United States v. Pena de la Cruz
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
Date FiledSeptember 11, 2026
Docket25-1648
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 25-1648
UNITED STATES,
Appellant,
v.
JOSE MIGUEL PENA DE LA CRUZ,
Defendant, Appellee.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
[Hon. William G. Young, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Montecalvo, Lipez, and Kayatta,
Circuit Judges.
Donald C. Lockhart, Assistant United States Attorney, with
whom Leah B. Foley, United States Attorney, was on brief, for
appellant.
Judith H. Mizner, Assistant Federal Public Defender, for
appellee.
September 11, 2026
MONTECALVO, Circuit Judge. On March 26, 2025, Jose
Miguel Pena de la Cruz was indicted in the U.S. District Court for
the District of Massachusetts for money laundering conspiracy and
aiding and abetting money laundering.1 After he was arraigned,
and after a magistrate judge ordered his release from criminal
custody on conditions pursuant to the Bail Reform Act, Pena de la
Cruz was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
custody. On June 19, 2025, the government notified the district
court that Pena de la Cruz, a citizen of the Dominican Republic,
would be imminently deported. The district court, treating that
notice as a motion to dismiss Pena de la Cruz's criminal indictment
without prejudice, entered an order on June 23, 2025 (the
"June 23rd Order"), dismissing the indictment with prejudice upon
Pena de la Cruz's deportation.2 The next day, Pena de la Cruz was
deported. The government now appeals the district court's order
dismissing the indictment with prejudice. Because we agree that
the dismissal with prejudice constituted an abuse of discretion,
we vacate that order and remand to the district court with
1The grand jury returned an indictment charging Pena de la
Cruz with one count of money laundering conspiracy under 18 U.S.C.
ยง 1956(h) and three counts of aiding and abetting money laundering
under 18 U.S.C. ยงยง 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) and 2, in the amounts of
$130,040, $70,140, and $139,900, respectively.
2 Dismissal of an indictment with prejudice bars future
prosecution of the alleged counts, whereas dismissal without
prejudice generally allows the government to recharge the
defendant with those same counts in the future. See generally
Dismissal, Black's Law Dictionary (12th ed. 2024).
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instructions to enter an order dismissing the indictment without
prejudice. We further vacate the district court's standing order
at issue in this case, in both its original and modified forms.
I.
We begin with an overview of the events leading up to
the district court's June 23rd Order. During a status conference
on May 1, 2025, the government first informed the district court
that Pena de la Cruz had been taken into ICE custody and was
detained in New Hampshire. In response, defense counsel made an
oral motion to dismiss Pena de la Cruz's indictment with prejudice,
arguing that his detention, and his likely upcoming deportation,
would interfere with his Sixth Amendment rights as a criminal
defendant to seek assistance of counsel, testify in his own
defense, and present his case at trial. The government responded
that in a similar case where a defendant had been moved to ICE
custody out-of-state but had not yet been deported, that individual
had been returned to Massachusetts to complete criminal
proceedings; the government suggested that the same could be done
with Pena de la Cruz. The district court ordered Pena de la Cruz
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"not to be deported" and instructed the government to respond in
writing to Pena de la Cruz's motion for dismissal with prejudice.3
On May 8, 2025, the district court judge, in a standing
order governing all criminal cases before that judge, ordered that
defendants were not to be subject to ICE custody until one of three
things occurred: 1) the government moved for dismissal of the
pending charges with prejudice and the district court allowed the
motion, 2) a jury acquitted the defendant of the charges, or
3) judgment was entered following a trial or plea.
Two weeks later, on May 22, 2025, the district court
issued a new order in Pena de la Cruz's case in which it modified
its recently issued standing order to "permit . . . ICE detention"
so long as detainees were not deported until their criminal case
had concluded. The court also ordered ICE to "facilitate the
appearance" of detainees "for all court appearances where the
criminal defendant is permitted to be present."
3 In the government's later written opposition to Pena de la
Cruz's motion to dismiss his indictment with prejudice, the
government argued that because Pena de la Cruz had not yet been
deported, his claim was "not ripe." The government also contested
defense counsel's claims concerning prejudice to Pena de la Cruz's
Sixth Amendment rights, arguing that Pena de la Cruz could not
demonstrate that being detained in neighboring New Hampshire would
"significantly prejudice him," where his detention did not inhibit
his ability to "receive calls from his lawyer" and "review
evidence." Following the government's written opposition, Pena de
la Cruz moved to withdraw his earlier oral motion to dismiss with
prejudice as "not yet ripe."
