Filed: Dec. 09, 2005
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED _ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT December 9, 2005 No. 05-10903 THOMAS K. KAHN Non-Argument Calendar CLERK _ D. C. Docket No. 94-00062-CR-T-N UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus JERRY LINDSEY ARTIS, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama _ (December 9, 2005) Before ANDERSON, BIRCH and DUBINA, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Appe
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED _ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT December 9, 2005 No. 05-10903 THOMAS K. KAHN Non-Argument Calendar CLERK _ D. C. Docket No. 94-00062-CR-T-N UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus JERRY LINDSEY ARTIS, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama _ (December 9, 2005) Before ANDERSON, BIRCH and DUBINA, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Appel..
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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
________________________ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
December 9, 2005
No. 05-10903 THOMAS K. KAHN
Non-Argument Calendar CLERK
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 94-00062-CR-T-N
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
JERRY LINDSEY ARTIS,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Alabama
_________________________
(December 9, 2005)
Before ANDERSON, BIRCH and DUBINA, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Appellant Jerry Lindsey Artis appeals his conviction for conspiracy to
possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, in
violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. Artis contends that the district court erred when it
denied a motion to suppress wiretap recordings. Artis argues that the district court
erred in not suppressing the wiretap evidence because the government failed to (a)
have the recordings sealed in a timely manner, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2518(8)(a);
and (b) provide a satisfactory explanation for the delay. The government responds
that the law-of-the-case doctrine prevents us from addressing the merits of this
issue.
Under the law-of-the-case doctrine, an issue decided at one stage of a case is
binding at later stages of the same case. United States v. Escobar-Urrego,
110
F.3d 1556, 1560 (11th Cir. 1997). More specifically, a legal decision made at one
stage of the litigation, unchallenged in a subsequent appeal when the opportunity
existed, becomes the law of the case for future stages of the same litigation, and the
party is deemed to have waived the right to challenge that decision at a later time.
Id. Accordingly, when a defendant fails to appeal an issue when the opportunity is
presented, he abandons that argument. United States v. Mesa,
247 F.3d 1165, 1171
n. 6 (11th Cir. 2001). Litigants, then, are not to be given “two bites at the appellate
apple.” United States v. Fiallo-Jacome,
874 F.2d 1479, 1482-83 (11th Cir. 1989).
Other than a belated and unsuccessful attempt to amend his 28 U.S.C.
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§ 2255 motion to vacate to add a claim, the record demonstrates that Artis never
presented the wiretap-sealing issue to any court until this appeal. Artis never
raised this issue despite having previously appealed his conviction following the
wiretap ruling and despite having coappellants who raised at least one issue
concerning the district court’s wiretap ruling. By not raising this issue in his
original appeal, we conclude that Artis waived it. We decline to give Artis a
second bite at the apple. Accordingly, we affirm his conviction.
AFFIRMED.
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