USA v. RIEDL
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in USA v. RIEDL, No. 06-10424, a habeas corpus appeal. The panel consisted of David R. Thompson, Pamela Ann Rymer and Raymond C. Fisher, Circuit Judges.
FISHER, Circuit Judge:
Brigitte Riedl was convicted of various offenses in 1999, including five counts of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. ยง 1956(a)(3)(B), and served her resulting 66-month prison sentence. Although she has been released from custody, she now petitions for a writ of error coram nobis. She contends that the money laundering statute under which she was convicted is unconstitutionally vague, and that there was insufficient evidence that her activities affected interstate commerce. We agree with the district court that Riedl’s petition must be denied. She has failed to provide any valid reasons for waiting so long to challenge her convictions on these grounds, and thus plainly does not satisfy the requirements for the highly unusual remedy of coram nobis relief. See Hirabayashi v. United States, 828 F.2d 591, 604 (9th Cir. 1987) (adopting four factors as predicates for coram nobis relief, including that “valid reasons exist for not attacking the conviction earlier”). Riedl attempts to overcome her unjustified delay by invoking the equitable doctrine of laches, arguing that the government has not been prejudiced by her tardiness. Cf. Telink, Inc. v. United States, 24 F.3d 42, 45 (9th Cir. 1994) (addressing laches in coram nobis context). We reject the notion that a petitioner can employ laches in such a fashion. To follow Riedl’s suggestion under the circumstances of this case would transform the extraordinary writ of coram nobis into a free pass for attacking criminal judgments long after they have become final. . . .