Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/581/649/279586/
Timestamp: 2020-02-18 01:15:01
Document Index: 693829988

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 371', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 201', '§ 202', '§ 201']

United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Anthony Arroyo and Frank Sanchez, Defendants-appellants, 581 F.2d 649 (7th Cir. 1978) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Seventh Circuit › 1978 › United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Anthony Arroyo and Frank Sanchez, Defendants-appell...
United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Anthony Arroyo and Frank Sanchez, Defendants-appellants, 581 F.2d 649 (7th Cir. 1978)
US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit - 581 F.2d 649 (7th Cir. 1978) Argued April 24, 1978. Decided July 31, 1978. Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Sept. 5, 1978
The jury found Arroyo and Sanchez guilty of conspiracy to corruptly solicit a bribe in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (1976) and Arroyo guilty of the substantive offense the acts of corruptly soliciting and receiving the bribe in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 201(c) (1) (1976).1 Motions for acquittal and a requested instruction were based on the view that § 201(c) (1) must be limited to soliciting a bribe before the accused public official has performed the "official act"2 intended to be influenced. The district court denied the motions and refused the request.3 We affirm.Background
"As used in this section (§ 201(c) (1)), the term 'official act' means any decision or act or any question, matter, cause, suit, proceeding or controversy which may at any time be pending or which may, by law, be brought before any public official in his official capacity or in his place of trust or profit."
Further, Arroyo and Sanchez assert that Arroyo may have solicited a gratuity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 201(g) (1976),6 but not a bribe, in violation of § 201(c) (1), quoting from United States v. Brewster, 165 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 7, 506 F.2d 62, 68 (1974):
"3. The bribery section (c) (1) prohibits the receipt of anything of value 'in return for: (1) being influenced in his performance of any official act,' while the gratuity section (g) prohibits the receipt of anything of value 'for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by him.' * * * "
Whether the district court erred, in denying the motions for acquittal and refusing the requested instruction, turns on the underlying question of whether § 201(c) (1) is applicable only to bribery solicitations occurring before actual performance of the official act intended to be influenced.
We hold that the district court did not err. Further, we hold that the jury instruction given by the district court accurately stated the law. Section 201(c) (1) cannot be limited in every case to bribery solicitations occurring before actual performance of the official act without destroying the intent of the statute.7
The operative language of § 201(c) (1) is "(w)hoever, being a public official * * * corruptly * * * solicits * * * anything of value for himself * * * in return for * * * being influenced in his performance of any official act." "Official act" is defined in § 201(a), Supra note 2, as "any * * * action * * * which may At any time be pending * * * before any public official, in his official capacity * * *." (Emphasis added.) Congress having used broad language in these provisions, we find no intent to limit their coverage to future acts.9 Congress did not intend for a public official, who had solicited and encouraged a bribe with a false representation that the official act was In futuro, to escape liability for bribe-solicitation by proving that he had successfully hidden the truth of past performance from the bribe-payer.
