Source: http://openjurist.org/176/f3d/1116
Timestamp: 2013-12-22 09:55:23
Document Index: 169942802

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1319', '§ 1291', '§ 1319', '§ 371', '§ 1319', '§ 2', '§ 1319', '§ 1321']

176 F3d 1116 United States v. Hanousek | OpenJurist
176 F. 3d 1116 - United States v. Hanousek	Home176 f3d 1116 united states v. hanousek
176 F3d 1116 United States v. Hanousek 176 F.3d 1116
48 ERC 1303, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1987,1999 Daily Journal D.A.R. 2590
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Edward HANOUSEK, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.
No. 97-30185.
Argued and Submitted May 4, 1998.Decided March 19, 1999.
Bruce E. Gagnon, Atkinson, Conway & Gagnon, Anchorage, Alaska, and Brian M. Doherty, Gilmore & Doherty, Anchorage, Alaska, for the defendant-appellant.
Ellen J. Durkee, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Alaska; James M. Fitzgerald, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-96-00040-JMF.
Before: THOMPSON and TASHIMA, Circuit Judges, and STAGG, District Judge.*
Edward Hanousek, Jr., appeals his conviction and sentence for negligently discharging a harmful quantity of oil into a navigable water of the United States, in violation of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1319(c)(1)(A) & 1321(b)(3). Hanousek contends that the district court erred: (1) by failing to instruct the jury that the government must prove that he acted with criminal negligence as opposed to ordinary negligence, (2) by failing to instruct the jury that he could not be found vicariously liable, (3) by failing to instruct the jury properly on causation, and (4) by incorrectly applying the United States Sentencing Guidelines.
Hanousek also argues that section 1319(c)(1)(A) violates due process if it permits a criminal conviction for ordinary negligence and that, in any event, the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm.FACTS
Hanousek was employed by the Pacific & Arctic Railway and Navigation Company (Pacific & Arctic) as roadmaster of the White Pass & Yukon Railroad, which runs between Skagway, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. As roadmaster, Hanousek was responsible under his contract "for every detail of the safe and efficient maintenance and construction of track, structures and marine facilities of the entire railroad ... and [was to ] assume similar duties with special projects."
One of the special projects under Hanousek's supervision was a rock-quarrying project at a site alongside the railroad referred to as "6-mile," located on an embankment 200 feet above the Skagway River. The project was designed to realign a sharp curve in the railroad and to obtain armor rock for a ship dock in Skagway. The project involved blasting rock outcroppings alongside the railroad, working the fractured rock toward railroad cars, and loading the rock onto railroad cars with a backhoe. Pacific & Arctic hired Hunz & Hunz, a contracting company, to provide the equipment and labor for the project.
Following an investigation, Hanousek was charged with one count of negligently discharging a harmful quantity of oil into a navigable water of the United States, in violation of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1319(c)(1)(A) & 1321(b)(3). Hanousek was also charged with one count of conspiring to provide false information to United States Coast Guard officials who investigated the accident, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1001.1
A. Negligence Jury Instruction
Hanousek contends the district court erred by failing to instruct the jury that, to establish a violation under 33 U.S.C. § 1319(c)(1)(A), the government had to prove that Hanousek acted with criminal negligence, as opposed to ordinary negligence, in discharging a harmful quantity of oil into the Skagway River. In his proposed jury instruction, Hanousek defined criminal negligence as "a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation." See American Law Institute, Model Penal Code § 2.02(2)(d) (1985). Over Hanousek's objection, the district court instructed the jury that the government was required to prove only that Hanousek acted negligently, which the district court defined as "the failure to use reasonable care."
Whether the jury instruction provided by the district court misstated an element of 33 U.S.C. § 1319(c)(1)(A) presents a question of statutory interpretation, which we review de novo. See United States v. Weitzenhoff, 35 F.3d 1275, 1283 (9th Cir.1993).
Statutory interpretation begins with the plain language of the statute. See Consumer Prod. Safety Comm'n v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U.S. 102, 108, 100 S.Ct. 2051, 64 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980). If the language of the statute is clear, we need look no further than that language in determining the statute's meaning. See United States v. Lewis, 67 F.3d 225, 228 (9th Cir.1995). "Particular phrases must be construed in light of the overall purpose and structure of the whole statutory scheme." Id. at 228-29. "When we look to the plain language of a statute in order to interpret its meaning, we do more than view words or sub-sections in isolation. We derive meaning from context, and this requires reading the relevant statutory provisions as a whole." Carpenters Health & Welfare Trust Funds v. Robertson (In re Rufener Constr.), 53 F.3d 1064, 1067 (9th Cir.1995).
Codified sections 1319(c)(1)(A) & 1321(b)(3) of the Clean Water Act work in tandem to criminalize the conduct of which Hanousek was convicted. Section 1319(c)(1)(A) provides that any person who negligently violates 33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(3) shall be punished by fine or imprisonment, or both.2 Section 1321(b)(3) proscribes the actual discharge of oil in harmful quantities into navigable waters of the United States, adjoining shore lines or waters of a contiguous zone, as well as other specified activity.
Neither section defines the term "negligently," nor is that term defined elsewhere in the CWA. In this circumstance, we "start with the assumption that the legislative purpose is expressed by the ordinary meaning of the words used." Russello v. Uni