United States v. Fisher

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Jerold Fisher entered a plea agreement and pled guilty to submitting fraudulent tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service. In return, the Government promised, among other things, not to charge Fisher with any further crimes arising out of the same underlying conduct. Following the plea agreement and before sentencing, the district court found Fisher had breached the plea agreement and released the Government from its no-new-charges obligation. The Government then indicted Fisher on related structuring charges. The court subsequently reversed itself and reinstated the plea agreement, but the Government did not dismiss the new indictment. At sentencing on the tax fraud charge, Fisher asked the district court to find that the Government: (1) had breached the plea agreement by failing to dismiss the structuring charges; and (2) had engaged in vindictive prosecution. The court sentenced Fisher to 41 months in prison without ruling on either of those requests. Fisher appealed, arguing the district court erred by declining to decide his governmental breach claim. Because that claim was moot, the Tenth Circuit concluded it lacked jurisdiction over it. To the extent Fisher tried to raise a similar argument regarding his vindictive prosecution claim, the Tenth Circuit concluded he forfeited that claim and waived it through inadequate briefing. View "United States v. Fisher" on Justia Law