Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/97904/fiswick-vs-united-states
Timestamp: 2016-10-28 12:51:17
Document Index: 54202023

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 37', '§ 37', '§ 269', '§ 37', '§ 155', '§ 707', '§ 37', '§ 451', '§ 451', '§ 37', '§ 88', '§ 37', '§ 155', '§ 707', '§ 29', '§ 37', '§ 1', '§ 590', '§ 19', '§ 590', '§ 29', '§ 20', '§ 4067', '§ 21']

Fiswick Vs United States - Citation 97904 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Save as PDF Add a Tag Add a Note Semantics Visualize Fiswick Vs. United States - Court Judgment	LegalCrystal Citationlegalcrystal.com/97904CourtUS Supreme CourtDecided OnDec-09-1946Case Number329 U.S. 211AppellantFiswickRespondentUnited StatesExcerpt:
fiswick v. united states - 329 u.s. 211 (1946)
1. petitioners and others were indicted for conspiracy to defraud the united states in violation of § 37 of the criminal code. the indictment charged that petitioners conspired with each other, and with others, to defraud the united states by concealing and misrepresenting their membership in the nazi party. the last overt act alleged to have been committed by any of the petitioners was the filing by one of them of a registration.....Judgment:
hat the conspiracy charged and proved did not extend beyond the date of the last overt act, and that admittance in evidence against all of the
petitioners of admissions made after that date by one of the petitioners was reversible error. Pp.
329 U. S. 215
(a) Though the result of a conspiracy may be continuing, the conspiracy is not a continuing one unless there is continuous cooperation of the conspirators to produce the unlawful result. P.
(b) An overt act being necessary to complete the offense of conspiracy under § 37 of the Criminal Code, the overt acts averred and proved may mark the duration, as well as the scope, of the conspiracy. P.
(c) The conspiracy charged and proved did not extend beyond the date of the last overt act (the filing of the false registration statement), and the subsequent admissions of each defendant were improperly employed against the others. P.
(d) While the act of one conspirator is admissible against the others, if it is in furtherance of the criminal undertaking, all such responsibility ends when the conspiracy ends. P.
(e) Confession or admission by one coconspirator after he was apprehended was not in furtherance of the conspiracy to deceive the Government, but had the effect of terminating the conspiracy, so far as he was concerned, and made his admissions inadmissible against his erstwhile fellow conspirators. P.
(f) It cannot be said with fair assurance in this case that the jury was not substantially swayed by the use of these admissions against all defendants, and therefore it cannot be considered a "harmless error" within the contemplation of § 269 of the Judicial Code.
2. The fact that his sentence of imprisonment has been served does not render moot a review of the conviction of an alien under § 37 of the Criminal Code for conspiring to file a false registration statement under the Alien Registration Act and to conceal from the Government his membership in the Nazi party, since the conviction may weaken his defense to a deportation proceeding under 8 U.S.C. § 155, impair his chances of naturalization under 8 U.S.C. § 707(a)(3), and subject him to the loss of certain civil rights. Pp.
Petitioners were convicted under § 37 of the Criminal Code of conspiring to defraud the United States in the exercise of its governmental functions by filing false registration statements under the Alien Registration Act of 1940, 54 Stat. 670, 8 U.S.C. § 451
their membership in the Nazi party. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. 153 F.2d 176. This Court granted certiorari. 327 U.S. 776.
The Alien Registration Act of 1940, 54 Stat. 670, 8 U.S.C. § 451
required aliens, with certain exceptions, to register pursuant to regulations of the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization. [
] Among the disclosures required was whether, during the preceding five years, the alien had been
"affiliated with or active in (a member of, official of, a worker for) organizations, devoted in whole or in part to influencing or furthering the political activities, public relations, or public policy of a foreign government. [
Petitioners are German nationals who registered under the Act, the last of the three, Mayer, registering on December 23, 1940. Each stated when he registered that he was not affiliated with or active in such an organization. Each failed to disclose in answer to another question pertaining to "memberships or activities in clubs, organizations, or societies" that he was in any way connected with the Nazi party. They were indicted in 1944 with 28 others for conspiring to defraud the United States in the exercise of its governmental functions (
130 F. 1, 4) in violation of § 37 of the Criminal Code, 18 U.S.C. § 88.
Of the 31 indicted, only the three petitioners were convicted after a jury trial. [
] Fiswick and Rudolph were sentenced
to imprisonment for 18 months each. Mayer was sentenced to imprisonment for a year and a day. The judgments of conviction were affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, one judge dissenting. 153 F.2d 176. The case is here on a petition for a writ of certiorari which we granted because the rulings of the lower courts on the continuing nature of the conspiracy were apparently in conflict with decisions of this Court.
