Source: http://openjurist.org/444/f2d/1190/harrington-v-united-states
Timestamp: 2013-05-25 18:20:22
Document Index: 772783900

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4744', '§ 2255', '§ 4744', '§ 4742', '§ 4744', '§ 4744', '§ 176']

444 F2d 1190 Harrington v. United States | OpenJurist
444 F. 2d 1190 - Harrington v. United States	Home444 f2d 1190 harrington v. united states
444 F2d 1190 Harrington v. United States 444 F.2d 1190
Robert HARRINGTON, Petitioner-Appellant,v.UNITED STATES of America, Respondent-Appellee.
Rehearing Denied September 8, 1971.
William A. Daniel, Jr., Robert W. Rust, U. S. Attys., Miami, Fla., Neal R. Sonnett, Asst. U. S. Atty., Miami, Fla., for respondent-appellee.
In Leary v. United States, 1969, 395 U.S. 6, 89 S.Ct. 1532, 23 L.Ed.2d 57, the Supreme Court held, inter alia, that the privilege against self-incrimination is a complete defense to a prosecution under 26 U.S.C.A. § 4744(a), the Marihuana Tax Act provision which requires payment of the tax upon acquisition of marihuana. This appeal presents the question whether that ruling shall have retrospective application. We conclude that it is to be so applied; and accordingly, we reverse the District Court's denial of Robert Harrington's motion under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 to vacate his judgment of conviction and sentence.
Harrington was indicted for acquiring approximately one kilogram of marihuana without having paid the transfer tax, in violation of 26 U.S.C.A. § 4744(a) (1); and for transferring the same quantity of marihuana without the proper written order, in violation of 26 U.S. C.A. § 4742(a). He pled guilty under the first count, the "tax count", whereupon the court dismissed the transfer count on motion of the Government. Harrington was sentenced under the tax count on April 2, 1969. He took no direct appeal, and thus the judgment became final prior to May 19, 1969, when the Supreme Court decided Leary.
In United States v. United States Coin and Currency, 1971, 401 U. S. 715, 91 S.Ct. 1041, 28 L.Ed.2d 434, a forfeiture had been ordered against the petitioner for failing to register as a gambler and to pay the related gambling taxes. Previously in Marchetti v. United States, 1968, 390 U.S. 39, 88 S.Ct. 697, 19 L.Ed.2d 889, and Grosso v. United States, 1968, 390 U.S. 62, 88 S.Ct. 709, 19 L.Ed.2d 906, the Supreme Court had held that the imposition of these registration and taxation burdens on gamblers violated their privilege against self-incrimination. Concluding in United States Coin and Currency, supra, that such a forfeiture was a criminal sanction analogous to a conviction, the Court determined that Marchetti and Grosso would retrospectively apply to forfeitures instituted before those decisions. The Court said:
Unlike some of our earlier retroactivity decisions, we are not here concerned with the implementation of a procedural rule which does not undermine the basic accuracy of the fact-finding process at trial. Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618 [85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601] (1965); Tehan v. Shott, 382 U.S. 406 [86 S.Ct. 459, 15 L.Ed.2d 453] (1966); Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719 [86 S.Ct. 1772, 16 L.Ed.2d 882] (1966); Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293 [87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L. Ed.2d 1199] (1967). Rather Marchetti and Grosso dealt with the kind of conduct that cannot constitutionally be punished in the first instance. These cases held that gamblers in Angelini's position had the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in the face of the statute's command that they submit reports which could incriminate them. In the absence of a waiver of that right, such persons could not properly be prosecuted at all. (Emphasis supplied)
"* * * [T]he conduct being penalized is constitutionally immune from punishment. No circumstances call more for the invocation of a rule of complete retroactivity.
402 U.S. at 723, 91 S.Ct. at 1045 (footnote omitted).
In Leary the order forms and the transfer taxes considered were primarily intended to facilitate the prosecution of possessors and sellers of marihuana, just as in Marchetti-Grosso the forms and taxes were avenues to prosecution for gambling. In fact, the Leary Court observed, if "read according to its terms, the Marihuana Tax Act compelled petitioner to expose himself to a `real and appreciable' risk of self-incrimination within the meaning of our decisions in Marchetti, Grosso and Haynes [Haynes v. United States, 1968, 390 U.S. 85, 88 S.Ct. 722, 19 L.Ed.2d 923]." 395 U.S. at 16, 89 S.Ct. at 1537, 23 L.Ed.2d at 70.
Since the first part of Leary — i. e., that dealing with the constitutionality of the transfer tax provisions of § 4744 — and Marchetti-Grosso are but variations of a single theme, both must be retroactive. Since Harrington was convicted for violating the statute overturned in the first part of Leary, that count of the conviction cannot stand. Cf. United States v. United States Coin and Currency, supra.
Our conclusion is buttressed by the holding in a case similar to the one sub judice. In United States v. Liguori, 2 Cir. 1970, 430 F.2d 842, the Second Circuit retrospectively applied the Leary ruling that the privilege against self-incrimination is a complete defense to a prosecution under the tax count. The Supreme Court recently denied the Government's petition for certiorari in Liguori. 402 U.S. 948, 91 S.Ct. 1614, 29 L. Ed.2d 118 [1971].
That same day, the Supreme Court also denied certiorari in United States v. Lucia, 5 Cir. 1970, 423 F.2d 697, wherein this Court en banc had held that Marchetti v. United States, supra, is retroactive; and it vacated Decker v. United States, 6 Cir. 1970, 423 F.2d 726, in which the Sixth Circuit had held that Haynes v. United States, supra, is not retroactive. 402 U.S. 937, 91 S.Ct. 1604, 29 L.Ed.2d 106 [1971]. Haynes upheld the privilege against self-incrimination as a defense to prosecution for violating a provision of the National Firearms Act.
We hold further that Harrington has timely asserted the privilege against self-incrimination. Prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Leary, there had been no authoritative judicial decision upholding the privilege with regard to the tax count offense. Moreover, there was no final assurance that this aspect of Leary was retroactive until the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Liguori, the first case in which the question was squarely presented.1 Our own Court held in abeyance cases presenting the question, until the Supreme Court ruled in the Coin and Currency and Liguori cases. This Court cannot charge persons convicted under the tax count with knowing that Leary would be retroactive, when we ourselves were uncertain of the eventual outcome. Therefore, Harrington's motion to vacate his conviction and sentence under 26 U.S.C. A. § 4744(a) (1) must be granted.
We do not now decide whether theLeary holding invalidating the presumption of knowledge of unlawful importation of marihuana, which is stated in 21 U.S.C.A. § 176a, is to be given retrospective application.
Home444 f2d 1190 harrington v. united states