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On May 29, 2025, the district court held another status
conference at which ICE facilitated Pena de la Cruz's appearance,
in compliance with the court's earlier order.4 At the status
conference, defense counsel informed the district court that Pena
de la Cruz had "a final order of removal" in his immigration
proceedings and did not intend to challenge that order. The
district court noted that the only remaining issue, then, was
whether dismissal of the criminal charges against Pena de la Cruz
would be entered with or without prejudice.
In considering that issue, the district court expressed
concern over the government's efforts to deport Pena de la Cruz
after the United States Attorney had exercised its prosecutorial
discretion to indict him. The district court noted that law
enforcement had expended time and resources to investigate the
case, grand jury members had convened and returned an indictment
on serious money laundering charges against him, and a magistrate
judge had carefully considered the terms of Pena de la Cruz's
release on conditions under the Bail Reform Act. The court did
not resolve whether dismissal would be with or without prejudice
at that time but ordered the government to provide "two days
notice" of any plans to deport Pena de la Cruz, stating, "then
4At that status conference, the district court clarified that
ICE need only bring defendants to court for hearings where their
attendance was "required," rather than "permitted."
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we'll see what motion is filed." The district court confirmed
that ICE could "proceed towards deportation" so long as notice was
provided to the court.
On June 19, 2025, the government, in compliance with the
district court's oral order at the May 29 status conference to
notify the district court of any plans to deport Pena de la Cruz,
filed a "Notice of Impending Removal of Defendant." The notice
indicated that Pena de la Cruz's deportation was scheduled for
June 24, 2025.
Four days later, the district court entered its
June 23rd Order that we introduced earlier. This six-sentence
order began by noting that the government had "properly given
notice" to the court of Pena de la Cruz's upcoming deportation, in
compliance with the court's earlier oral order. The court treated
the government's removal notice "as a motion to dismiss the pending
indictment without prejudice," and registered its concern about
Pena de la Cruz's "serious pending unresolved criminal charges"
and what the court perceived as tension between the government's
"claim to be fully enforcing the law" while simultaneously "quietly
deporting a defendant." The district court concluded: "[u]pon
[Pena de la Cruz's] deportation," which indeed occurred the next
day, "the indictment against him is dismissed with prejudice."
This timely appeal followed.
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II.
"When the district court dismisses an indictment or a
portion thereof, we review [its] conclusions of law de novo,
factual findings for clear error, and the ultimate ruling for abuse
of discretion." United States v. Lopez-Matias, 522 F.3d 150, 153
(1st Cir. 2008) (first citing United States v. Kelley, 402 F.3d
39, 41 (1st Cir. 2005); then citing United States v. Maxwell, 351
F.3d 35, 40 (1st Cir. 2003)).
III.
The question before us on appeal is whether the district
court abused its discretion in dismissing Pena de la Cruz's
indictment with prejudice under Rule 48(a) of the Federal Rules of
Criminal Procedure. To answer that question, we will look to the
June 23rd Order dismissing Pena de la Cruz's indictment and the
district court's standing order, as modified, in more detail. But
before considering the specifics of this case, we provide some
background about Rule 48(a), which governs dismissal of criminal
indictments "[b]y the Government."5 Although Rule 48(a) does not
directly address when an indictment may be dismissed with
5In addition to providing for dismissal "[b]y the Government"
in Rule 48(a), Rule 48(b) provides for dismissal "[b]y the Court"
in certain circumstances of "unnecessary delay." Fed. R. Crim.
P. 48(a), (b). As a threshold matter, because no circumstances of
"unnecessary delay" are raised here, and because the government
does not dispute that its notice of Pena de la Cruz's pending
removal functioned as a motion to dismiss without prejudice under
Rule 48(a), our analysis falls squarely under Rule 48(a).
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prejudice, in establishing the broader requirements for dismissal,
it informs our analysis of the narrower prejudice question before
us. See United States v. Adams, 777 F. Supp. 3d 185, 214-15
(S.D.N.Y. 2025) (explaining that courts have often "looked to the
same principles that motivate [Rule 48(a)'s] 'leave of court'
requirement" when analyzing a court's "discretion to dismiss with
prejudice under Rule 48(a)"). We begin with Rule 48(a).
A.
Rule 48(a) provides for dismissal of criminal charges as
follows:
The government may, with leave of court,
dismiss an indictment, information, or
complaint. The government may not dismiss the
prosecution during trial without the
defendant's consent.
