Opinion ID: 566443
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Double Jeopardy-Cumulative Punishment

Text: 40 In addition to successive prosecutions, the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment also protects against cumulative punishment for the same offense. Pearce, 395 U.S. at 717, 89 S.Ct. at 2076. Given a claim of multiple punishments, the double jeopardy clause protects against a court prescribing more punishment than the legislature intended. See Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 165, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 2225, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977). Traditional double jeopardy analysis provides that where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each requires proof of a fact which the other does not. Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). Although the Blockburger test recently has been supplemented in the double jeopardy subsequent prosecution context, see Grady, 110 S.Ct. at 2090, we believe it remains the test in the multiple punishment context. 41 The Supreme Court has had several occasions to apply the Blockburger test in the cumulative punishment context. See Grady, 110 S.Ct. at 2091 n. 8. For example, the Court determined that Sherman Act convictions for conspiracy in restraint of trade, 15 U.S.C. § 1, and conspiracy to monopolize, 15 U.S.C. § 2, do not amount to multiplicity of punishment. American Tobacco Co. v. United States, 328 U.S. 781, 787-88, 66 S.Ct. 1125, 1128-29, 90 L.Ed. 1575 (1946). Both sections of the Act require proof of conspiracies which are reciprocally distinguishable from and independent of each other although the objects of the conspiracies may overlap. Id. at 788, 66 S.Ct. at 1129. Likewise, consecutive sentences may be imposed for a conspiracy to import marijuana, 21 U.S.C. § 963, and a conspiracy to distribute marijuana, 21 U.S.C. § 846; each conviction required proof of a fact the other did not. Albernaz v. United States, 450 U.S. 333, 334, 339, 101 S.Ct. 1137, 1140, 1142, 67 L.Ed.2d 275 (1981). 42 Judged against these standards, defendant's claim that the three conspiracies alleged in the indictment cannot be punished cumulatively is without merit. Count one involves conspiracy to misbrand drugs (MDMA), see 18 U.S.C. § 371, 21 U.S.C. §§ 331 & 333(a)(2); count two involves conspiracy to distribute MDMA, a controlled substance analogue, 21 U.S.C. §§ 813, 841(a)(1) & 846; and count three involves a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute cocaine, 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) & 846. The differences between the three conspiracies charged are manifest. All three conspiracies have different objects, from introducing misbranded MDMA into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead, to distributing MDMA, to distributing cocaine. See Albernaz, 450 U.S. at 339, 101 S.Ct. at 1142. Unlike the conspiracies in counts one and two, the conspiracy in count three involves a different drug, cocaine. Each conspiracy requires proof of different facts.