Justia U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

The Commonwealth appealed the district court's judgment in favor of plaintiff. Plaintiff alleged that she was terminated without cause from her position as Special Assistant to the Governor for Women's Affairs in violation of Article III, section 22 of the Commonwealth Constitution. Based on the meaning of Article III, section 22 determined by the final arbiter of Commonwealth law, the court held that plaintiff did not have a protected interest in continued employment beyond the term of the governor who appointed her. Therefore, plaintiff's termination without cause did not violate the Due Process Clause, and the district court's judgment was vacated and the case remanded. View "Peter-Palican v. Government of The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, et al." on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his sentence of ten years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to charges related to a conspiracy to distribute controlled substances at the age of 73. Defendant was a practicing psychiatrist at the time he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at the age of 63. The court held that the record before the district court at sentencing was sufficient to cause a genuine doubt as to defendant's competence and that the district court committed plain error by failing to order a hearing sua sponte. Accordingly, the court vacated the sentence, remanded for further proceedings, and directed that all further proceedings be assigned to a new judge on remand. View "United States v. Dreyer" on Justia Law

This case involved the Service's regulations under Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), 16 U.S.C. 1371(a), that authorized incidental take of polar bears and Pacific walruses resulting from oil and gas exploration activities in the Chukchi Sea and on the adjacent coast of Alaska. Plaintiffs brought suit challenging the regulations and accompanying environmental review documents under various environmental acts. The court held that the Service permissibly determined that only "relatively small numbers" of polar bears and Pacific walruses would be taken in relation to the size of their larger populations, because the agency separately determined that the anticipated take would have only a "negligible impact" on the mammals' annual rates of recruitment or survival. The "small numbers" determination was consistent with the statute and was not arbitrary and capricious. The court also held that the Service's accompanying Biological Opinion and Environmental Assessment (EA) complied with the Endangered Species Act (ESA), 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq., and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. View "Center for Biological Diversity, et al. v. Salazar, et al." on Justia Law

This case arose when defendant, a Hollywood movie director, hired a former private investigator to illegally wiretap the telephone conversations of two individuals. Defendant was subsequently convicted of two counts of making a material false statement to the FBI and of one count of making a false statement to the district court during his guilty-plea hearing. On appeal, defendant challenged the district court's denial of his motion to suppress a telephone conversation, and in the alternative, defendant sought remand for an evidentiary hearing on the issue. Because the recording was not made for the purpose of committing a criminal or tortious act, the court concluded that the district court did not err in denying the motion to suppress. The court also held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to hold an evidentiary hearing. Finally, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's two motions for recusal of the district court judge. View "United States v. McTiernan" on Justia Law

CIRI filed suit against defendants, shareholders of CIRI, alleging that they had violated the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), 43 U.S.C. 1601-1629(h), and Alaska law. On appeal, defendants challenged the district court's holding that it had subject matter jurisdiction over the ANCSA claims. The court held that there was federal jurisdiction under the general federal question jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C. 1331, over plaintiff's ANCSA claims because federal law created the cause of action in the claims and because the claims were not frivolous. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Cook Inlet Region, Inc. v. Rude, et al." on Justia Law

These consolidated appeals arose from a two-day execution of a search warrant by the Guam Police Department's (GPD) SWAT team in coordination with federal DEA and ATF agents. The search resulted in one of the largest busts of stolen items in Guam's history. The search took place on Raymond (Ray) and Lourdes (Lou) Duenas's compound. The district court denied Ray's and Lou's motions to suppress evidence of the drugs and stolen goods seized in the raid and their statements. A jury convicted Ray and Lou on multiple counts. The Ninth Circuit Court (1) reversed Ray's conviction, holding that the district court abused its discretion by admitting the former testimony of by-then-deceased Officer Smith under Fed. R. Evid. 804(b)(1) because it incorrectly concluded that defense counsel had a similar motive to cross-examine Officer Smith when it questioned him at the suppression hearing as it would have had at the trial; (2) affirmed Lou's conviction, as it was supported by sufficient evidence; and (3) held that the district court did not err by deciding not to exclude the stolen items, drugs, and other paraphernalia found in the compound. View "United States v. Duenas" on Justia Law

Petitioner appealed from a decision of the United States tax court concluding that he owed $128,292 in income tax for the 2004 taxable year. Petitioner entered into an agreement with Optech Limited pursuant to which he transferred floating rate notes (FRNs) worth approximately $1 million to Optech in return for a nonrecourse loan of ninety percent of the FRNs' value. The agreement gave Optech the right to receive all dividends and interest on the FRNs and the right to sell the FRNs during the loan term without Petitioner's consent. Instead of holding the FRNs as collateral for the loan, Optech sold the FRNs and transferred ninety percent of the proceeds to Petitioner. Petitioner did not report that he had sold the FRNs in his 2004 federal income tax return. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the tax court, holding that Petitioner's transaction with Optech constituted a sale for tax purposes despite its taking the form of a loan because the burdens and benefits of owning the FRNs were transferred to Optech. View "Sollberger v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue" on Justia Law

At issue was in this case was whether Petitioner, a California prisoner, was entitled to habeas corpus relief where Petitioner alleged violations that required the California state courts to suppress the incriminating statement he made after he expressly waived his Miranda rights. The California court of appeal affirmed Petitioner's conviction, concluding that Petitioner was required under Davis v. United States to unambiguously invoke his right to counsel. Petitioner later filed a federal habeas petition. The district court denied the petition but granted a certificate of appealability on Petitioner's Miranda claim and his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. A divided three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court's denial of Petitioner's habeas petition. The Ninth Circuit then granted rehearing en banc. The Court reversed the district court's denial of habeas relief, holding that the state court's decision was an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law. Remanded with directions to grant a conditional writ of habeas corpus. View "Sessoms v. Runnels" on Justia Law

The IRS issued a Notice of Deficiency (NOD) to Alex and Liset Meruelo a few days before the three-year statute of limitations expired. Alex was a partner in a partnership. The Meruelos petitioned the tax court challenging the deficiency contained in the NOD and subsequently moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction on the ground that the IRS issued the NOD prematurely, making it invalid. The tax court held that the NOD was valid and not premature and that the items were affected items. The parties later reached an agreement as to all issues, except the validity of the NOD. The tax court then entered a final decision holding that the Meruelos were liable for $1,387,006 in additional income tax and $277,401 in penalties. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that (1) a NOD issued when no partnership-level proceeding or final partnership administrative adjustment have been issued is valid; (2) a NOD issued when the normal three-year statute of limitations has not expired is valid; and (3) therefore, the tax court had jurisdiction. View "Meruelo v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue" on Justia Law

Petitioner was convicted of six murders in Arizona state court and was sentenced to death in 1998. Petitioner was also convicted of first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and first-degree burglary. The district court granted a certificate of appealability (COA) on Jones's prosecutorial misconduct claim. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals expanded the COA to include ineffective assistance of counsel allegations related to Petitioner's prosecutorial misconduct claim. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of Petitioner's habeas corpus petition, holding (1) on all contentions of prosecutorial misconduct, there was no fundamental unfairness to Petitioner and no due process violation; (2) on the ineffective assistance of counsel claims, the prejudice prong of Strickland was not satisfied; and (3) therefore, Petitioner received a fair trial leading to his jury conviction, and it was not objectively unreasonable for the Arizona courts to deny habeas relief. View "Jones v. Ryan" on Justia Law