Source: http://ny.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19830215_0040494.C02.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2017-06-25 19:16:52
Document Index: 63778625

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 844', '§ 844', '§ 1341', '§ 1102', '§ 841', '§ 844']

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, APPELLEE,v.JOSEPH GELB, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT
Appeal from the judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Mishler, J., convicting the appellant of (1) maliciously damaging and destroying his business premises by means of an "explosive," 18 U.S.C. § 844(i) (1976); (2) using an "explosive" to commit a felony, 18 U.S.C. § 844(h) (1976); and (3) eight counts of mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1342 (1976). The appellant also challenges the district court's denial of his Rule 33 motion for a new trial.
Oakes, Van Graafeiland and Meskill, Circuit Judges. Van Graafeiland, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
The "Explosive Control Act," which constitutes Title XI of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, Pub. L. No. 91-452, Title XI, § 1102(a), 84 Stat. 922, 952 (1970) (codified at 18 U.S.C. §§ 841-48 (1976)), creates a comprehensive regulatory scheme to control the flow of "explosives" travelling in interstate commerce. The Act also contains a strong penal section which extends federal jurisdiction to those crimes where explosives are used to damage or destroy property or to commit a felony. See 18 U.S.C. § 844(h) & (i) (1976).
The issue presented here is not easily resolved, as evidenced by the substantial division among the federal circuit courts that have considered this question. Those circuits favoring a narrow reading explain that the Act was intended to assist federal authorities in their efforts to control the rash of "political bombings" by subversive groups in the late 1960s and was never envisaged as an anti-arson bill. See United States v. Gere, 662 F.2d 1291, 1296 (9th Cir. 1981); United States v. Birchfield, 486 F. Supp. 137, 138-39 (M.D. Tenn. 1980). The courts favoring a broad reading of the Act to include substances like uncontained gasoline rely on the expansive definitional language in the statute and scientific evidence showing that chemical compounds such as gasoline may cause an explosion under certain atmospheric ...