Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc‪.‬

This case involves the prosecution of a formerly immunized witness and his wife. Filiberto Montoya is a real estate salesperson who was accused of laundering money for alien drug lords by making investments in local real estate. Montoya appeals his conviction following his conditional guilty plea to conspiracy to engage in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity and to commit bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1957(a), and 1344. Rosario Montoya appeals her conviction following her conditional guilty plea to making a false statement on a loan application and aiding and abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014, 18 U.S.C. § 2. The Montoyas conditional guilty pleas preserved the right to appeal the district courts denial of the motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground that this prosecution is allegedly tainted by Filibertos status as an immunized witness in a drug investigation focusing on the Contreras-Subias drug organization. We conclude that the district court properly denied the motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground that it was not tainted by the earlier grant of immunity to Montoya; that a Kastigar evidentiary hearing was not compelled under the circumstances of this case; and that the district court did not err in refusing to dismiss the indictment on grounds that it was not the result of outrageous government conduct or prosecutorial vindictiveness.