United States v. Hollywood Motor Car Co., Inc., et al. (458 U.S. 263)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 28, 1982 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 458 U.S. 263 · 102 S. Ct. 3081
- Decided
- June 28, 1982
- Term
- October Term 1981
- Vote
- 6–3
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. Respondents, originally indicted in the Eastern District of Kentucky on two counts for violations of 18 U. S. C. §§371 and 545, succeeded in obtaining a change of venue to the Central District of California. In the latter District, the Government secured a superseding indictment charging four new substantive counts of making false statements to customs officers in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 542, in addition to the two original counts. The Government then obtained a voluntary-dismissal of the original conspiracy count and two of the false-statement counts. Respondents moved to dismiss the remaining counts on the ground that the superseding indictment manifested prosecutorial vindictiveness and therefore ran afoul of the rule announced in Blackledge v. Perry, 417 U. S. 21 (1974). The District Court denied respondents’ motion, but stayed the commencement of trial to permit an appeal. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held “that the denial of a motion to dismiss based on the ground of vindictive prosecution is immediately appealable as a final decision under 28 U. S. C. § 1291.” 646 F. 2d 384, 386 (1981). In reaching this holding the Court of Appeals relied on its prior decisions in United States v. Burt, 619 F. 2d 831 (1980), and United States v. Griffin, 617 F. 2d 1342, cert. denied, 449 U. S. 863 (1980). Reaching the merits, the court held that respondents…
Excerpt of a 22,825-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.