The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court judgment – that of Judge Patel. The court held that the government’s decision to carry out an earlier threat to increase a defendant’s potential sentence following his refusal to cooperate as a witness in a trial of a confederate did not violate the defendant’s due process rights. In other words, the court upheld the government’s ability to threaten a defendant with the filing of his 21 U.S.C. §851(a)(1) priors if defendant would not cooperate against co-defendants and/or plead guilty.
The case is: United States v. Morris, 10-10009.