Fed. R. Crim. P. 48(a). The first three words of Rule 48(a),
"[t]he government may," vest the power to file a motion to dismiss
an indictment with the government. Id. Simultaneously,
Rule 48(a)'s reference to "with leave of court," which we refer to
as the judicial leave requirement, reserves some role for the
court. See id. The precise extent of the executive and judicial
roles reflected in Rule 48(a) and how those respective powers bear
on when dismissal may be entered with prejudice lie at the heart
of this appeal. Faced with an absence of direct authority on such
issues in this circuit, we look for guidance to cases from our
sister circuits that have more squarely addressed Rule 48(a). Cf.
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Dimova v. Holder, 783 F.3d 30, 40 (1st Cir. 2015) (considering
decisions of sister circuits).
The D.C. Circuit, in United States v. Ammidown,
explained that the court "does not have primary responsibility" in
dismissals under Rule 48(a); rather, the court observed, the
judiciary's role is a more limited one, focused on "guarding
against abuse of prosecutorial discretion." 497 F.2d 615, 620
(D.C. Cir. 1973). Similarly, in United States v. Cowan, the Fifth
Circuit explained that Rule 48(a)'s judicial leave requirement was
"intended to modify and condition" the Executive's power "by
erecting a check on the abuse of Executive prerogatives," marking
a shift from the prior common-law rule under which prosecutors had
near "absolute power" to dismiss cases at any time before jury
empanelment. 524 F.2d 504, 505, 513 (5th Cir. 1975); see also
Fed. R. Crim. P. 48(a) advisory committee's note to 1944 adoption
1 (explaining that the common-law rule had allowed prosecutors to
"enter a nolle prosequi in [their] discretion, without any action
by the court"). But in so conditioning the Executive's power, the
Fifth Circuit clarified, Rule 48(a) was not meant "to confer on
the Judiciary the power and authority to usurp or interfere with
the good faith exercise of the Executive power to take care that
the laws are faithfully executed." 524 F.2d at 513. Rather, it
concluded, the government's discretion to terminate pending
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charges "should not be judicially disturbed unless clearly
contrary to manifest public interest." Id.
These cases reflect an important baseline principle:
Rule 48(a) reserves a role for the court in dismissals, but that
role is narrowly circumscribed. The Supreme Court acknowledged as
much in Rinaldi v. United States, noting that Rule 48(a)'s judicial
leave requirement "vest[s] some discretion" with the judiciary,
while leaving the exact scope of that discretion undefined. 434
U.S. 22, 29 n.15 (1977). Although the Court did not weigh in on
Rule 48(a)'s judicial leave requirement in great detail in
Rinaldi, it clarified that "the principal object" of this
requirement is "to protect a defendant against prosecutorial
harassment, e.g., charging, dismissing, and recharging, when the
Government moves to dismiss an indictment over the defendant's
objection." Id.; see also United States v. Suazo, 14 F.4th 70, 75
(1st Cir. 2021) (noting that "Rule 48(a) protects [a] defendant[]
from prosecutorial harassment"). And, central to our discussion,
the Court left open the possibility that certain limited
circumstances -- those "clearly contrary to the public
interest" -- might sometimes warrant denial of leave of court
under Rule 48(a). See Rinaldi, 434 U.S. at 29 n.15 (citing
Ammidown and Cowan, the Court noted that Rule 48(a) has "been held
to permit the court to deny a Government dismissal motion to which
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the defendant has consented if the motion is prompted by
considerations clearly contrary to the public interest").
Building from that premise, post-Rinaldi, circuit courts
have adopted varying approaches for determining which
circumstances are "clearly contrary to the public interest" such
that judicial leave may be withheld under Rule 48(a). See id.;
Adams, 777 F. Supp. 3d at 210 (discussing approaches across
circuits). The arguments raised in this case, in part, require us
to clarify our own approach in the related context of determining
what circumstances so clearly contravene the public interest such
that dismissal may be with prejudice. Understanding that the same
limited discretion afforded to courts under Rule 48(a) to deny
dismissals when "prompted by considerations clearly contrary to
the public interest" also allows courts to determine those narrow
circumstances when dismissal may be with prejudice, we now turn to
the parties' arguments. Cf. Rinaldi, 434 U.S. at 29 n.15; United
States v. Raineri, 42 F.3d 36, 43 (1st Cir. 1994) (discussing the
court's authority, under the circumstances of the case, to "order
that the dismissal be modified to reflect that it is a dismissal
with prejudice").
