Novak

Volume 1 of

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  No. 04-55838 Plaintiff-Appellant, v.  D.C. No.

CV-03-06706-CBM

RAYMOND P. NOVAK,

OPINION

Defendant-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Consuelo B. Marshall, Chief District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted October 3, 2006—San Francisco, California

Filed February 22, 2007

Before: Mary M. Schroeder, Chief Circuit Judge, Harry Pregerson, Stephen Reinhardt, Andrew J. Kleinfeld, Michael Daly Hawkins, Sidney R. Thomas, Barry G. Silverman, M. Margaret McKeown, Kim McLane Wardlaw, William A. Fletcher, Richard A. Paez, Marsha S. Berzon, Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Richard R. Clifton, and Jay S. Bybee, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Berzon; Dissent by Judge W. Fletcher COUNSEL

Brent A. Whittlesey, Assistant United States Attorney, Los Angeles, California, for the plaintiff-appellant.

Martin S. Bakst, Encino, California, for the defendant- appellee.

OPINION

BERZON, Circuit Judge:

We are asked to determine whether — and if so, under what…