United States v. Cooper

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
PUBLISH
August 21, 2007
UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
TENTH CIRCUIT

U N ITED STA TES O F A M ER ICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,
No. 06-6309
v.

ADRIAN COO PER,

Defendant - Appellant.

A PPE AL FR OM T HE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FO R TH E W ESTERN DISTRICT O F O K LAH O M A
(D.C. No. 05-CR-214-T)

Submitted on the briefs: *

Scott E. W illiams, Assistant United States Attorney (and John C. Richter, United
States Attorney, on the brief), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Plaintiff - Appellee.

Susan M . Otto, Federal Public Defender, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for
Defendant - Appellant.

Before KELLY, M U RPH Y, and O’BRIEN, Circuit Judges.

*
After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this panel has
determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the
determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G ).
The cause therefore is ordered submitted without oral argument.
K ELLY, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant Adrian Cooper seeks to appeal the restitution aw ard

imposed by the district court and its decision to require M r. Cooper to submit a

DNA sample as a condition of supervised release. Specifically, M r. Cooper

argues that the government failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove that

Joshua Kuhn was a “victim” of M r. Cooper’s related conduct, and that the total

restitution award should be reduced by $135,000 as a result. M r. Cooper also

argues that the condition of supervised release violates the Fourth Amendment,

given that he is a first-time offender convicted of non-violent crimes. The

government responds that M r. Cooper’s entire appeal is barred by the waiver of

the right to appeal contained in his plea agreement. Exercising jurisdiction under

28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), we conclude that both of M r. Cooper’s

challenges fall within the scope of the waiver and, accordingly, we dismiss his

appeal.

Background

On November 16, 2005, a grand jury issued a nineteen-count indictment

against M r. Cooper charging him with securities fraud, wire and mail fraud,

money laundering, and the use of false social-security numbers. R. Doc. 1. The

charges stemmed from several schemes created by M r. Cooper to defraud

investors while he worked as a stock broker at M errill Lynch and to defraud real

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estate investors and other investors independent of his employment at M errill

Lynch. On M arch 27, 2006, M r. Cooper pled guilty to Count 1 (securities fraud)

and Count 4 (money laundering) pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement with the

government. R. Docs. 23 & 24. The indictment described in detail the victims of

the acts that formed the basis for Counts 1 and 4. The indictment did not list M r.

Kuhn as a victim of either count.

The plea agreement stated:

[T]he Court must order the payment of restitution to the victims of
the offense. Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 3663(a)(3) and 3663A, the
parties further agree that, as part of the sentence resulting from the
defendant’s plea, the Court will enter an order of restitution for all
losses caused to the victims of the defendant’s relevant conduct[ 1 ]
determined by reference to the U nited States Sentencing G uidelines.

R. Doc. 23 at 2-3. The plea agreement also contained a waiver of the right to

appeal, in which M r. Cooper agreed to:

. . . knowingly and voluntarily waive[] his right to appeal,
collaterally challenge, or move to modify . . . [his] guilty plea and
any other aspect of his conviction . . . [and the] sentence as imposed
by the Court and the manner in which the sentence is determined . . .
.

Id. at 5.

According to the pre-sentence report (PSR ), M r. Cooper’s relevant conduct

included $200,000 in related fraud against M r. Kuhn. Of this amount, the PSR

1
The M andatory Victims Restitution Act states that “[t]he court shall also
order, if agreed to by the parties in a plea agreement, restitution to persons other
than the victim of the offense [of conviction].” 18 U.S.C. § 3663A(a)(3).

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concluded that M r. Cooper still owed M r. Kuhn $135,000. M r. Cooper objected

to the $135,000 figure because M r. Kuhn possessed a fourth-in-line mortgage on

M r. Cooper’s house and could possibly recover the entire amount upon

foreclosure. The district court overruled M r. Cooper’s objection.

On September 18, 2006, the district court sentenced M r. Cooper to serve 75

months’ imprisonment. It also ordered M r. Cooper to pay restitution to various

victims in the total amount of $968,656, which included $135,000 in restitution to

M r. Kuhn. The district court also imposed, as a condition of M r. Cooper’s

supervised release, that he “cooperate in the collection of DNA as directed by the

probation officer.” R. Doc. 43, at 3.

Discussion

W aivers of the right to appeal are generally enforceable. See United States

v. Gordon, 480 F.3d 1205, 1207 (10th Cir. 2007). “Consequently, before reaching

the merits of this appeal, we must determine whether such review is precluded by

the waiver.” Id. First, we determine “whether the disputed appeal falls within the

scope of the waiver of appellate rights.” United States v. Hahn, 359 F.3d 1315,

1325 (10th Cir. 2004). If the appeal does not fall within the scope of the w aiver,

our analysis ends and we proceed to the merits. If the appeal is within the scope

of the waiver, we must next determine “whether the defendant knowingly and

voluntarily waived his appellate rights,” and “whether enforcing the waiver would

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result in a miscarriage of justice . . . .” Id.

