Filed: Jul. 12, 1996
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. No. 94-4118. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Harvey N. SHENBERG, Alfonso C. Sepe, David Goodhart, Defendants- Appellees. July 12, 1996. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. (No. 91-708-CR-JAG), Jose A. Gonzalez, Jr., Before HATCHETT and BARKETT, Circuit Judges, and GODBOLD, Senior Circuit Judge. HATCHETT, Circuit Judge: The court dismisses this appeal because the ruling in a consolid
Summary: United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. No. 94-4118. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Harvey N. SHENBERG, Alfonso C. Sepe, David Goodhart, Defendants- Appellees. July 12, 1996. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. (No. 91-708-CR-JAG), Jose A. Gonzalez, Jr., Before HATCHETT and BARKETT, Circuit Judges, and GODBOLD, Senior Circuit Judge. HATCHETT, Circuit Judge: The court dismisses this appeal because the ruling in a consolida..
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United States Court of Appeals,
Eleventh Circuit.
No. 94-4118.
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Harvey N. SHENBERG, Alfonso C. Sepe, David Goodhart, Defendants-
Appellees.
July 12, 1996.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern
District of Florida. (No. 91-708-CR-JAG), Jose A. Gonzalez, Jr.,
Before HATCHETT and BARKETT, Circuit Judges, and GODBOLD, Senior
Circuit Judge.
HATCHETT, Circuit Judge:
The court dismisses this appeal because the ruling in a
consolidated case has rendered the issue in this case moot.
FACTS
In 1989, federal and state prosecutors set-up a "sting
operation" called "Operation Court Broom" to investigate alleged
corruption in the Circuit Court of Dade County, Florida. As a
result of the investigation, a federal grand jury in the Southern
District of Florida returned a 106-count indictment against County
Judge Harvey Shenberg, David Goodhart, a lawyer, and seven other
persons for conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influence and
Corruption Act (RICO), and related crimes including multiple acts
of bribery, extortion, mail fraud, money laundering, and case
fixing.
The district court severed the trials of Shenberg, Goodhart,
and two codefendants from the remaining codefendants. The trial
commenced in September 1992. On April 26, 1993, the jury returned
verdicts finding Shenberg and Goodhart guilty of RICO conspiracy,
and finding Shenberg guilty of attempted extortion. The other
charges against Shenberg, Goodhart, and the two codefendants either
resulted in acquittals or hung jury verdicts.
In July 1993, Shenberg and Goodhart appealed. Shortly after
the filing of their appeals, the government served Shenberg and
Goodhart with grand jury subpoenas seeking information about other
persons not previously indicted. Based upon Shenberg and
Goodhart's representations to the government that they intended to
invoke their Fifth Amendment privilege before the grand jury, the
government granted Shenberg and Goodhart "use" immunity pursuant to
18 U.S.C. §§ 6002-6003. Thereafter, Shenberg and Goodhart filed
motions, under seal, to quash the subpoenas contending that the
government's grant of immunity did not sufficiently protect them
against self-incrimination on the mistried counts. On September
28, 1993, the district court entered an order quashing the
subpoenas without prejudice, ruling that the government could
re-serve the subpoenas at the conclusion of the appellees' retrial
on the mistried counts.
The government then filed a motion to dismiss the mistried
counts against Shenberg and Goodhart, without prejudice, and a
motion to reconsider the order quashing the subpoenas. In support
of its motion to reconsider, the government asserted that it would
only pursue prosecution on the mistried counts if Shenberg and
Goodhart's convictions were reversed on appeal. The district court
granted the government's motion. On reconsideration, however, the
district court reaffirmed its decision to quash the subpoenas
finding that the indictment still subjected the appellees to
further prosecution because the government would only dismiss the
mistried counts without prejudice. The government filed this
appeal.
DISCUSSION
The government filed this appeal challenging the district
court's order quashing the grand jury subpoenas contending that
"use" immunity under 18 U.S.C. §§ 6002-6003 sufficiently protects
appellees' Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. See
Kastigar v. United States,
406 U.S. 441,
92 S. Ct. 1653,
32 L. Ed. 2d
212 (1972). In the district court's order quashing the grand jury
subpoenas, the court ruled that the government could re-serve the
subpoenas at the conclusion of the retrial on the mistried counts.
As a result of our affirmance of the appellees' convictions
in the consolidated case of United States v. Shenberg, --- F.3d ---
- (1996), and the government's agreement to dismiss with prejudice
the mistried counts against the appellees in the event of our
affirmance, the indictment no longer subjects appellees to further
prosecution. Consequently, the district court's grounds for
quashing the subpoenas no longer exist. Where intervening events
render issues on appeal moot, "[f]ederal courts do not have
jurisdiction under the Article III "Case or Controversy' provision
of the United States Constitution to decide [the questions of law
raised]." Westmoreland v. National Transportation Safety Board,
833 F.2d 1461, 1462 (11th Cir.1987). Because these intervening
events permit the government to re-serve the subpoenas, we hold the
issue on appeal is now moot.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, this appeal is dismissed as
moot.
DISMISSED