No. _______ IN THE Supreme Court of the United States _________ DEVON ARCHER, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Respondent. _________ On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit _________ PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI _________ MATTHEW L. SCHWARTZ BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER LLP 55 Hudson Yards, 20th Floor New York, New York 10001 (212) 446-2300 [email protected] Counsel for Petitioner i QUESTION PRESENTED The district court vacated Petitioner’s convictions for securities fraud and conspiracy and ordered a new trial after concluding that the evidence weighed so heavily against the verdict that there was a serious risk of a miscarriage of justice and that an innocent person may have been convicted. The Second Circuit reversed, holding that the district court lacked discre- tion to weigh the evidence under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33(a), unless there was eviden- tiary or instructional error or “the evidence was pa- tently incredible or defied physical realities.” The question presented is: Does Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33(a) af- ford district courts discretion to reweigh the evidence when evaluating a new trial motion, as eleven other federal courts of appeals have held, or does the rule require that a court “must defer to the jury’s resolu- tion of conflicting evidence,” unless there was eviden- tiary or instructional error or “the evidence was pa- tently incredible or defied physical realities,” as the Second Circuit held in this case? ii PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDINGS Petitioner is Devon Archer, who was defendant-ap- pellee below. Respondent is the United States of America, which was plaintiff-appellant below. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS QUESTION PRESENTED ................................ i PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDINGS ................ ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................... iii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES .............................. vi PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI ... 1 OPINIONS BELOW .......................................... 1 JURISDICTION ................................................ 1 STATUTORY PROVISIONS INVOLVED ....... 2 INTRODUCTION .............................................. 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE .......................... 7 I. Legal Background ................................... 7 a. Before Rule 33, District Courts Historically Possessed Discretion to Assess Whether Criminal Verdicts Were Against the Weight of the Evidence. ................................. 7 b. Rule 33 Incorporated the Discretionary Standard for Granting New Trials Based on Weight of the Evidence. .................... 9 c. The Majority of Circuits Interpret Rule 33 As Permitting Weight of iv the Evidence Challenges Addressed to the Trial Court’s Discretion. .......................................... 11 II. This Case ................................................. 12 REASONS FOR GRANTING THE PETITION .................................................... 17 I. The Decision Below Creates a Split Among Federal Courts of Appeals as to Whether a New Trial May Be Granted Based on Weight of the Evidence Absent Impossible Evidence or Judicial Error. .................................... 18 a. The Seventh and Eighth Circuits Have Rejected the Requirement that Evidence Must Be Impossible or Incredible Before a District Court May Reweigh the Evidence. ... 20 b. The Archer Standard Is Incompatible with Those Circuits that Do Not Require District Courts to View the Evidence in the Light Most Favorable to the Government for Rule 33 Challenges Based on the Weight of the Evidence. ..................................... 24 II. The Second Circuit Broke from This Court’s Prior Rulings on District v Courts’ Discretion to Weigh the Evidence in Criminal Proceedings. ........ 29 III.The Question Presented Is of National Importance. ............................................. 33 IV. This Case Is the Right Vehicle. .............. 34 CONCLUSION .................................................. 35 APPENDIX A – Opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (October 7, 2020) ............................. 1a APPENDIX B – Opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (December 23, 2020) ........................ 19a APPENDIX C – Opinion of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (November 15, 2018) ............................................................. 20a APPENDIX D – Federal Rules of Crimimal Procedure, Rule 33 ....................................... 59a vi TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Yeatts, 122 F.2d 350 (4th Cir. 1941) ..................... 34 Capital Traction Co. v. Hof, 174 U.S. 1 (1899) ....................................... 