People of the Territory of Guam v. Concepcion Okada

Concepcion Okada was convicted in the Superior Court of Guam on charges of delivering heroin. The Appellate Division of the District Court of Guam (District Court) reversed the conviction and dismissed the indictment, holding that the Government’s failure to preserve certain discoverable evidence violated Okada’s due process rights. The People of the Territory of Guam brought this appeal. Okada moved to dismiss, on the ground that Guam lacks statutory authority to appeal from the reversal of a conviction by the Appellate Division of the District Court of Guam. We postponed consideration of Okada’s motion until the appeal was heard on the merits.

Our previous opinion, filed April 19,1981, has been vacated. We now conclude that Guam’s appeal is not authorized by statute. Accordingly, we grant Okada’s motion and dismiss the appeal.

I

It has long been established that the Government may not appeal in a criminal case in the absence of express statutory authority. United States v. Wilson, 420 U.S. 332, 336 , 95 S.Ct. 1013, 1018 , 43 L.Ed.2d 232 (1975); Carroll v. United States, 354 U.S. 394, 400 , 77 S.Ct. 1332, 1336 , 1 L.Ed.2d 1442 (1957); United States v. Sanges, 144 U.S. 310, 318…