Sherburne

This appeal arises out of the award of attorney’s fees to certain criminal defendants-and the denial of fees to others-under the Hyde Amendment, which authorizes fees in limited circumstances in criminal cases. In the underlying case that led to the fee award, the United States prosecuted thirteen defendants for alleged abuses in the funding and construction of a housing development on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. Among the thirteen defendants there were sixteen counts and over fifty charged offenses, but no convictions.

Following the unsuccessful prosecution, the defendants sought attorney’s fees under the Hyde Amendment. The district court awarded fees to Blaze Construction, Inc. (“Blaze”) and Scott Sherburne, 1 concluding that their prosecution had been “vexatious,” and denied fees to various other claimants, including Appellant William Harvey Aubrey. The United States now appeals the award of fees to Blaze and Sherburne. Aubrey separately appeals the denial of his fee request. Sherburne cross-appeals the district court’s decision to limit his fees to seventy-five dollars per hour,-the ceiling for fees under the Criminal Justice Act. We conclude that the…