Opinion ID: 507368
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Legal Relationship Between

Text: Conspiracy and CCE
10 We begin our analysis by setting forth elements of the crimes in question. CCE, which Farber claims is the greater offense, is comprised of five elements: 11 1) a felony violation of the federal narcotics law 12 2) as part of a continuing series of violations 3) in concert with five or more persons 13 4) for whom the defendant is an organizer or supervisor 14 5) from which he [or she] derives substantial income or resources. 15 United States v. Fernandez, 822 F.2d 382, 384 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 450, 98 L.Ed.2d 391 (1987). Farber argues that CCE elements one (the narcotics felony) and three (in concert with others) define a lesser included offense: the conspiracy offense set forth in 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846. 8 16 The Supreme Court has previously addressed this argument. In Jeffers v. United States, 432 U.S. 137, 97 S.Ct. 2207, 53 L.Ed.2d 168 (1977), decided the same day as Brown, Justice Blackmun, writing for a plurality of the Court, 9 17 assume[d], arguendo, that Sec. 848 does require proof of an agreement among the persons involved in the [CCE]. So construed, Sec. 846 is a lesser included offense of Sec. 848, because Sec. 848 requires proof of every fact necessary to show a violation under Sec. 846 as well as proof of several additional elements. 18 Id. at 149-50, 97 S.Ct. at 2215-16 (plurality opinion) (footnotes omitted). Although many courts have assumed otherwise, often relying on concessions to this effect by the government, we believe that Jeffers quite clearly did not hold conspiracy to be a lesser offense included within the greater crime of engaging in a CCE. Rather, as labeled, this was an assumption that the Court made for the purpose of advancing its argument. Unlike a typical judicial assumption arguendo, however, this one was based upon a detailed rationale, including a close reading of the two statutes in question and a survey of the relevant legislative history underlying the CCE provision. See id. at 147-49 & n. 14, 97 S.Ct. at 2214-15 & n. 14 (plurality opinion). In addition, various passages within Justice Blackmun's plurality opinion indicate that this assumption was not made in passing or ill-considered. 10 Finally, Justice Blackmun explicitly noted that, while his opinion for the plurality left the question open, the opinion filed by four other Justices was based on the premise that it was beyond dispute that Secs. 846 and 848 were so related. Id. at 150 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. at 2215 n. 15 (plurality opinion); accord id. at 158-60, 97 S.Ct. at 2220-21 (Stevens, J., joined by Brennan, Stewart and Marshall, JJ., dissenting in part and concurring in the judgment in part). 19 We have previously criticized other appellate courts for unthinkingly citing Jeffers as holding that conspiracy is a lesser included offense within a CCE. See United States v. Gomberg, 715 F.2d 843, 850 n. 3 (3d Cir.1983), cert. denied sub nom. Spielvogel v. United States, 465 U.S. 1078, 104 S.Ct. 1439, 79 L.Ed.2d 760, and sub nom. Levy v. United States, 465 U.S. 1078, 104 S.Ct. 1440, 79 L.Ed.2d 760 (1984). In Gomberg, however, we evaluated the legal relationship between conspiracy and CCE only in the context of analyzing the legality of cumulative punishments for those two crimes. See 715 F.2d at 850. We did not assess whether conspiracy was a lesser included offense such that a subsequent CCE prosecution would be barred by the double jeopardy clause. In this appeal, which squarely presents the latter issue, we decide that the legal question that the Supreme Court left open in Jeffers must now be answered in Farber's favor. We base this decision on two factors: the plain language of the CCE statute and the legislative history thereto, which was set forth and analyzed in some detail by the Jeffers plurality. See 432 U.S. at 148-49 & n. 14, 97 S.Ct. at 2214-15 & n. 14. These factors make it apparent that the in concert and narcotics felony elements of a CCE also constitute a conspiracy offense under section 846. For purposes of double jeopardy analysis, in other words, in a case such as Farber's where the same activities were the basis of each crime, conspiracy is a lesser offense included within the greater crime of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. 11 20 The government, in addition to arguing that conspiracy is not conduct that is a necessary element of the more serious crime [of CCE], Vitale, 447 U.S. at 420, 100 S.Ct. at 2267, maintains that Brown 's double jeopardy analysis of greater and lesser included offenses does not apply where the greater offense is a complex statutory crime such as CCE. This argument relies primarily upon Garrett v. United States, 471 U.S. 773, 105 S.Ct. 2407, 85 L.Ed.2d 764 (1985), where the Supreme Court held that a CCE prosecution, which occurred after a defendant had already been convicted for one of the predicate offenses to the CCE, did not violate the double jeopardy clause. 21 We conclude that Garrett does not support the government's argument. It is certainly true that Garrett 's statutory analysis show[s] in the plainest way that Congress intended the CCE provision to be a separate criminal offense which was punishable in addition to, and not as a substitute for, the predicate offenses. 471 U.S. at 779, 105 S.Ct. at 2412; accord Fernandez, 822 F.2d at 385. This appeal, however, is not concerned with the double jeopardy clause's protection against multiple punishments for the same offense. The issue here, rather, is the protection against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction. It is also true that Garrett caution[s] against ready transposition of the 'lesser included offense' principles of double jeopardy from the classically simple situation presented in Brown to the multilayered conduct, both as to time and to place, involved in [a CCE] case. 471 U.S. at 789, 105 S.Ct. at 2416. What distinguishes Garrett from this appeal, however, is the pivotal fact that the predicate offenses at issue in that case were substantive, not conspiracy, crimes. 12 The Supreme Court explicitly emphasized this point in its concluding paragraph: 22 We have been required in the present case, as we were not in Jeffers, to consider the relationship between substantive predicate offenses and a CCE. We think here logic supports the conclusion, also indicated by the legislative history, that Congress intended separate punishments for the underlying substantive predicates and for the CCE offense. 23 Id. at 794-95, 105 S.Ct. at 2419 (emphases added). In addition, this appeal, like Brown and unlike Garrett, presents an instance where the district court found as a factual matter that [t]he very same conduct was the basis of the conspiracy count to which Farber pled guilty and the CCE count for which he was thereafter indicted and convicted. Therefore, because nothing in Garrett or in the legislative materials indicates that Congress meant to permit separate conspiracy and CCE prosecutions of a defendant in Farber's unique circumstances, we conclude that the principles of finality and prevention of prosecutorial overreaching applied in Brown reach this case. Ohio v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 493, 501, 104 S.Ct. 2536, 2542, 81 L.Ed.2d 425 (1984).