United States v. Chae Wan Chon

D.W. NELSON, Circuit Judge:

Buddy Costa and Mahlon K. Kapule appeal their convictions for stealing and sell *992 ing United States property, and Chae Wan Chon for knowingly purchasing government property, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641 . The district court sentenced Costa to twenty-one months imprisonment, Ka-pule to five months imprisonment, and Chon to three years probation.

On appeal, Chon, Costa, and Kapule assert that the district court made four separate errors: (1) the court held that the involvement of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in investigating the theft of government property was permissible under the independent military purpose exception of 10 U.S.C. § 375 ; 1 (2) it failed to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the NCIS investigation; (3) the court failed to order discovery of all materials pertinent to NCIS activities targeting civilians; and (4) the court declined to preclude Special Assistant United States Attorney (SAUSA) Philip Sundel from prosecuting the case due to a conflict of interest.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In May 1996, Costa and Kapule broke into the Navy Public Works Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and stole two…