United States Fourth Circuit

In a criminal matter in which a seventeen year old was charged as a delinquent and arrested for involvement in a "conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise", interlocutory appeal seeking relief from district court's transfer order authorizing prosecution of defendant as an adult is affirmed in part and dismissed in part where: 1) the court possessed jurisdiction under the collateral-order doctrine to consider defendant's claims of procedural and substantive errors that directly related to the transfer order; 2) the court lacked jurisdiction to review defendant's constitutional challenges to the amended information under the collateral-order doctrine; 3) defendant's challenge to the sufficiency of the government's certification of a substantial federal interest lacked merit; 4) the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act did not bar the U.S. Attorney from amending the Initial Information of the court's remand to district court; 5) the transfer proceedings did not violate defendant's statutory and constitutional rights; and 6) the court did not abuse its discretion in entering the transfer order.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/23/2009
• Published 01/23/2009

Judges

• Before KING, Circuit Judge, HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge, and MARTIN K. REIDINGER, United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Carmen D. Hernandez, Washington, D.C., for Appellant.   Jonathan C. Su, Office of the United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.   ON BRIEF:  Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland;  James M. Trusty, Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.