Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/420/358/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 16:44:27+00:00

Document:
After respondent was ordered to report for induction, his local draft board refused to postpone his induction to allow him to claim a conscientious objector classification, and he was subsequently indicted for refusing and failing to report for induction. Following a bench trial, the District Court "dismissed" the indictment and "discharged" respondent, holding that, although, under Ehlert v. United States, 402 U. S. 99, the board was not required to entertain conscientious objector claims arising between notice of induction and the scheduled induction date, nevertheless, since respondent failed to report at a time when Ehlert had not yet been decided and when the prevailing law of the Circuit required a local board to reopen a registrant's classification if his conscientious objector views ripened only after he had been notified to report for induction, respondent was entitled to a postponement of induction until the board considered his conscientious objector claim, and that it would be unfair to apply Ehlert to respondent. The Court of Appeals dismissed the Government's appeal under 18 U.S.C. § 3731 on the ground that it was barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause, concluding that, although the District Court had characterized its action as a dismissal of the indictment, respondent had, in effect, been acquitted, since the District Court had relied upon facts developed at trial and had concluded "that the statute should not be applied to [respondent] as a matter of fact."
further proceedings, even if the District Court were to receive no additional evidence, would violate the Double Jeopardy Clause. Pp. 420 U. S. 365-370.
REHNQUIST, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and STEWART, WHITE, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, and POWELL, JJ., joined. DOUGLAS, J., filed a statement concurring in the judgment, in which BRENNAN, J., joined, post, p. 420 U. S. 370.
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed the appeal "for lack of jurisdiction on the ground that the Double Jeopardy clause prohibits further prosecution." 490 F.2d 868, 880 (1973). We granted certiorari in this case and United States v. Wilson, ante, p. 420 U. S. 332, also decided today, to consider the application of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to Government appeals in criminal cases. 417 U.S. 908 (1974).
Respondent, who had first registered with his local draft board in 1966, was classified 1-A by his local board on November 18, 1970. He was found physically fit for induction, and, on February 4, 1971, the local board sent respondent an Order to Report for Induction on February 24, 1971. After consulting an attorney and a local draft counselor, respondent wrote the local board and requested Selective Service Form 150 for a conscientious objector classification. Having received no response from the local board by February 23, the day before he had been ordered to report for induction, respondent went in person to the local board to request Form 150. Although respondent did secure the desired form, local board officials were directed by Selective Service headquarters not to postpone his induction to allow him to complete and submit the conscientious objector form. Respondent did not report for induction on February 24, 1971, and he was subsequently indicted.
"The failure of the local board to postpone the induction order pending the determination of the defendant's claim as a conscientious objector was arbitrary and contrary to law, and rendered the Order to report for induction invalid. United States v. Gearey, 368 F.2d 144 (2nd Cir.1966)."
induction. At the time respondent was ordered to report for induction, Gearey remained the law of the Circuit. Two months later, however, this Court rejected Gearey in a decision affirming a contrary holding from another Circuit. Ehlert v. United States, 402 U. S. 99 (1971).
"This court cannot permit the criminal prosecution of the defendant under these circumstances without seriously eroding fundamental and basic equitable principles of law."
The Government filed a timely notice of appeal, [Footnote 4] and argued that the District Court had incorrectly concluded that Ehlert was not retroactive. [Footnote 5] Since this Court held long ago that the Government cannot bring an appeal in a criminal case absent an express enabling statute, United States v. Sanges, 144 U. S. 310 (1892), the Court of Appeals considered first whether petitioner's appeal was authorized by 18 U.S.C. § 3731.
U.S.C. 3731 in 1971 was to extend the Government's right to appeal to the fullest extent consonant with the Fifth Amendment. [Footnote 6] Judge Friendly,writing for the Court of Appeals, carefully reviewed the evolution of the Double Jeopardy Clause and concluded that the draftsmen "intended to import into the Constitution the common law protections much as they were described by Blackstone." 490 F.2d at 873. While available evidence was equivocal on whether "the crown's inability to appeal an acquittal after a trial on the merits" was incorporated in the common law concept of double jeopardy, the majority was of the view that decisions by this Court had resolved any such ambiguity adversely to the Government. Id. at 874, citing United States v. Ball, 163 U. S. 662 (1896); Kepner v. United States, 195 U. S. 100 (1904); Fong Foo v. United States, 369 U. S. 141 (1962); United States v. Sisson, 399 U. S. 267 (1970). Although the District Court had characterized its action as a dismissal of the indictment, the Court of Appeals concluded that the respondent had been acquitted, since the District Court had relied upon facts developed at trial and had concluded "that the statute should not be applied to [respondent] as a matter of fact." 490 F.2d at 878.
