Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/690/748/107577/
Timestamp: 2020-07-07 03:55:56
Document Index: 494290495

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 846', '§ 848', '§ 841', '§ 848', '§ 848', '§ 846', '§ 848']

United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. William Dale Smith, and Julius Chris Fisherman, Defendants-appellants, 690 F.2d 748 (9th Cir. 1982) :: Justia
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United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. William Dale Smith, and Julius Chris Fisherman, Defendants-appellants, 690 F.2d 748 (9th Cir. 1982)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - 690 F.2d 748 (9th Cir. 1982) Argued and Submitted Aug. 13, 1982. Decided Oct. 22, 1982
Appellants Smith and Fisherman, along with many others, were indicted for conspiracy to violate 21 U.S.C. § 846, 21 U.S.C. § 848 and for possession and distribution of a controlled substance (heroin) in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a) (1), 845(a). The indictment named over 20 co-defendants and a large group of unindicted co-conspirators as participants in a massive heroin importation and distribution conspiracy throughout California, Canada, Thailand and China. The jury found Fisherman guilty of conspiracy as charged, and found Smith guilty on 6 counts of the 15-count indictment, including Count I, the conspiracy count. Upon these consolidated appeals many errors are assigned by both appellants, with two of which this opinion deals.
1. Smith was found guilty of "continuing criminal enterprise" under 21 U.S.C. § 848. Subsection (a) (1) of that section makes it a criminal offense to engage in a continuing criminal enterprise. Subsection (b) then provides:
Courts considering the question have rejected Smith's contention. For example, in United States v. Sperling, 506 F.2d 1323, 1344 (2d Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 962, 95 S. Ct. 1351, 43 L. Ed. 2d 439, 421 U.S. 949, 95 S. Ct. 1682, 44 L. Ed. 2d 103 (1975), the court stated:Sperling further argues that the evidence was insufficient to convict him under § 848 because it failed to show that five or more people were working in his narcotics business at the same moment. This argument misconstrues the statute. No such proof is required. As to this element of the offense, the statute requires only that the person charged must have been acting "in concert with five or more other persons" and as to them that he occupied "a position of organizer, a supervisory position, or any other position of management".
To the same effect: United States v. Mannino, 635 F.2d 110, 116-17 (2d Cir. 1980); United States v. Barnes, 604 F.2d 121, 157 (2d Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 907, 100 S. Ct. 1833, 64 L. Ed. 2d 260 (1980); United States v. Michel, 588 F.2d 986, 1000 n.14 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 825, 100 S. Ct. 47, 62 L. Ed. 2d 32 (1979); United States v. Bolts, 558 F.2d 316, 320-21 (5th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 930, 98 S. Ct. 417, 54 L. Ed. 2d 290 (1977), 439 U.S. 898, 99 S. Ct. 262, 58 L. Ed. 2d 246 (1978).
2. Smith contends and the government concedes that Smith's conviction for conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 846 and for continuing criminal enterprise under 21 U.S.C. § 848 violates the double jeopardy clause under Jeffers v. United States, 432 U.S. 137, 147, 97 S. Ct. 2207, 2214, 53 L. Ed. 2d 168 (1977). Judgment must then be reversed as to Count I, the lesser included offense of conspiracy.