B.
On appeal, the government argues that the district court
erred in dismissing Pena de la Cruz's indictment with prejudice.
It asserts that the district court, through its modified standing
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order, "create[d] a system" requiring the government to notify the
court of a defendant's pending removal and triggering "automatic
dismissal [of the defendant's indictment] with prejudice" "upon
such notice and removal." Such a system, the government contends,
runs contrary to the default rule that dismissals under Rule 48(a)
are typically "without prejudice" and to case law limiting
dismissal with prejudice to instances where the defendant
demonstrates prosecutorial harassment or bad faith, which the
government claims did not occur here.
Pena de la Cruz argues that the court did not abuse its
discretion because case-specific circumstances supported dismissal
of the indictment with prejudice. Pena de la Cruz maintains that
the relevant considerations bearing on dismissal with prejudice
are not as limited as the government contends; rather, he asserts,
courts may evaluate "the public interest in the fair administration
of justice and the preservation of the integrity of the courts"
when determining whether to dismiss an indictment with prejudice.
And under that rubric, Pena de la Cruz argues, the district court
properly weighed the "societal interests in prosecuting" the
serious charges against him, the grand jury's involvement in
charging him, and how deportation would affect his "rights to
counsel and a fair trial."
We conclude that the circumstances here did not reach
the high threshold required to warrant dismissal with prejudice.
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The district court thus abused its discretion in dismissing Pena
de la Cruz's indictment with prejudice. We also hold that the
district court's modified standing order improperly conditioned
Pena de la Cruz's removal on the dismissal of his indictment with
prejudice, and we accordingly vacate the standing order in its
original form and as modified.
To begin, we explain the proper standard for determining
whether dismissal will be entered with or without prejudice. The
government correctly asserts that dismissals under Rule 48(a) are
"[c]ustomarily" without prejudice, Raineri, 42 F.3d at 43, and
that prosecutors are afforded a "presumption of good faith," Suazo,
14 F.4th at 75 (citation modified). Further, the government's
argument that dismissal with prejudice is typically limited to
instances where the defendant has demonstrated prosecutorial bad
faith finds persuasive support in decisions from the Fourth, Fifth,
and Eighth circuits. Those circuits, in determining which
circumstances are so "clearly contrary to the public interest"
such that judicial leave may be withheld under Rule 48(a), "treat[]
prosecutorial bad faith and the public interest as two sides of
the same coin." Adams, 777 F. Supp. 3d at 210; cf. United States
v. Smith, 55 F.3d 157, 159 (4th Cir. 1995) (holding that a "motion
[to dismiss] that is not motivated by bad faith is not clearly
contrary to manifest public interest"); United States v. Bernard,
42 F.4th 905, 909 (8th Cir. 2022) (holding that a dismissal clearly
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contravenes the public interest only where the prosecutor "had an
illegitimate motive rising to the level of bad faith"); United
States v. Hamm, 659 F.2d 624, 630 (5th Cir. 1981) (allowing courts
to deny motions to dismiss only where prosecutors are "clearly
motivated by considerations other than [their] assessment[s] of
the public interest").
Pena de la Cruz, in contrast, points to a single circuit
court decision from the Tenth Circuit, United States v. Carrigan,
to support his argument that Rule 48(a) allows courts deciding
dismissal motions "to consider the public interest in the fair
administration of criminal justice and the need to preserve the
integrity of the courts." 778 F.2d 1454, 1463 (10th Cir. 1985)
(emphasis added). Notably, the underlined language that Pena de
la Cruz relies on from Carrigan is cabined by language reinforcing
(1) that Rule 48(a)'s primary purpose is "to protect a defendant
from prosecutorial harassment," and (2) that courts must usually
grant dismissal unless "'clearly contrary to manifest public
interest.'" Id. (quoting Cowan, 524 F.2d at 513).6 Ultimately,
6 It bears mentioning that Carrigan was not decided under
Rule 48(a), but rather, under Rule 11(e), which governs guilty
pleas and nolo contendere pleas. 778 F.2d at 1463; see Fed. R.
Crim. P. 11(e). Thus, Carrigan provides no further explanation
nor application of the underlined language that Pena de la Cruz
relies on so heavily.
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while Pena de la Cruz urges us to afford great weight to this
sentence from a single out-of-circuit case, we are not persuaded.
