo, 327 F.3d 690 (8th Cir.2003): “(1) whether the Government acted in bad faith and the reason(s) for delay in production; (2) whether there is any prejudice to the defendant; and (3) whether any lesser sanction is appropriate to secure future Government compliance.” See id. at 694. First, I have determined that there was no bad faith on the part of the prosecution, as explained above. Second, the prejudice
THEREFORE, the prosecution’s Motion To Reconsider my finding of bad faith (docket no. 362) is granted. I withdraw that portion of my opinion (docket no. 350 at 23-24), in which I found that Special Agent Jensen acted in bad faith. Additionally, I impose no sanctions on the prosecution.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
. Amaya devotes much of his briefing to arguing that I erred, in my April 10, 2012, Memorandum Opinion And Order, in determining that no Brady or Jencks Act violation occurred when the prosecution failed to disclose the use of GPS monitoring. As to his Brady argument, even if the evidence regarding the use of GPS devices was favorable and material to Amaya (and Amaya has not argued convincingly that it is), the remedy for a Brady violation would be a new trial so that Amaya would have the opportunity to take advantage of this newly disclosed evidence and respond to it. See United States v. Porchay, 651 F.3d 930, 942 (8th Cir.2011); United States v. Babiar, 390 F.3d 598, 600 (8th Cir.2004) ("First, to the extent the prosecution violated Brady by failing to disclose evidence favorable to [the defendant], the district court properly remedied any Brady error before the second trial. As the district court stated, 'Defendant received a full and adequate remedy when he was granted a new trial.’ ”). I granted Amaya a mistrial in December, and the prosecution disclosed GPS-related evidence in January. Amaya’s new trial is scheduled to begin on May 29, 2012. He will have had plentiful opportunity to take advantage of the GPS-related evidence by then.
Furthermore, there is no Jencks Act violation. Amaya maintains that the prosecution violated Jencks by failing to disclose Special Agent Jensen’s surveillance reports that were created after Amaya’s second trial. Therefore, Amaya urges me to strike Special Agent Jensen as a witness. These statements by Special Agent Jensen were not in existence at the time of the trial but, rather, were produced in January to provide more information to the defense about how GPS tracking was used. The Jencks Act only applies to
. I also address a concern that Amaya raises in his resistance (docket no. 374) to the prosecution's Motion To Reconsider, which appears to be due to some confusion about new evidence produced by the prosecution. In its Motion To Reconsider, the prosecution stated that its motion "is based, in part, on evidence that was not presented to the Court during the suppression hearing that sheds additional light on Special Agent Jensen’s intent in this matter.” (Docket no. 362 at 3.) Amaya took this statement to mean that there is additional evidence that the prosecution has not revealed to the defense, but I disagree. It is my understanding that the prosecution refers only to evidence not previously revealed to the Court, which the prosecution provided in its Motion To Reconsider to help me understand whether Special Agent Jensen acted in bad faith: namely, Special Agent Jensen’s preliminary detention hearing testimony and Exhibit 1, a copy of one of Special Agent Jensen’s reports that refers to the Title III affidavit.