[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
MARCH 24, 2011
JOHN LEY
No. 09-14937 CLERK
D. C. Docket No. 08-00094-CR-FTM-99-DNF
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
SAMIR NEL CABRERA,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
(March 24, 2011)
Before DUBINA, Chief Judge, HILL and EBEL,* Circuit Judges.
*
Honorable David M. Ebel, United States Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit, sitting by
designation.
PER CURIAM:
Appellant-Defendant Samir Nel Cabrera appeals his convictions for six
counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 1346, 1349, and 2, and
five counts of money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1957 and 2. Cabrera
argues that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Skilling v. United States, 130 S.
Ct. 2896 (2010) invalidated the basis for all eleven of his convictions and requests
that we vacate them accordingly.
Appellee United States agrees with Cabrera’s interpretation of Skilling,
conceding that the jury instructions given by the district court were erroneous and
that the evidence presented did not involve criminal conduct under 18 U.S.C. §
1346 as interpreted by Skilling. Accordingly, the government concedes in its brief
that all counts of conviction should be vacated.1
The parties dispute whether Cabrera can be retried on the wire fraud and
money laundering charges under the theory that he defrauded investors in light of
the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition of Double Jeopardy. The district court did
not—indeed, could not—reach this issue, as it arose after Cabrera’s convictions.
For that reason, “[w]e decline to address [the issue] here, preferring that the
1
Because Cabrera necessarily will have to be resentenced if convicted on retrial, we decline
to consider his sentencing arguments.
2
district court address it in the first instance.” Beavers v. Am. Cast Iron Pipe Co.,
975 F.2d 792, 800 (11th Cir. 1992). On remand, we direct the district court to
consider whether granting the government’s request for a new trial on the wire
fraud and money laundering charges would violate Cabrera’s Fifth Amendment
rights.
VACATED and REMANDED.
3