Our own case law in United States v. Raineri, while not
definitively answering when dismissal may be entered with
prejudice, counsels courts to exercise their limited discretion
under Rule 48(a) with restraint and directs us towards a more
circumscribed consideration of the public interest that is closely
tied to protecting the defendant from patent unfairness. In
Raineri, a defendant who pled guilty to three criminal counts in
relation to his alleged involvement in an armed robbery later
sought to withdraw his guilty plea, alleging, in part, that he had
been misinformed of the penalties for the third count.7 42 F.3d
at 38-39. The government, seeking to "remedy any possible
defects," moved to dismiss that count. Id. at 39. The district
court granted the dismissal and denied the defendant's motion to
withdraw his guilty plea. Id. at 39, 43. On appeal, Raineri
asserted that the dismissal -- which was assumed to have been
7Indeed, Raineri was erroneously advised that this count held
a "maximum of 10 years' imprisonment and a $10,000 fine" when in
fact, due to his criminal history, he faced a "mandatory minimum
of 15 years' imprisonment" and a maximum fine of $25,000. Raineri,
42 F.3d at 40.
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without prejudice -- "undercut [his] plea agreement," and argued
for withdrawal of his guilty plea. Id. at 42-43.
In our decision, we noted that Raineri pled guilty under
the assumption that "there [would] be no future trial on any of
the[] counts" he was charged with, but because his third count had
been dismissed without prejudice, the possibility remained that he
could be reindicted on that count in the future. Id. at 43. To
remedy this obvious and severe "threat of unfairness," we
recognized that this court had authority to "itself order"
modification of the dismissal "to reflect that it [was] with
prejudice." Id. But, acknowledging that "the choice to forego
permanently a prosecution is ordinarily made by the executive
branch," we instead remanded to the district court so that the
government could elect to either "accept a dismissal with
prejudice" or "surrender the guilty pleas and give the defendant
[a] trial." Id.
Drawing from Raineri, we hold today that in determining
which circumstances are so "clearly contrary to the public
interest," cf. Rinaldi, 434 U.S. at 29 n.15, so as to warrant the
entry of dismissal with prejudice, courts may consider those
limited circumstances where dismissal without prejudice would
raise a patent threat of unfairness to the defendant. See Raineri,
42 F.3d at 43. Such circumstances include prosecutorial harassment
and prosecutorial bad faith. We leave open the possibility that
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other circumstances might also raise such a clear and serious
threat of unfairness to the defendant so as to permit a court to
enter dismissal with prejudice under Rule 48(a). See id. However,
we caution that such circumstances are exceedingly narrow and thus
courts must practice careful restraint in exercising their
constrained discretion under Rule 48(a). See id.
C.
Under our clarified standard, we return to the specifics
of this case. As we will explain, because the circumstances here
are not "clearly contrary to the public interest" under the rubric
we just laid out, we conclude that the district court abused its
discretion under Rule 48(a) in dismissing Pena de la Cruz's
indictment with prejudice.
Recall that the district court's June 23rd Order
dismissing Pena de la Cruz's indictment with prejudice upon his
deportation noted that the government had "properly given notice"
of Pena de la Cruz's pending deportation in compliance with the
court's earlier oral order. Our review of the record confirms
that the government respected the court's orders to timely notify
the court of Pena de la Cruz's upcoming deportation and to
facilitate his appearance at proceedings, and Pena de la Cruz
provides no indication that the government defied other court
orders or otherwise acted in bad faith.
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Additionally, the June 23rd Order acknowledged the
"serious pending unresolved criminal charges" against Pena de la
Cruz, apparently as support for dismissal with prejudice. But the
serious nature of those charges, which totaled over $340,000 in
alleged laundered funds, tends to weigh in favor of dismissal
without prejudice, such that these charges might be pursued in the
future should Pena de la Cruz later return to the United States.
As time passes following Pena de la Cruz's removal from the United
States, of course, circumstances may arise that could severely
disadvantage his defense if he is reindicted in the future -- for
example, evidence supporting his defense may go stale -- but
importantly, should Pena de la Cruz return to the United States in
the future and be reindicted, all such arguments will be available
to him at that time. We see no present and obvious threat of
unfairness to Pena de la Cruz.
Finally, we look to the June 23rd Order's explanation
for why the indictment against Pena de la Cruz was dismissed with
prejudice. In a single sentence, the district court explained
that, in its view, the government's "claim to be fully enforcing
the law" was incompatible with the government's simultaneous
efforts to "quietly deport" Pena de la Cruz. This exceedingly
brief explanation is insufficient to overcome the default
presumption that dismissal under Rule 48(a) is without prejudice.