As we have stated frequently, plea agreements are governed by contract

principles. Gordon, 480 F.3d at 1207 (citing United States v. Rockwell Int’l

Corp., 124 F.3d 1194, 1199 (10th Cir. 1997)). One consequence is that any

ambiguities in a plea agreement are construed against the government. Id. (citing

Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 206 (1981) for the doctrine of contra

proferentem). Thus, in determining the scope of M r. Cooper’s waiver, we will

construe all ambiguities in the agreement against the government and in favor of

M r. Cooper.

In this case, M r. Cooper agreed to a broad waiver of appellate rights.

Essentially, M r. Cooper agreed to waive two things: (1) his right to challenge his

“guilty plea and any other aspect of his conviction,” and (2) his right to challenge

the “sentence as imposed by the Court and the manner in which the sentence is

determined.” R. Doc. 23, at 5. M r. Cooper does not challenge the fact of his

guilt, so the first waiver is not implicated. The second waiver is implicated,

however, and the government argues that M r. Cooper’s challenge to the

restitution award falls within the scope of his w aiver of the right to challenge his

“sentence as imposed by the Court.”

W e have yet to determine whether a general waiver of the right to appeal a

“sentence” necessarily includes a waiver of the right to appeal all restitution

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awards. A majority of our sister circuits have concluded that such language does

not include a general waiver of the right to appeal a restitution award. See United

States v. Sistrunk, 432 F.3d 917, 918 (8th Cir. 2006); United States v. Smith, 344

F.3d 479, 483 (6th Cir. 2003); United States v. Behrman, 235 F.3d 1049, 1052

(7th Cir. 2000); United States v. Zink, 107 F.3d 716, 717-18 (9th Cir. 1997);

United States v. Ready, 82 F.3d 551, 560 (2d Cir. 1996); but see United States v.

Cohen, 459 F.3d 490, 497 (4th Cir. 2006). In this case, however, the plea

agreement makes clear that the parties considered a restitution award for victims

of M r. Cooper’s related conduct to be part of his “sentence.” The plea agreement

expressly and unambiguously states: “[T]he parties further agree that, as part of

the sentence resulting from the defendant’s plea, the Court will enter an order of

restitution for all losses caused to the victims of the defendant’s relevant conduct

. . . .” R. Doc. 23 at 2-3 (emphasis added). The parties agree that this provision

of the plea agreement formed the basis of the district court’s $135,000 restitution

award to M r. Kuhn. Accordingly, M r. Cooper’s challenge to the amount of

restitution awarded to M r. Kuhn clearly falls within the scope of his waiver of the

right to appeal.

Similarly, M r. Cooper’s challenge to the condition of supervised release is

also clearly part of his “sentence” and is thus barred by his waiver of the right to

appeal. See United States v. Sandoval, 477 F.3d 1204, 1207 (10th Cir. 2007)

(noting that a condition of supervised release is part of the “sentence” imposed);

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see also 18 U.S.C. § 3583(a) (authorizing a district court to impose a term of

supervised release “as a part of the sentence”). W hile w e would normally

proceed to determine w hether M r. Cooper’s waiver was knowing and voluntary

and whether enforcement of the waiver would result in a miscarriage of justice,

M r. C ooper does not raise these arguments in his brief and we deem them waived.

See State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. M hoon, 31 F.3d 979, 984 n.7 (10th Cir. 1994).

Nevertheless, M r. Cooper argues that his challenge to the restitution aw ard

should survive the waiver of the right to appeal because it constitutes a challenge

to the legality of the restitution award. See Gordon, 480 F.3d at 1210. The

exception created by Gordon however, is extremely narrow and applies only in

the case where there is no factual dispute as to the amount of restitution linked to

an offense and the legality of the district court’s restitution aw ard can therefore

be reviewed solely as a question of law. Id. at 1209 n.4. In this case, M r. Cooper

raises a factual challenge to the restitution award, arguing that the government

failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove that M r. Kuhn was a victim of M r.

Cooper’s related conduct because M r. Kuhn possessed a fourth-in-line mortgage

on M r. C ooper’s house from which he might recover some of his losses.

See Aplt. Br. at 9-10. Indeed, M r. Cooper’s own appellate brief characterizes his

challenge as factual in nature: “[M r. Cooper] presented a timely challenge to the

inclusion of [M r. Kuhn] who claimed losses associated with his conduct. M r.

Cooper stated a factual basis for his challenge. The United States did not rebut

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the factual assertion presented . . . and did not present additional evidence for the

sentencing court’s consideration.” Aplt. Br. at 10 (emphasis added). A challenge

to the amount of a restitution award based on sufficiency of the evidence is

necessarily based on disputed facts and thus does not fall within the Gordon

exception. Accordingly, it is clearly barred by a general waiver of the right to

appeal a restitution award.

D ISM ISSED .

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