United States v. Benjamin Austin Felipe Cisneros Lorena Cisneros Luis Cisneros Paul Eppinger Raymond Llamas Angel Rivera Richard Trujillo

Defendants-Appellants Benjamin Austin, Felipe Cisneros, Lorena Cisneros, Luis Cisneros, Paul Eppinger, Raymond Llamas, Angel Rivera, and Richard Trujillo (collectively, “Defendants”) appeal the District Court’s interlocutory order permitting disclosure of communications that occurred outside the presence of counsel between at least one of them and co-defendant Armando Alvarado (“Alvarado”), who withdrew from a joint defense agreement (“JDA”) to cooperate with the Government. We hold that the District Court’s order is not immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine, the Perlman rule, or as a writ of mandamus and, therefore, dismiss Defendants’ appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

I. BACKGROUND

The United States charged co-defendants in this case with, among other crimes, conspiracy to commit murder, murder, and offenses under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Shortly after being indicted in the District of New Mexico in November 2002, co-defendants entered into a written JDA. The district court approved the JDA and allowed co-defendants to conduct joint defense meetings. The Government later dismissed the New Mexico indictment when it indicted…