Arroyo and Sanchez seize upon the words "being influenced" as indicating that § 201(c) (1) requires that the bribe be paid to influence a future act, arguing that one cannot be influenced to do what has already been done. The argument is without merit in this case, for it disregards the lead-in phrase "in return for." That phrase brings into play the purpose of the bribe and thus the mind of the bribe-payer. Though more careful draftsmanship might have added "or apparently being" after "being," the section prohibits solicitation of payment "in return for being influenced." As illustrated by § 201(c), the gravamen of the offense lies in the corrupt solicitation, which would fail if the solicitee were told the truth.10 Bribes are paid, and solicited, in exchange for what the payer believes he is paying for. The bribe solicitor will always create the impression that the action sought is yet to come and is contingent on the bribe. The solicitation, against which the section is directed, is the same, whether the yet-to-come impression be objectively true or false. Further, § 201(c) (1), in listing one of the "in return for" elements, speaks of "Being influenced In his performance of any official act" (emphasis added). It does not speak of "being influenced To perform any official act."11
Unlike the situation before us, there was no false representation by the government official in Woelfel that he "had" the matter still in his control, and no belief on the part of the potential bribe-payer that he was being solicited in return for Woelfel's being influenced to do a future act. Hence Woelfel is distinguishable on its facts. Further, the distinction highlights the misrepresentation element. The bribe-solicitee in Woelfel, Potter, gave Woelfel "no answer." Nor is that reaction surprising. Potter knew that the official act had been performed, and that anything he gave "later on" would necessarily be a gratuity. The solicitation in Woelfel was clearly for a gratuity, which Potter could safely ignore. The solicitation in the case before us was clearly for a bribe, i. e., "for being influenced in his performance," which Fernandez was led to believe he could ignore only at peril to his loan. When the official act has actually been performed at the time of the solicitation, the distinction between the facts of this case and those of Woelfel, and the distinction between § 201(c) (1) and § 201(g) as well, lies in the nature of the solicitation. Here it was corrupt as the jury found. In Woelfel, it was not. The difference lies in the understanding of Fernandez, created by Sanchez and Arroyo, that the act was yet to be performed, and the understanding of Potter created by Woelfel, that the act had been performed. The opinion states:
The opinion in Brewster did, however, set forth the many distinctions between § 201(c) (1) and § 201(g), pointing out that the primary distinction lies in the requisite degree of criminal intent (165 U.S.App.D.C. at 10, 506 F.2d at 71):
"The requisite intent to constitute accepting a bribe is to accept a thing of value 'corruptly' under section (c) (1); the comparable intent under the gratuity section (g) is to accept a thing of value 'otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty.' On the face of the statute the two comparative clauses are not equivalents. Congress did not use the same language in defining criminal intent for the two offenses. 'Corruptly' bespeaks a higher degree of criminal knowledge and purpose than does 'otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty.' It appears entirely possible that a public official could accept a thing of value 'otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty,' and at the same time not do it 'corruptly.' Congress obviously wished to prohibit public officials accepting things of value with either degree of criminal intent; it did so, but it legislated a difference in the requisite criminal intent and correspondingly in the penalties attached."15
Section 201(c) (1), not § 201(g), is applicable to the facts of this case. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is Affirmed. It is so ordered.
As blameworthy as the conduct of the defendants may be, in my opinion it simply does not constitute the commission of an offense as defined by section 201(c) (1). I would therefore reverse.
Section 201(b) may be violated even though the official was not corrupted by the offer, or the purpose of the bribe was unattainable,2 or even though there was actually no occasion to seek to influence an official's conduct.3 In each case, however, the defendant must intend to influence the bribee. Kemler v. United States, 133 F.2d 235 (1st Cir. 1942). Similarly, a public official charged with violating section 201(c) must intend to corruptly solicit something of value In return for being influenced, that is, intend to permit himself to be influenced. United States v. Irwin, 354 F.2d 192, 195-96 (2d Cir. 1965), Cert. denied, 383 U.S. 967, 86 S. Ct. 1272, 16 L. Ed. 2d 308 (1966).
Both Arroyo and Sanchez misrepresented, implicitly if not explicitly, that the decision on the loan application was still pending, but that misrepresentation was made to Fernandez After the application was approved. I emphasize again that a bribery statute is designed to prevent official decisions made as a result of corrupt influence. Accordingly, when a public official represents to a prospective briber that a decision is still pending when in fact it has already been made, the misrepresentation takes on the character of fraudulent conduct, but it does not constitute solicitation of a bribe as defined by section 201(c) (1). The language of that section is plain and unambiguous. Its literal meaning ought not be expanded by interpretation as the majority has done, for it is a cardinal rule of statutory construction that a criminal statute must be strictly construed. United States v. Wiltberger, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 76, 95-96, 5 L. Ed. 37 (1820).
