Opinion ID: 538508
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Government cross-appeal on Wilson

Text: 20 The district court dismissed Lafayette Counts 3 and 10 against Wilson, finding that they charged lesser included offenses, respectively, of Tampa Counts 6 and 7. The government urges that this dismissal was in error. We cannot agree. Tampa Count 6 charged Wilson with conspiracy to import a controlled substance; Lafayette Count 3 charged conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to import. Similarly, Tampa Count 7 charged Wilson with importation of a controlled substance; Lafayette Count 10 charged possession of a controlled substance with intent to import. When Wilson was convicted in Tampa of conspiracy to import and importation, the related crimes of possession and conspiracy to possess with intent to import merged into those counts as lesser included offenses. See United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971, 1039 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1136, 102 S.Ct. 2965, 73 L.Ed.2d 1354 (1982); United States v. Valot, 481 F.2d 22, 27 (2d Cir.1973). Having previously been charged with and convicted of the greater offense, Wilson may not now be tried for the lesser. Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. at 168-69, 97 S.Ct. at 2226-27. The district court's decision to dismiss these counts was correct. 21 The government also contends that the district court erred in dismissing that portion of Lafayette Count 14 which charged Wilson with conspiring to violate the Travel Act, and Lafayette Count 21, which charged the substantive Travel Act violation of traveling in and causing others to travel in interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1952(a)(3). The court a quo reasoned that because Wilson had been charged in Tampa Counts 7 and 9 with aiding and abetting the substantive offenses that were the predicate for Lafayette Counts 14 and 21, he had been charged with a lesser included offense under the rationale of Brown v. Ohio. We are not persuaded. 22 Neither Lafayette Count 14 nor Lafayette Count 21 is barred by Wilson's prior prosecution on Tampa Counts 7 and 9. Neither conspiracy to violate the Travel Act nor a substantive Travel Act violation under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1952(a)(3) requires the actual commission of the predicate offenses charged in Tampa Counts 7 and 9 (respectively, importation of and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance). Conversely, neither of those Tampa counts requires proof of travel in or use of the facilities of interstate commerce. See United States v. Stafford, 831 F.2d 1479 (9th Cir.1987); United States v. Teplin, 775 F.2d 1261, 1265 (4th Cir.1985); United States v. Finazzo, 704 F.2d 300, 307-08 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 463 U.S. 1210, 103 S.Ct. 3543, 77 L.Ed.2d 1392 (1983). Accordingly, we must reverse the district court's dismissal of those charges.