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Extracted Text (OCR)
Case 22-1426, Document 117, 11/01/2024, 3636586, Page19 of 51
doctrinally flawed, expanding it into “new...context[s]’ would be “a disfavored
judicial activity”) (quoting Ziglar v. Abbasi, 137 S. Ct. 1843, 1857, 1859 (2017)).
At minimum, Annabi’s questionable doctrine should limited in four respects:
First, Annabi should not apply to pleas that originate outside the Second
Circuit. Unlike the plea agreement in Annabi, the NPA originated in the Eleventh
Circuit. Under textbook choice-of-law rules and principles of fairness, it would be
unreasonable to graft a unique, pro-prosecution canon of construction, derived from
the law of a foreign circuit—this circuit—onto a plea agreement negotiated with
prosecutors in a circuit where the very opposite rule applies, i.e. that ambiguities in
plea agreements are to be resolved against the government. Under Eleventh Circuit
precedent, even if the reference to “the United States” were deemed ambiguous, the
ambiguity “must be read against the government.’” U.S. v. Jefferies, 908 F.2d 1520,
1523 (11th Cir. 1990) (citing Jn re Arnett, 804 F.2d 1200, 1203 (11th Cir. 1986)); see
also Rowe v. Griffin, 676 F.2d 524, 526 n.4 (11th Cir. 1982). And this result would
bring the Eleventh Circuit in line with every circuit that has directly confronted this
question (other than the Second Circuit). See Gebbie, 294 F.3d at 550; Van
Thournout, 100 F.3d at 594; Harvey, 791 F.2d at 303.
Second, Annabi should only apply when “the new charges are sufficiently
distinct” from the old ones. 771 F.2d at 672. And Annabi made clear that charges
are “sufficiently distinct” when they cover a different or expanded period of time.
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Dates
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00021843.jpg |
| File Size | 699.2 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.4% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 1,687 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 20:17:45.255219 |