18 U.S.C. § 201(c) (1) (1976) provides:
Section 201(c) (1) has been held "applicable to a situation where the advice and recommendation of the Government employee involved would be influential * * * even though the employee did not have the authority to make the final decision." United States v. Heffler, 402 F.2d 924, 926 (3d Cir. 1968), Cert. denied, 394 U.S. 946, 89 S. Ct. 1280, 22 L. Ed. 2d 480 (1969), quoting from Krogmann v. United States, 225 F.2d 220, 225 (6th Cir. 1955) (prosecution for offering a bribe)
The dissenting opinion correctly states that criminal statutes must be strictly interpreted. To hold, however, that 201(c) (1) is applicable when the bribe solicitor has hidden the fact that official action is no longer pending does not expand that section beyond its literal meaning. Reading, as we must, the § 201(a) definition of "official act" into § 201(c) (1), as indicated in the text, makes § 201(c) (1) applicable to every public official who corruptly solicits anything of value in return for being influenced in his performance of any action which may At any time be pending. The mere presence of the word "performed" in § 201(g) cannot be viewed as so limiting § 201(c) (1) as to immunize from prosecution thereunder the corrupt solicitation of payment for what everyone but the solicitor believes to be a bribe
The dissenting opinion states that "a bribery statute is designed to prevent official decisions made as the result of corrupt influence." We view the statute as designed to prevent corrupt solicitation by government officials. The distinction between § 201(c) (1) and § 201(g) lies in What is solicited, the former prohibiting solicitation of bribes, the latter prohibiting solicitation of gratuities. Whether the solicitation succeed or fail, and whether the official act had been secretly performed, cannot change what was solicited. The dissenting opinion appears to recognize that whether the official act could be influenced is irrelevant in prosecution of a bribe payer under § 201(b), i. e., that Fernandez (had he not reported to the FBI) could have been prosecuted for paying the bribe sought here, but then suggests that Arroyo could not be prosecuted under § 201(c) (1) for soliciting the same bribe. The view that § 201(c) (1) merely seeks to shield Decisions resulting from influence, would appear to create an absolute defense for an official, who solicits a bribe before he acts, but who can prove his decision was not influenced because he would have made the same decision in any event, for the official whose bribe solicitation was refused and whose decision favorable to the solicitee could not then have been influenced, and for the soliciting official who (unknown to the briber) has no authority whatever to decide, and does not in fact decide, anything in the premises
If the focus be on the sole fact that the official act has already been performed, it is impossible on that ground alone to distinguish § 201(c) (1) from § 201(g), which encompasses solicitation "for or because of any official act * * * to be performed." Distinctions between § 201(c) and § 201(g) appear in the differing language employed by the Congress. The latter section includes "otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty" and "for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by him." The former includes "for himself or for any other person or entity" and, of primary importance, the word "corruptly" (see discussion re Brewster in text, Infra)
Arroyo and Sanchez cite no legislative history supporting a narrow construction and we have found none. On the contrary, when the present statute was enacted in 1962 (Act of October 23, 1962, Pub. L. No. 87-849, 76 Stat. 1119), the section-by-section analysis in the Senate Report stated: "The term 'official act' is defined to include Any decision or action Taken by a public official in his capacity as such." (Emphasis added.) S.Rep. No. 2213, 87th Cong., 2d Sess. (1962), Reprinted in (1962) U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 3852, 3856. Thus, we perceive no intent by Congress to exclude past acts from the definition of "official act."
Woelfel involved 18 U.S.C. § 202 (1952). When the present section, § 201(c) (1), was enacted in 1962, the word "corruptly" was inserted. See United States v. Isa, 452 F.2d 723, 725 (7th Cir. 1971)
The disparity in penalties appears in the quotes at footnotes 1 and 6, Supra. In addition to greater maximum periods of incarceration and fines, government officials convicted of violating section 201(c) (1) may be disqualified from further government employment