Source: https://openjurist.org/588/f2d/373/united-states-v-twigg-iii
Timestamp: 2018-04-23 02:10:43
Document Index: 143011328

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 846', '§ 2', '§ 841', '§ 843', '§ 2', '§ 844', '§ 844', '§ 2']

588 F2d 373 United States v. Twigg III | OpenJurist
588 F. 2d 373 - United States v. Twigg III
588 F2d 373 United States v. Twigg III
588 F.2d 373
These appeals are brought by Henry Neville and William Twigg from jury convictions on charges stemming from the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine hydrochloride ("speed"), a schedule II controlled substance. Specifically, defendant Neville was convicted of conspiracy to manufacture and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, 21 U.S.C. § 846, 18 U.S.C. § 2; manufacture of a controlled substance, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1); nine counts of use of a telephone to facilitate in the manufacture of a controlled substance, 21 U.S.C. § 843(b), 18 U.S.C. § 2; possession of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 844(a); and possession of methamphetamine hydrochloride, 21 U.S.C. § 844(a). Twigg was convicted of: (1) conspiracy to manufacture and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and (2) manufacture of a controlled substance. He was acquitted of the substantive charge of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Both challenge their convictions on the ground that the extensive police involvement in the crime violated due process.1 We reverse on all counts with the exception of Neville's conviction on possession of cocaine.
It should be made clear from the outset that our reversal is not based on the entrapment defense. The entrapment defense requires an absence of predisposition on the part of the defendant to commit the crime. See United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973). Whether predisposition is present is a question of fact and was properly submitted to the jury in this case.5 By convicting the defendants, the jury rejected the entrapment defense. On appeal, we must inquire: viewing the evidence most favorable to the Government, could a jury find predisposition? United States v. Townsend, 555 F.2d 152, 156 (7th Cir.), Cert. denied, 434 U.S. 897, 98 S.Ct. 277, 54 L.Ed.2d 184 (1977); See Tzimopoulos v. United States, 554 F.2d 1216 (1st Cir.), Cert. denied, 434 U.S. 851, 98 S.Ct. 164, 54 L.Ed.2d 120 (1977); United States v. Gurule, 522 F.2d 20, 23 (10th Cir. 1975), Cert. denied, 425 U.S. 976, 96 S.Ct. 2177, 48 L.Ed.2d 800 (1976).
411 U.S. at 431-32, 93 S.Ct. at 1643 (emphasis supplied).
The Court went on to make an important point not present here that the defendant "was an active participant in an illegal drug manufacturing enterprise which began before the government agent appeared on the scene . . . ." Id. at 436, 93 S.Ct. at 1645.
The only other Supreme Court case to consider the fundamental fairness defense in this type of situation was Hampton v. United States, 425 U.S. 484, 96 S.Ct. 1646, 48 L.Ed.2d 113 (1976). Hampton was convicted of distributing heroin despite his contention that the heroin had been supplied by a government informer and sold by the defendant to an undercover agent. The trial court refused to instruct the jury that if those facts were believed then they must acquit, and the defendant appealed.
The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, but wrote three separate opinions. Justice Rehnquist's plurality opinion, joined by Chief Justice Burger and Justice White, stated that predisposition, which the defendant conceded existed, should operate as a bar to the fundamental fairness defense as well as to the conventional entrapment defense. The opinion argued that the remedy of "the criminal defendant with respect to the acts of government agents . . . lies solely in the defense of entrapment." Id. at 490, 96 S.Ct. at 1650.
Justice Powell, joined by Justice Blackmun, concurred in the result but refused to foreclose reliance on the fundamental fairness defense even where predisposition is shown. Justice Powell would base the defense on due process principles or the Court's supervisory power. He warned, however, that instances where this defense would be successful will be rare. "Police overinvolvement in crime would have to reach a demonstrable level of outrageousness before it could bar conviction." Id. at 495 n. 7, 96 S.Ct. at 1653 n. 7 (Powell, J., concurring).