When a case has been tried to a jury, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not prohibit an appeal by the Government providing that a retrial would not be required in the event the Government is successful in its appeal. United States v. Wilson, ante, at 420 U. S. 344-345, 420 U. S. 352-353. When this principle is applied to the situation where the jury returns a verdict of guilt but the trial court thereafter enters a judgment of acquittal, an appeal is permitted. In that situation, a conclusion by an appellate court that the judgment of acquittal was improper does not require a criminal defendant to submit to a second trial; the error can be corrected on remand by the entry of a judgment on the verdict. To be sure, the defendant would prefer that the Government not be permitted to appeal or that the judgment of conviction not be entered, but this interest of the defendant is not one that the Double Jeopardy Clause was designed to protect.
in the context of jury trials, [Footnote 8] the recent decision by Congress to authorize Government appeals whenever consistent with the Double Jeopardy Clause, when combined with the increasing numbers [Footnote 9] of bench trials, makes this area important, though unilluminated by prior decisions of this Court.
the determination of facts in favor of a defendant or on the resolution of a legal question favorably to him. If the court prepares special findings of fact, either because the Government or the defendant requested them [Footnote 10] or because the judge has elected to make them sua sponte, [Footnote 11] it may be possible upon sifting those findings to determine that the court's finding of "not guilty" is attributable to an erroneous conception of the law, whereas the court has resolved against the defendant all of the factual issues necessary to support a finding of guilt under the correct legal standard. The Government argues that this is essentially what happened in this case. Brief for United States 11-14.
had failed to establish the requisite criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt. See n 3, supra.
On such a record, a determination by the Court of Appeals favorable to the Government on the merits of the retroactivity issue tendered to it by the Government would not justify a reversal with instructions to reinstate the general finding of guilt: there was no such finding, in form or substance, to reinstate. We hold today in Wilson, supra, that the Double Jeopardy Clause does not bar an appeal when errors of law may be corrected and the result of such correction will simply be a reinstatement of a jury's verdict of guilty or a judge's finding of guilt. But because of the uncertainty as to the basis for the District Court's action here, Wilson does not govern this case.
be a "continuation of the first trial." [Footnote 13] Tr. of Oral Arg. 16. This theory would also permit remanding a case to the District Court for more explicit findings.
"The underlying idea, one that is deeply ingrained in at least the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence, is that the State with all its resources and power should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense, thereby subjecting him to embarrassment, expense and ordeal and compelling him to live in a continuing state of anxiety and insecurity. . . ."
Green v. United States, supra, at 355 U. S. 187.
The regulation had been in effect since 1955, 20 Fed.Reg. 737, and was not amended between the time Gearey was decided and the events leading up to respondent's indictment. The regulation was amended in 1973, 38 Fed.Reg. 731.
"Trials will never be concluded if judgments rendered after full consideration are to be reversed because of remarks made and tentative theories advanced by a judge in the course of the trial."
United States v. Wain, 162 F.2d 60, 65 (CA2), cert. denied, 332 U.S. 764 (1947).
The notice of appeal was filed within the requisite 30 days, but the Government did not file its brief until seven months later. The Court of Appeals indicated that it would have dismissed the appeal for failure to prosecute diligently, 18 U.S.C. § 3731, had respondent so requested. 490 F.2d 868, 869 n. 2. Respondent has similarly made no such argument in this Court.
"We recognize such a rule might be harsh as applied to a registrant who, in fact, reasonably relied in good faith on the case law or upon the knowledge that local boards in this circuit would consider a belated conscientious objection claim, and perhaps there is room for flexibility in enforcement of this rule to avoid injustice in a particular case. . . ."
See H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 91-1768, p. 21 (1970). Cf. S.Rep. No. 91-1296 (1970).
Judge Lumbard analogized respondent's case to mistrial cases in which the "public's interest in fair trials designed to end in just judgments'" may be weighed. Illinois v. Somerville, 410 U. S. 458, 410 U. S. 470 (1973). That interest, he felt, would not be served by permitting a clearly guilty defendant to go free because of an erroneous interpretation of the controlling law. 490 F.2d at 884. We disagree with this analysis, because we think it is of critical importance whether the proceedings in the trial court terminate in a mistrial as they did in the Somerville line of cases, or in the defendant's favor, as they did here.
See, e.g., United States v. Ball, 163 U. S. 662 (1896); Green v. United States, 355 U. S. 184 (1957); Fong Foo v. United States, 369 U. S. 141 (1962). Cf. Kepner v. United States, 195 U. S. 100 (1904).
"In a case tried without a jury, the court shall make a general finding and shall in addition on request find the facts specially. If an opinion or memorandum of decision is filed, it will be sufficient if the findings of fact appear therein."
See, e.g., Sullivan v. United States, 348 U. S. 170, 348 U. S. 174 (1954).
Brief for United States 10 n. 5, 24 n. 16. The Government was of the view that it did not have to make this broader argument in the context of this case, but merely sought to preserve it. In light of our disposition of its principal argument, we proceed to this alternative ground.
The premise apparently underlying this position is that the factfinder has not been discharged in a bench trial; unlike a jury trial, where the discharge of the jury upon returning a verdict of acquittal terminates a defendant's jeopardy, Green v. United States, 355 U.S. at 355 U. S. 191, the judge theoretically remains available to reconvene the case, take up where he left off, and resume his duties as factfinder. Preliminarily, it may be observed that the availability of the judge is by no means assured, as this case illustrates: the District Judge has reportedly resigned. 43 U.S.L.W. 2268 (1974).
MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, with whom MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN joins, concurring in the judgment.
I would hold that the Double Jeopardy Clause bars the Government's appeal from the ruling of this trial court in respondent's favor. See Fong Foo v. United States, 369 U. S. 141. Accordingly, I concur in the affirmance of the judgment below.

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