On April 3, 2002, the jury convicted Eberhart of conspiring to distribute or possess more than five kilograms
of cocaine but acquitted him of distributing cocaine.
546 U.S. 12
Decided October 31, 2005
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded
On appeal from a conviction for conspiracy to sell narcotics, the Court of Appeals had ruled that the time limit set forth in Fed. R. Civ. P. 33 for motions for a new trial was a requirement of subject-matter jurisdiction. It accordingly allowed the government to raise the issue on appeal for the first time. The Supreme Court reversed, ruling that Rule 33 merely established a non-jurisdictional, inflexible claim-processing rule that was forfeited if not timely asserted.