Hampton was concerned with the sale of an illegal drug, a much more fleeting and elusive crime to detect than the operation of an illicit drug laboratory. In such a situation the practicalities of combating drug distribution may require more extreme methods of investigation, including the supply of ingredients which the drug ring needs.6 Furthermore, a reading of the jury instruction requested by the defendant in Hampton reveals that he was concerned merely with the principle that if the narcotics were supplied to him by an informant acting on behalf of the Government, then he must be acquitted as a matter of law. Id. at 488, 96 S.Ct. 1646.7 In this case, however, we are not only concerned with the supply by government agents of necessary ingredients for manufacture, but we also have before us a crime, unlike Hampton, conceived and contrived by government agents.
We do not believe the Government may involve itself so directly and continuously over such a long period of time in the creation and maintenance of criminal operations, and yet prosecute its collaborators. As pointed out in Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848 . . . a certain amount of stealth and strategy "are necessary weapons in the arsenal of the police officer." But, although this is not an entrapment case, when the Government permits itself to become enmeshed in criminal activity, from beginning to end, to the extent which appears here, the same underlying objections which render entrapment repugnant to American criminal justice are operative.
Attempting to draw general principles of law from these cases is not a simple task. We are mindful of the difficulties of defining specific limits on law enforcement techniques. Recognition must be given to the many challenges confronting police agencies today, especially in the drug law enforcement area. Infiltration of criminal operations by informers and undercover agents is an accepted and necessary practice. Yet, this court cannot "shirk the responsibility that is necessarily in its keeping . . . to accommodate the dangers of overzealous law enforcement and civilized methods adequate to counter the ingenuity of modern criminals." Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 381, 78 S.Ct. 819, 825, 2 L.Ed.2d 848 (1958) (Frankfurter, J., concurring in result). "Prosecutors and their agents naturally tend to assign great weight to the societal interest in apprehending and convicting criminals; the danger is that they will assign too little to the rights of citizens to be free from government-induced criminality." United States v. Archer, 486 F.2d 670, 677 (2d Cir. 1973) (Friendly, J.).
Hampton v. United States, supra, 425 U.S. at 494-95 n. 6, 96 S.Ct. at 1652 n. 6 (Powell, J., concurring).
The traditional entrapment defense is only available to those defendants brought into the criminal enterprise directly by government agents. If a defendant is induced by a third party not connected with a law enforcement official to commit a crime, then the defendant cannot raise the defense. See United States v. Garcia, 546 F.2d 613, 615 (5th Cir.), Cert. denied, 430 U.S. 958, 97 S.Ct. 1608, 51 L.Ed.2d 810 (1977); United States v. Conversano, 412 F.2d 1143, 1148 (3d Cir.), Cert. denied, 396 U.S. 905, 90 S.Ct. 219, 24 L.Ed.2d 181 (1969). However, no case has been found that considers this issue when overreaching by the Government is the basis of the defense. The fundamental fairness defense compels us to resolve this question in light of all the circumstances. We are reluctant to establish a Per se rule barring the use of this defense to anyone who was not directly induced by a government agent.
The majority and I differ only on the proper application of the remnant of the "objective" analysis left open by Mr. Justice Powell in Hampton v. United States, 425 U.S. 484, 96 S.Ct. 1646, 48 L.Ed.2d 113 (1976), the latest Supreme Court statement on the subject. In Hampton a plurality of three Justices the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Rehnquist, and Mr. Justice White urged a Per se rule that would allow defenses based on the acts of government agents Only when defendants establish that they were not predisposed to commit the crime.6 Such a rule would eliminate any possibility of judicial scrutiny of the law enforcement techniques themselves, and thus constitute a rejection of the objective approach.
