United States Ninth Circuit

A U.S, Attorney's simple certification under 18 U.S.C. section 3731, that the government's interlocutory appeal in a pending criminal case is not taken for purpose of delay and that the evidence the district court suppressed or excluded is substantial proof of a fact material in the proceeding, is sufficient to establish the circuit court's jurisdiction to hear the interlocutory appeal. Prior decisions to the contrary are overruled. Also, the district court in the case at hand had the authority to order pretrial disclosure by the government of its final list of witnesses and evidentiary documents and to exclude witnesses and evidence not timely disclosed in compliance with such orders.

Appellate Information

• Argued 12/12/2007
• Decided 05/15/2008
• Published 05/15/2008

Judges

• Before:  ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, HARRY PREGERSON, STEPHEN REINHARDT, ANDREW J. KLEINFELD, HAWKINS, SUSAN P. GRABER, M. MARGARET McKEOWN, KIM McLANE WARDLAW, RAYMOND C. FISHER, CARLOS T. BEA and MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• James C. Kilbourne (argued), Kevin M. Cassidy and Allen M. Brabender, Attorneys, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC;  William W. Mercer, United States Attorney;  Kris A. McLean, Assistant United States Attorney;  Ronald J. Tenpas, Acting Assistant Attorney General, for the plaintiff-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Christopher Landau, P.C. (argued), Laurence A. Urgenson, Tyler D. Mace and Michael D. Shumsky, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Washington, DC;  Stephen R. Brown, Charles E. McNeil and Kathleen L. DeSoto, Garlington Lohn & Robinson, PLLP, Missoula, MT, for defendant-appellee, W.R. Grace & Co., Ronald F. Waterman, Gough, Shanahan, Johnson & Waterman, Helena, MT;  David S. Krakoff and Gary A. Winters, Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, DC, for defendant-appellee, Henry A. Eschenbach., Mike Milodragovich and W. Adam Duerk, Milodragovich, Dale, Steinbrenner & Binney, Missoula, MT;  Jeremy Maltby, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for defendant-appellee, Jack W. Wolter., Palmer Hoovestal, Hoovestal Law Firm, PLLC, Helena, MT;  Elizabeth Van Doren Gray, Sowell, Gray, Stepp & Laffitte, LLC, Columbia, SC;  William A. Coates, Roe Cassidy Coates & Price, PA, Greenville, SC, for defendant-appellee, William J. McCaig., Brian Gallik, Goetz, Gallik & Baldwin, P.C., Bozeman, MT;  Thomas C. Frongillo, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, Boston, MA;  Vernon S. Broderick, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York, NY, for defendant-appellee, Robert J. Bettacchi., C.J. Johnson, Kalkstein Law Firm, Missoula, MT;  Stephen A. Jonas and Robert Keefe, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Boston, MA, for defendant-appellee, O. Mario Favorito., Catherine A. Laughner and Aimee M. Grmoljez, Browning Kaleczyc Berry & Hoven, P.C., Helena, MT;  Stephen R. Spivack, Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP, Washington, DC;  David E. Roth, Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP, Birmingham, AL, for defendant-appellee, Robert C. Walsh.