Pretrial freeze of “untainted” assets violates the Sixth Amendment right to counsel of choice
Four years ago, Sila Luis was indicted on charges of Medicare fraud. The government alleged that she had obtained as much as $45 million illegally but had spent almost all of it, leaving her with approximately $2 million in assets. Hoping to ensure that Luis’s remaining assets would be available to pay fines and restitution if she were convicted, the government went to court. Relying on a federal statute that allows courts to freeze property equivalent in value to the proceeds of health-care crimes like those with which Luis has been charged, the government asked a federal trial court to issue a pretrial order to freeze all of Luis’s assets, including the “untainted” ones – that is, money not connected to her alleged crimes
(. . .)
Justice Stephen Breyer had the eight-member Court’s main opinion, which drew the support of
Chief Justice John Roberts and
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. For Breyer, it comes down to a balancing test. On the one hand, the Sixth Amendment right to hire the lawyer of your choice, while not unlimited, is a fundamental one, which would be undermined by allowing courts to freeze a defendant’s “untainted” assets. On the other hand, although the government’s interest in ensuring that a defendant’s assets are available to pay fines or restitution is certainly important, Breyer concludes, that interest is outweighed by the defendant’s constitutional right to his counsel of choice – particularly when the defendant may still have “tainted” assets – that is, assets that are the fruits of his crimes. Moreover, Breyer added, allowing the government to freeze “untainted” assets in a case like Luis’s “would have no obvious stopping place,” because Congress could enact new laws to allow similar asset freezes in cases involving other kinds of crimes.
Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with the Breyer plurality . . .
Justice Anthony Kennedy dissented, in an opinion joined by
Justice Samuel Alito. . .
Justice Elena Kagan also dissented . . .
Luis’s case now goes back to the lower courts, where she will presumably be allowed to use her “untainted” funds to pay (within reason) her attorney’s fees.