Second, a claim of instigation or incitement appears to be logically connected to the question of predisposition. Government instigation is important because it raises questions about the defendant's intent: it must be determined whether he was predisposed to commit the crime or whether the governmental activity "deceptively implanted the criminal design" in his mind. United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 436, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973). This is the traditional entrapment defense. The defendants here argued that they were lured, in effect, into the criminal scheme by government agent Kubica. Entrapment might have been found on such facts, but the jury concluded that Neville and Twigg were predisposed to commit the crime. Once one credits this finding, the problem of instigation, although it remains an element of the government activity, should assume a much less important position in the analysis of this appeal.18
The dissent suggests that we are embracing "a rule that allows otherwise 'outrageous' conduct in the pursuit of small-time pushers but forbids these tactics when aimed at manufacturers of drugs and their financiers." Dis. Op. at 387. This is simply not the case. We are adhering to Justice Powell's reasoning that in evaluating whether government conduct is outrageous, the court must consider the nature of the crime and the tools available to law enforcement agencies to combat it. Hampton v. United States, supra, 425 U.S. at 495-96 n. 7, 96 S.Ct. 1653. Furthermore, Justice Powell's citation of Greene v. United States, 454 F.2d 783 (9th Cir. 1971), in Hampton, 425 U.S. at 493 n. 3, 96 S.Ct. 1651 indicates a willingness to distinguish between manufacturing operations and distribution activities when considering the due process defense. It also demonstrates that Justice Powell, unlike the dissent here, Dis. Op. at 386 n. 15, believes that Greene involved police conduct more egregious than Hampton or Russell
Whether or not there was government instigation in Hampton is a factual question which the plurality and concurring opinions left unresolved. According to the Government's version of the facts, the defendant (not the Government) initiated the crime and supplied the heroin. Hampton, on the other hand, claimed that he told the government informant that he was short of cash and that the informant suggested that they sell a non-narcotic counterfeit drug as heroin. The defendant admitted to soliciting and carrying out the sales which led to his arrest. Hampton v. United States, supra, 425 U.S. at 485-87, 96 S.Ct. 1646.
The only significance of the defendant's version of the facts relates to the jury instructions he proffered which the trial court refused to give. Significantly, the proffered instructions made no mention of government incitement of the crime. The sole issue then and the sole issue appealed to the Supreme Court was whether the supply of contraband to the defendant by the Government required acquittal as a matter of law. Id. at 488, 96 S.Ct. 1646. This was the only question considered in the concurring opinion by Justice Powell, who felt that the outcome of the case was "controlled completely by Russell." Id. at 495, 96 S.Ct. 1646. Thus, it appears that the Government did not instigate the crime in Hampton. Admittedly, Justice Brennan refers to government instigation of the crime; however, he also believed that the conviction should be reversed.
See United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 439, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973) (Stewart, J., dissenting); Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 378, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848 (1958) (Frankfurter, J., concurring); Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S. 435, 453, 53 S.Ct. 210, 77 L.Ed. 413 (1932) (Roberts, J., separate opinion). In Sorrells, Justice Roberts clearly stated the objective view:
287 U.S. at 459, 53 S.Ct. at 219. The objective view has, in differing forms and degrees, continued to command the allegiance of a minority of the Supreme Court. In each of the cases cited above, however, it was rejected by the majority of the Court.
" . . . (T)he entrapment defense 'focuses on the intent or predisposition of the defendant to commit the crime,' rather than upon the conduct of the Government's agents." Hampton v. United States, 425 U.S. 484, 488, 96 S.Ct. 1646, 1649, 48 L.Ed.2d 113 (1976). "It is only when the Government's deception actually implants the criminal design in the mind of the defendant that the defense of entrapment comes into play." United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 436, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 1645, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973). See Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848 (1958); Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S. 435, 53 S.Ct. 210, 77 L.Ed. 413 (1932)
The objective position, however, appears to remain the more popular among the commentators and in the academic community. See Park, The Entrapment Controversy, 60 Minn.L.Rev. 163, 167 n. 13 (collecting authorities; Professor Park himself prefers a modified subjective approach). The objective approach was endorsed by the American Law Institute in 1962. Model Penal Code § 2.13 (Official Draft, 1962).
There also appears to be a greater willingness on the part of some states to accept the objective view, despite its rejection by the federal courts. See State v. Mullen, 216 N.W.2d 375 (Iowa 1974); People v. Turner, 390 Mich. 7, 210 N.W.2d 336 (1973); Grossman v. State, 457 P.2d 226 (Alaska 1969). See also State v. Talbot, 71 N.J. 160, 364 A.2d 9 (1976); Note, 8 Seton Hall L.Rev. 316 (1977).
Hampton v. United States, 425 U.S. 484, 491, 96 S.Ct. 1646, 48 L.Ed.2d 113 (Powell, J., concurring); Id. 495, 96 S.Ct. 1653 (Brennan, J., dissenting). The Hampton decision is fully discussed Infra
It has often been suggested that, as an alternative to use of the due process clause, courts may base their refusal to countenance outrageous law enforcement practices upon their supervisory powers. These powers generally have been used to regulate the conduct of judicial proceedings, and their extension to the governance of law enforcement agencies traditionally "supervised by the executive branch or by passage of laws by Congress," United States v. Leja, 563 F.2d 244, 247 (6th Cir. 1977), Cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1074, 98 S.Ct. 1263, 55 L.Ed.2d 780 (1978), raises serious questions about the power and role of the federal judiciary in our society. Because I question the authority of a federal court to regulate the conduct of DEA agents, I believe the question of government overinvolvement should be considered in terms of the constitutional duty of the courts to protect individual rights under the due process clause.