See United States v. Irvine,
98 U. S. 450
The nature and duration of the conspiracy assumed great importance at the trial for the following reason. Each petitioner, after he was apprehended, made damaging statements to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mayer, in November, 1943, stated that he had applied for membership in the Nazi party and had not disclosed the fact because Vogel told him not to. Fiswick's statement, made in April, 1944, was to the same effect. Rudolph made substantially the same admissions in November, 1943, and then in September, 1944, retracted them insofar as he had said that, in registering under the Act and in failing to disclose his Nazi party affiliation, he had followed instructions. His later reason for nondisclosure was his asserted desire to protect his family. Each of these statements was admitted at the trial. At first, each was admitted only as against the maker. At the close of the government's case, however, the District Court ruled that each of these statements was admissible against each of the other coconspirators. It so charged the jury. Later, the jury returned to the courtroom for further instructions. One of the questions on which the foreman stated that they desired instruction related to that part of the charge
The Solicitor General now rightly concedes that that ruling was erroneous. Though the result of a conspiracy may be continuing, the conspiracy does not thereby become a continuing one.
See United States v. Irvine, supra.
Continuity of action to produce the unlawful result, or, as stated in
United States v. Kissel, supra,
, "continuous cooperation of the conspirators to keep it up," is necessary. A conspiracy is a partnership in crime.
. Under § 37 of the Criminal Code, the basis of the present indictment, an overt act is necessary to complete the offense. [
] The statute of limitations, unless suspended, [
] runs from the last overt act during the existence of the conspiracy.
225 U. S. 401
. The overt acts averred and proved may thus mark the duration, as well as the scope, of the conspiracy.
made. All continuity of action ended with the last overt act in December, 1940. There was no overt act of concealment which followed the act of making false statements. If the latter is permitting to do double duty, then a continuing result becomes a continuing conspiracy. If, as we think, the conspiracy charged and proved did not extend beyond the date of the last overt act, the admissions of each petitioner were improperly employed against the others. While the act of one partner in crime is admissible against the others where it is in furtherance of the criminal undertaking,
, and cases cited, all such responsibility is at an end when the conspiracy ends.
144 U. S. 309
150 U. S. 98
. Moreover, confession or admission by one coconspirator after he has been apprehended is not in any sense a furtherance of the criminal enterprise. It is rather a frustration of it. If, as the Circuit Court of Appeals thought, the maintenance of the plot to deceive the government was the objective of this conspiracy, the admissions made to the officers ended it. So far as each conspirator who confessed was concerned, the plot was then terminated. He thereupon ceased to act in the role of a conspirator. His admissions were therefore not admissible against his erstwhile fellow conspirators.
108 F.2d 140, 142, 143.
it was designed to serve in criminal cases.
. The Court there stated, pp.
as respondent emphasizes, that none of these admissions implicates any petitioner except the maker. But since, if there was a conspiracy, Draeger and Vogel were its hub, evidence which brought each petitioner into the circle was the only evidence which cemented them together in the illegal project. And when the jury was told that the admissions of one, though not implicating the others, might be used against all, the element of concert of action was strongly bolstered, if not added. Without the admissions, the jury might well have concluded that there were three separate conspiracies, not one.
Cf. Kotteakos v. United States, supra.
With the admissions, the charge of conspiracy received powerful reinforcement. And the charge that each petitioner conspired with the others became appreciably stronger not from what he said, but from what the other two said. We therefore cannot say with any confidence that the error in admitting each of these statements against the other petitioners did not influence the jury, or had only a slight effect. Indeed, the admissions may well have been crucial. The admissions apparently became of considerable importance in the deliberations of the jury, for, as we have noted, they asked for clarification of the instructions on that point. And the admissions so strongly bolstered a weak case that it is impossible for us to conclude the error can be disregarded under the "harmless error" statute. The use made of the admissions at the trial constituted reversible error.
