TJ Cain, aka Thomas J. Cain v. United States
CriminalProcedure
When a criminal defendant does not timely file a pretrial motion raising a claim covered by Federal-Rule-of-Criminal-Procedure-12(b)(8), is his claim reviewable for plain-error on appeal under Federal-Rule-of-Criminal-Procedure-52(b), or is it unreviewable absent good-cause under Federal-Rule-of-Criminal-Procedure-12(c)(3)
QUESTION PRESENTED Petitioner TJ Cain was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. At trial, the government introduced evidence obtained as a result of police questioning conducted while Mr. Cain was outnumbered and held at gunpoint, bleeding and semi-conscious, in a remote rural area approximately twelve hours after he had been shot by a police officer. On appeal, Mr. Cain argued for the first time that this evidence should have been suppressed because his responses were plainly involuntary and his waiver of his Miranda rights was plainly invalid. The Tenth Circuit affirmed, finding that these suppression claims should have been filed before trial under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3), and that they were therefore unreviewable under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(c)(3), in the absence of good cause. The following question is presented: When a criminal defendant does not timely file a pretrial motion raising a claim covered by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(8), is his claim reviewable for plain error on appeal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b), as the Fifth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits have held, or is it unreviewable absent good cause under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(c)(3), as the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits have held? i