Opinion ID: 1476696
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Blockburger, Schmuck, and the identification of lesser included offenses.

Text: We must review issue[s] regarding the merger of ... convictions de novo ... to determine whether there has been a violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Maddox v. United States, 745 A.2d 284, 294 (D.C.2000) (citation omitted); Bradley, at 1160. The Double Jeopardy Clause ... prohibits `multiple punishments for the same offense.' Brown v. United States, 795 A.2d 56, 63 (D.C.2002) (citations omitted); Bradley, slip. op. at 3. In Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), the Supreme Court held 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 provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not. In this jurisdiction, the Blockburger test has been codified as an express declaration of legislative intent in D.C.Code § 23-112 (1989). Byrd v. United States, 598 A.2d 386, 389 (D.C.1991) (en banc) (citing Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 691-92, 100 S.Ct. 1432, 63 L.Ed.2d 715 (1980)); Bradley, at 1161. In applying the Blockburger test, the focus is on the statutorily-specified elements of each offense and not the specific facts of a given case. Byrd, 598 A.2d at 389. This same elements test is employed when determining whether an offense is a lesser-included offense. ( David) Lee v. United States, 668 A.2d 822, 825 (D.C.1995) (citations omitted). An offense is a lesser-included offense if the elements of the lesser offense are a subset of the elements of the charged offense. Schmuck v. United States, 489 U.S. 705, 716, 109 S.Ct. 1443, 103 L.Ed.2d 734 (1989). In other words, to constitute a lesser-included offense, `the lesser [offense] must be such that it is impossible to commit the greater without first having committed the lesser.' Schmuck, 489 U.S. at 719, 109 S.Ct. 1443 (quoting Giles v. United States, 144 F.2d 860, 861 (9th Cir.1944)). An analysis of the elements of simple assault and attempted second-degree cruelty to children reveals that the elements of the former are not contained within the elements of the latter, and that it is possible to commit attempted second-degree cruelty to children without committing simple assault. Thus, [t]he two offenses do not merge because each requires an element of proof that the other does not. Bradley, at 1161.