A further question remains. As we have noted, Fiswick was sentenced to imprisonment for 18 months. No fine was imposed. It now appears that he has served his sentence. Accordingly, it is suggested that the cause is moot, and that the writ of certiorari should be dismissed as to him. We followed that procedure in
, saying that, since the sentence had been served, "there was no longer a subject
matter on which the judgment of this Court could operate." We added, however, that the petitioner had not shown that, "under either state or federal law, further penalties or disabilities can be imposed on him as a result of the judgment which has now been satisfied." P.
The situation here is different. Fiswick is an alien. An alien sentenced to imprisonment for one year or more "because of conviction in this country of any crime involving moral turpitude" is, unless pardoned, subject to deportation if the crime was committed within five years after the alien's entry into the United States. 39 Stat. 874, 889, 8 U.S.C. § 155. The conspiracy with which Fiswick is charged was formed and executed within that five-year period, as his last entry was in 1937. The conspiracy of which he was convicted was one to impede the government in one of its lawful functions, to prevent it from obtaining information which the Executive and Congress deemed vital to our internal security, to conceal by fraud, deceit, and perjury [
] the ramifications of an organization in our midst bent on our undoing. We need not determine in this collateral way whether conviction for such a crime would involve "moral turpitude" within the meaning of the deportation laws. [
] But the judgment, if undisturbed, stands as unimpeachable evidence that Fiswick committed
the crime charged. The hazards of deportation because of that fact are real. [
] To leave him to defend a deportation order on the ground that the crime of which he was convicted did not involve "moral turpitude" is to add to his burdens by depriving him of his best defense -- that he was not properly convicted.
Moreover, other disabilities or burdens may flow from the judgment, improperly obtained, if we dismiss this cases as moot and let the conviction stand. If Fiswick seeks naturalization, he must establish that, during the five years immediately preceding the date of filing his petition for naturalization he "has been and still is a person of good moral character." 54 Stat. 1137, 1142, 8 U.S.C. § 707(a)(3). An outstanding judgment of conviction for this crime stands as ominous proof that he did what was charged, and puts beyond his reach any showing of ameliorating circumstances or explanatory matter that might remove part or all of the curse. And, even though he succeeded in being naturalized, he would, unless pardoned, carry through life the disability of a felon; [
] and, by reason of that fact, he might lose certain civil rights. [
] Thus, Fiswick has a substantial stake in the judgment of conviction which survives the satisfaction of the sentence imposed on him. In no practical sense, therefore, can Fiswick's case be said to be moot.
5 Fed.Reg. 2836 for the regulations.
§ 29.4(1)(15).
At common law, it was not necessary to aver or prove an overt act.
See Hyde v. United States,
. The same is true under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
. But § 37 of the Criminal Code requires not only an agreement to do the unlawful act, but also the doing of "any act to effect the object of the conspiracy."
See Hyde v. United States, supra,
§ 1 of the Act of August 24, 1942, 56 Stat. 747, 18 U.S.C.Supp. II, § 590a, as amended by § 19(b) of the Act of July 1, 1944, 58 Stat. 649, 667, 18 U.S.C.Supp. IV, § 590a.
The registration statements required by the Act were sworn statements. Regulations,
§ 29.4(g), (j).
Convictions for perjury,
Kaneda v. United States,
278 F. 694, for frauds on the revenues,
United States v. Reimer,
113 F.2d 429, for frauds with respect to property,
United States v. Burmaster,
24 F.2d 57, have been held by the lower courts to meet that test. And counterfeiting was so classified by the Court in
. As to deportation for violations of the Alien Registration Act of 1940,
§ 20(b)(4) and (5).
Alien Enemy Act of 1798, Rev.Stat. §§ 4067-4070, as amended 40 Stat. 531, 50 U.S.C. §§ 21-24; Presidential Proclamation No. 2655, 10 Fed.Reg. 8947.
Although deportation is not technically a criminal punishment, it may visit great hardship on the alien.
. As stated by the Court, speaking through Mr. Justice Brandeis, in
Ng Fung Ho. v. White,
, deportation may result in the loss "of all that makes life worth living."