But even looking beyond the immediate text of the June 23rd Order
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and at concerns raised in the district court's earlier exchanges
with the parties, we cannot conclude that the circumstances here
were so "clearly contrary to the public interest" to warrant
dismissal with prejudice.
In status conferences leading up to the June 23rd Order,
the district court expressed concern that Pena de la Cruz's
deportation following his indictment would undermine the integrity
of the criminal justice system by undercutting the time and
resources expended by law enforcement in investigating Pena de la
Cruz's case, by the grand jury in returning an indictment against
him, and by the magistrate judge in issuing orders concerning his
release. Concerns for the careful stewarding of these entities
and individuals' time and resources are important, but such
considerations alone reflect neither prosecutorial harassment nor
bad faith, nor do they otherwise raise a patent risk of unfairness
to Pena de la Cruz such that dismissal without prejudice was
"clearly contrary to the public interest." Where the collective
circumstances here did not meet that high standard, the presumption
of dismissal without prejudice prevails.8 Thus, we hold that the
8In addition to the district court's concerns about the time
and resources expended by law enforcement, the grand jury, and the
magistrate judge, Pena de la Cruz contends that the district court
"was also informed of the impact of deportation on [Pena de la
Cruz's] rights to counsel." But although the district court was
"informed" of Pena de la Cruz's arguments that his Sixth Amendment
rights as a criminal defendant would be impeded by his immigration
detention and likely removal, we find no indication that this was
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district court abused its discretion in dismissing Pena de la
Cruz's indictment with prejudice.
Finally, the government also asks us to vacate the
original and modified versions of the district court's standing
order. Recall that the May 8, 2025 standing order prohibited ICE
custody "until" one of three events occurred in the defendant's
criminal case: dismissal with prejudice, acquittal, or judgment
following a trial or plea. And the district court's May 22, 2025
order modified the standing order to allow for ICE detention but
prohibited ICE detainees from being removed until their criminal
proceedings concluded "in the manner set forth" in the standing
order. The standing order expressly applies to all criminal cases
assigned to the district court judge in this case. And the
district court's June 23rd Order plainly incorporated and
implemented the modified standing order by treating the
government's "Notice of Impending Removal of Defendant" as grounds
among the considerations motivating the district court's order
dismissing the indictment with prejudice. The district court did
not mention such concerns in the June 23rd Order itself nor in the
status conferences leading up to that order. In any event, Pena
de la Cruz failed to substantiate his claim of prejudice to his
Sixth Amendment rights. Indeed, he did not counter the
government's countervailing arguments in its written opposition
that he had the ability to consult counsel and review evidence
while in ICE custody, and he later retracted his initial oral
motion to dismiss with prejudice for want of ripeness.
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to dismiss the indictment with prejudice. We therefore agree with
the government that we should review the standing order.9
By operation of the standing order and its modified
version, absent acquittal or judgment of conviction, removal of an
indicted defendant is conditioned by the court on dismissal of the
indictment, invariably, "with prejudice." But for the reasons we
have explained, the district court cannot categorically order
dismissal of an indictment with prejudice. Instead, it must
conclude that the individual case is one in which dismissal without
prejudice would raise a patent threat of unfairness to the
defendant. The standing order thus exceeds the district court's
limited discretion under Rule 48(a), and we accordingly vacate the
standing order in its original form and as modified.
IV.
For the reasons stated herein, we vacate the district
court's June 23rd Order dismissing the indictment against Pena de
9 The government raises another argument that we need address
only briefly: It asserts that the district court's ruling is
"undermine[d]" by the holdings of seven other circuits, which, it
alleges, "have held that ICE has authority to detain and remove
federally-indicted defendants regardless of the pendency of the
federal criminal case and irrespective of release determinations
made under the [Bail Reform Act]." The government's statement is
only partially correct. Concerning detention, those seven
circuits have indeed held that the detention-and-release
provisions of the Bail Reform Act and the Immigration and
Nationality Act do not conflict. See, e.g., United States v. Lett,
944 F.3d 467, 469 (2d Cir. 2019). But that has no bearing here,
where the district court modified its standing order to no longer
prohibit ICE from detaining noncitizen defendants.
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la Cruz with prejudice and remand to the district court with
instructions to enter an order dismissing the indictment without
prejudice. We further vacate the district court's May 8, 2025
standing order and its May 22, 2025 modification to the standing
order, with instructions to remove the standing order from the
district court's website.
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