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Case 22-1426, Document 117, 11/01/2024, 3636586, Page16 of 51
one USAO is presumed not to bind other USAOs.* To the contrary, the weight of
authority holds that a representation by the United States Attorney or her agents will
bind USAOs in other districts, ifnot the federal Government as a whole. See Gebbie,
294 F.3d at 550 (“[W]hen a United States Attorney negotiates and contracts on behalf
of ‘the United States’ or ‘the Government’ in a plea agreement ... that attorney
speaks for and binds all of his or her fellow United States Attorneys with respect to
those same crimes and those same defendants. ... United States Attorneys should
not be viewed as sovereigns of autonomous fiefdoms.”); U.S. v. Van Thournout, 100
F.3d 590, 594 (8th Cir. 1996) (“Absent an express limitation, any promises made by
an [AUSA] in one district will bind an [AUSA] in another district”); Margalli-
Olvera v. I.N.S., 43 F.3d 345, 353 (8th Cir. 1994) (“promises made by an [AUSA]”
in a plea agreement “bind all agents of the United States government’); Thomas v.
IN.S., 35 F.3d 1332 (9th Cir. 1994) (enforcing against the INS a cooperation
agreement between defendant and an AUSA promising that “the government” would
not oppose defendant’s application for relief from deportation); U.S. v. Levasseur,
846 F.2d 786, 799 (1st Cir. 1988) (expressly declining to apply Annabi in the
estoppel context, instead holding that “the representation of any [AUSA] may, in
+ The Seventh Circuit held in U.S. v. Rourke that a plea agreement did not bind the Federal Aviation Administration.
See 74 F.3d 802, 807 n.5 (7th Cir. 1996). But Rourke did not go as far as Annabi in ruling that a promise by one
USAO is presumptively nonbinding on other USAOs. The Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Robinson held, on the facts before
it, that a plea agreement in the Eastern District of North Carolina was not binding in the Eastern District of Michigan,
but explicitly declined to take a position on Annabi’s broader rule. See 924 F.2d 612, 613 (6th Cir. 1991).
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Dates
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00021840.jpg |
| File Size | 750.5 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 93.9% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,044 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 20:17:43.911400 |