7, 8 Crumpton v. United States, 138 U.S. 361 (1891) ................................... 5, 9, 30, 32 Galloway v. United States, 319 U.S. 372 (1943) ................................... 7 Gasperini v. Ctr. for Humanities, Inc., 518 U.S. 415 (1996) ................................... 34 Holland v. Allied Structural Steel Co., 539 F.2d 476 (5th Cir. 1976) ..................... 18 Inland & Sea-Board Coasting Co. v. Hall, 124 U.S. 121 (1888) ................................... 9 Lee v. Lee, 33 U.S. 44 (1834) ...................................... 7 Maryland v. King, 567 U.S. 1301 (2012) ................................. 33 Metro. R.R. Co. v. Moore, 121 U.S. 558 (1887) ................................... 4 Montgomery Ward & Co. v. Duncan, 311 U.S. 243 (1940) ................................... 10 vii Quercia v. United States, 289 U.S. 466 (1933) ................................... 7 Sparrow v. Strong, 71 U.S. 584 (1866) ..................................... 8 Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31 (1982) ..................................... 5, 25, 27 United States v. Aguiar, 737 F.3d 251 (2d Cir. 2013) ...................... 13 United States v. Alston, 974 F.2d 1206 (9th Cir. 1992) ................... 28 United States v. Archer, 977 F.3d 181 (2d Cir. 2020) ...................... passim United States v. Brodie, 295 F.2d 157 (D.C. Cir. 1961) ................... 25 United States v. Burks, 974 F.3d 622 (6th Cir. 2020) ..................... 24, 25 United States v. Cote, 544 F.3d 88 (2d Cir. 2008) ........................ 24, 28 United States v. Crittenden, 827 Fed. App’x 448 (5th Cir. 2020) .......... 27 United States v. Ferguson, 246 F.3d 129 (2d Cir. 2001) ...................... 5 United States v. Galanis, 366 F. Supp. 3d 477 (S.D.N.Y. 2018) ....... passim United States v. Johnson, 327 U.S. 106 (1946) ................................... 27, 28 United States v. Lews, 521 F. App’x 530 (6th Cir. 2013) .............. 24 viii United States v. Lincoln, 630 F.2d 1313 (8th Cir. 1980) ................... 22, 28 United States v. Lopez, 576 F.2d 840 (10th Cir. 1978) ................... 11, 25 United States v. Mallory, 902 F.3d 584 (6th Cir. 2018) ..................... 11, 25, 26 United States v. Martinez, 763 F.2d 1297 (11th Cir. 1985) ................. 28 United States v. McAtee, 481 F.3d 1099 (8th Cir. 2007) ................... 22 United States v. Merlino, 592 F.3d 22 (1st Cir. 2010) ....................... 24, 28 United States v. Morales 902 F.2d 604 (7th Cir. 1990) (“Morales I”) ............................................................... 4, 12 United States v. Morales, 910 F.2d 467 (7th Cir. 1990) (“Morales II”) .............................................................. 4, 21 United States v. Petit, No. 19-cr-850-JSR, 2021 WL 673461 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 21, 2021). .......................... 19 United States v. Robertson, 110 F.3d 1113 (5th Cir. 1997) ................... 11, 25, 27 United States v. Rothrock, 806 F.2d 318 (1st Cir. 1986) ..................... 28 United States v. Sanchez 969 F.2d 1409 (2d Cir. 1992) .................... 18 ix United States v. Shipp, 409 F.2d 33 (4th Cir. 1969) ....................... 26 United States v. Smith, 331 U.S. 469 (1947) ................................... 31 United States v. Stacks, 821 F.3d 1038 (8th Cir. 2016) ................... 4, 12, 22 United States v. Thompson, __ F. Supp. 3d __, No. 1:18-cr-00126- EAW, 2020 WL 6930621 (W.D.N.Y. Nov. 25, 2020) ........................................... 19 United States v. Truman, 688 F.3d 129 (2d Cir. 2012) ...................... 33 United States v. Washington, 184 F.3d 653 (7th Cir. 1999) ..................... 20 United States v. Weinstein, 452 F.2d 704 (2d Cir. 1971) ...................... 6 United States v. Wolff, 892 F.2d 75 (4th Cir. 1989) ....................... passim Zollman v. Symington Wayne Corp., 438 F.2d 28 (7th Cir. 1991) ....................... 18 Statutes 18 U.S.C. § 3231 .......................................... 12 18 U.S.C. § 3731 .......................................... 11 28 U.S.C. § 1254 .......................................... 1 x Other Authorities Barron & Holtzoff, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2281 (Rules ed. 1958) ......................................... 26 Drafting History of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (Madeleine J. Wilken & Nicholas Triffin eds., 1991) ...... 10, 30, 31 U.S. Courts, Table T-1, https://www.uscourts.gov/data-table- numbers/t-1. .............................................. 34 Rules Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(b) ..................................... 10 Fed. R. Civ. P. 59 ......................................... 10 Fed. R. of Crim. P. 29 .................................. 10 Fed. R. of Crim. P. 33(a), ............................. 2, 6, 9 1 PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI The Petitioner, Devon Archer, respectfully peti- tions