USA v. SHERBURNE
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in USA v. SHERBURNE, No. 06-30534, a criminal appeal. The panel consisted of Betty B. Fletcher, Arlen C. Beam, and Pamela Ann Rymer, Circuit Judges.
B. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:
This appeal by the government is from the district court’s grant of attorney’s fees to Scott Sherburne under the Hyde Amendment, Pub. L. 105-119, Title VII § 617, 111 Stat. 2519 (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3006A Note). We reverse. Blaze Construction (”Blaze”) submitted an application for federal grant funds under a Department of Housing and Urban Development (”HUD”) program designed to fund the construction of private homes for low income Native Americans. Blaze’s project to build homes on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana (”the Blaze project”) was plagued with difficulty and controversy from beginning to end. As part of an investigation into the Blaze project, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in February 1998 interviewed Scott Sherburne, manager of Lodge Builder Management, a company associated with Blaze. During the interview, Sherburne made an incriminating statement while represented by counsel. The United States brought criminal charges against thirteen defendants including Sherburne. The charges against Sher. . .