Phenyl-2-propanone is an ingredient indispensible to the manufacture of amphetamines, or "speed." Although p-2-p is not contraband, it is difficult to obtain. See United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1978)
"In (Russell,) (w)e ruled out the possibility that the defense of entrapment could Ever be based upon governmental misconduct in a case, such as this one, where the predisposition of the defendant to commit the crime was established. . . . The remedy of the criminal defendant with respect to the acts of Government agents, which . . . are encouraged by him, lies Solely in the defense of entrapment." 425 U.S. at 488-90, 96 S.Ct. at 1649-50. (Emphasis supplied.)
Id. at 492-93, 96 S.Ct. at 1651-52 (Powell, J., concurring) (citations omitted)
The dissenters endorsed the traditional objective position for entrapment cases generally, but they also specifically agreed with Justice Powell's position on the possibility of use of the due process clause, or the Court's supervisory powers, to overturn convictions secured through "sufficiently offensive" official conduct. Id. 497, 96 S.Ct. 1653 (Brennan, J., dissenting). In the view of the dissenters, Hampton itself was such a case
411 U.S. at 431-32, 93 S.Ct. at 1643
425 U.S. at 495 n. 7, 96 S.Ct. at 1653 n. 7 (emphasis supplied)
Id. at 498, 96 S.Ct. at 1654 (Brennan, J., dissenting)
See, e. g., United States v. Leja, 563 F.2d 244, 246 (6th Cir. 1977), Cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1074, 98 S.Ct. 1263, 55 L.Ed.2d 780 (1978) ("We cannot affirmatively approve of the government's activity in this case. . . . Our guardianship of constitutional principles, however, is not measured by personal distaste")
The other case noted by the majority, Greene v. United States, 454 F.2d 783 (9th Cir. 1971), concerned government involvement to my mind less extensive than the activity complained of in either this case or Hampton. There the government provided only a market for the contraband, and money for one easily obtainable ingredient, sugar. It did not assist in the production of the contraband itself. In Greene the most troubling element of the government's involvement continued persuasion of defendants to produce the contraband seems to go to defendants' predisposition or lack of it. In my view, therefore, that opinion, too, is of doubtful validity after Russell and Hampton. But see 425 U.S. at 493 n. 3, 96 S.Ct. 1646 (Powell, J., concurring). Nor has the Ninth Circuit in more recent years read Russell to allow anything other than the most limited type of due process claim. See United States v. Smith, 538 F.2d 1359 (9th Cir. 1976); United States v. Lue, 498 F.2d 531 (9th Cir.), Cert. denied 419 U.S. 1031, 95 S.Ct. 513, 42 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974)
Casey v. United States, 276 U.S. 413, 419, 48 S.Ct. 373, 374, 72 L.Ed. 632 (1928).
But the majority agrees that the evidence was sufficient to support a finding of predisposition and a rejection of the entrapment argument. Given the jury's findings, the defendants cannot properly be described as innocents lured into this criminal enterprise. They were "unwary criminals," not "unwary innocents." See United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 436, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973) (quoting Sherman ); Willis v. United States, 530 F.2d 308 (8th Cir. 1976).
It is the entrapment defense, not the due process clause, that comes into play if the government "implant(s) the criminal design in the mind of the defendant." 411 U.S. at 436, 93 S.Ct. at 1645. See note 2 Supra. But that defense was unsuccessful here. Although Kubica suggested the renewal of their previous activity, there is no evidence that he needed to persuade Neville, through continued blandishments or appeals to personal friendship. The "instigation" complained of here seems no greater than that discussed by Mr. Justice Holmes in Casey, supra n. 17. Kubica's phone call was "a simple request" to which Neville "seems to have acceded without hesitation and as a matter of course." Id.
425 U.S. at 495 n. 7, 96 S.Ct. at 1653
411 U.S. at 435, 93 S.Ct. at 1644