Opinion
Crim. No. 02-00116 HG.
September 16, 2005
ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION OF THE COURT'S MAY 1, 2003 ORDER REGARDING JURISDICTION OVER LEI SHI
ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION OF THE COURT'S MAY 1, 2003 ORDER REGARDING JURISDICTION OVER LEI SHI
Defendant asks the Court to reconsider its May 1, 2003 Order Regarding Jurisdiction over Defendant Lei Shi. The Court ruled in its May 1, 2003 Order that 18 U.S.C. § 2280 vests the Court with jurisdiction over Defendant for the crime alleged. Defendant asks the Court to reconsider its conclusion that it has jurisdiction over the offenses Defendant is alleged to have committed in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2280.
Defendant's motion for reconsideration is based in large part on the opinions and writings of Professor Malvina Halberstam, a law professor who was involved in the drafting of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation. The Court has reviewed the declaration of Professor Halberstam, as well as her published writings and finds that they do not provide new arguments that were not or could not have been previously raised.
Professor Halberstam's published articles are appended as an Exhibit to Defendant Witness Malvina Halberstam's Offer of Proof, filed on August 8, 2005.
Defendant has not presented any new facts or argument, nor pointed to intervening change in controlling law, warranting reconsideration of the Court's May 1, 2003 Order.
For the reasons that follow, the Court DENIES Defendant's Motion for Reconsideration.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The procedural history leading up to the Court's May 1, 2003 Order was set forth in detail in that Order and need not be repeated herein.
On August 9, 2005, Defendant filed a Motion for Reconsideration of Order Regarding Jurisdiction Over Defendant Shi Lei.
On August 22, 2005, the Government filed a Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant's Motion for Reconsideration of Order Regarding Jurisdiction Over Defendant Lei Shi.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
Courts have established only three grounds justifying reconsideration under Rule 60(b): (1) an intervening change in controlling law; (2) the discovery of new evidence; and (3) the need to correct clear error or prevent manifest injustice. See Mustafa v. Clark County School District, 157 F.3d 1169, 1178-79 (9th Cir. 1998); School Dist. No. 1J, Multnomah County, Or. v. ACandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1263 (9th Cir. 1993); Arakaki v. Lingle, 299 F. Supp. 2d 1129, 1130 (D. Haw. 2003).
The District of Hawaii has implemented the above described standard in Local Rule 60.1, which states:
Motions for reconsideration of interlocutory orders may be brought only upon the following grounds:
(a) Discovery of new material facts not previously available;
(b) Intervening change in law;
(c) Manifest error of law or fact.
The rules governing motions for reconsideration apply to criminal motions. Local Criminal Rule 12.3 states that "[t]he local rules pertaining to civil motions are applicable to motions in criminal cases."
A motion for reconsideration "may not be used to raise arguments or present evidence for the first time when they could reasonably have been raised earlier in the litigation." Kona Enterprises, Inc. v. Estate of Bishop, 229 F.3d 877, 890 (9th Cir. 2000) (emphasis in original).
The disposition of a motion for reconsideration pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b) is within the discretion of the district court and will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion.Plotkin v. Pacitic Tel. Tel. Co., 688 F.2d 1291, 1292 (9th Cir. 1982). There is a "compelling interest in the finality of judgments which should not lightly be disregarded." Rodgers v. Watt, 722 F.2d 456, 459 (9th Cir. 1983).
ANALYSIS
Defendant has not articulated any new arguments or put forth new facts that warrant reconsideration of the May 1, 2003 Order.
Defendant argues that the statute under which Defendant is charged, 18 U.S.C. § 2280, should be confined in its application to acts of terrorism. The centerpiece of Defendant's Motion for Reconsideration is a Declaration of Malvina Halberstam, who was involved in the drafting of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation. Defendant has submitted the Halberstam Declaration in an attempt to again raise the argument that 18 U.S.C. § 2280 "was not intended" to cover the alleged crime committed.
Defendant cannot present arguments or evidence in a motion for reconsideration that could reasonably have been raised earlier in the litigation. See Kona Enterprises, Inc., 229 F.3d at 890. Defendant's argument regarding jurisdiction and the component Halberstam Declaration and other exhibits all could have been presented previously, and were presented in other contexts. Defendant relied on the views of Professor Halberstam in his capital sentencing memorandum, in which he heavily quoted from Halberstam's article Terrorism on the High Seas: The Achille Lauro, Piracy and the IMO Convention on Maritime Safety, 82 Am. Jur. Int'l Law 269 (1988).
The Government addressed Professor Halberstam's position in its January 10, 2003 Memorandum in Response to the Court's Request for Its Views Concerning Jurisdiction, and even provided an excerpt of Halberstam's argument as an Exhibit thereto. (See Government's January 10, 2003 filing at 13 Exhibit A). Professor Halberstam's position has already been considered by the Court in reaching a conclusion on the issue of jurisdiction.
The applicability of 18 U.S.C. § 2280 to Defendant's alleged acts has already been considered and ruled on by the Court. The Court concluded in its May 1, 2003 Order that the language of the statute clearly applies to the alleged actions Defendant is charged with committing. (See May 1, 2003 Order at 7). Defendant has not demonstrated any intervening change in controlling law, the discovery of new evidence not previously available, or the need to correct clear or manifest error in law.See Mustafa, 157 F.3d at 1178-79; School Dist. No. 1J, 5 F.3d at 1263. The Court's May 1, 2003 Order Regarding Jurisdiction Over Defendant Lei Shi stands.
CONCLUSION
In accordance with the foregoing, Defendant's Motion for Reconsideration is DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.