Opinion ID: 658352
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Transfer to Adult Status

Text: 43 The district court transferred Rupley, Jr., to adult status on counts 3, 10, and 15 pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 5032. We hold that transfer was improper as to counts 3 and 10 and therefore reverse Rupley, Jr.'s convictions on those counts.
44 Count 3 charged Rupley, Jr., with violating 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846 by conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and possess with the intent to distribute marijuana between January 1983 and September 1985. At the time of Rupley, Jr.'s transfer to adult status (and at the time the charged offense was completed), Sec. 5032 permitted transfer for any act committed after the juvenile's fifteenth birthday which if committed by an adult would be a felony that is a crime of violence or an offense described in [21 U.S.C. Sec. 841]. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 5032 (1988). Because count 3 alleged a violation of Sec. 846 (albeit a conspiracy to violate Sec. 841), the district court based its transfer order on a finding that the charged conspiracy was a crime of violence. 45 Crime of violence is defined in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 16 (1988) as: 46 (a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or(b) any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense. 47 Count 3 does not fall within part (a) of this definition because the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force is not an element of a drug conspiracy under Sec. 846. The count does not fall within part (b) of the definition because a conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, or possess a controlled substance does not by its nature involve a substantial risk of physical force. Although the government argues, and the district court found, that the violent overt acts alleged in count 3 made the conspiracy a crime of violence, the by its nature language of Sec. 16(b) implies that the generic, rather than the particular, nature of the predicate offense is determinative in defining a crime of violence. See United States v. Cruz, 805 F.2d 1464, 1470 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1006, 107 S.Ct. 1631, 95 L.Ed.2d 204, 482 U.S. 930, 107 S.Ct. 3215, 96 L.Ed.2d 702 (1987); see also United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 911 F.2d 542, 547 (11th Cir.1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 2056, 114 L.Ed.2d 461 (1991); cf. United States v. Mendez, 992 F.2d 1488, 1490 (9th Cir.1993) (employing categorical approach to determine whether offense was by its nature a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(c)). Had Congress intended a case-by-case inquiry into whether the felony as committed constituted a crime of violence, there would have been no need for the phrase by its nature. Cruz, 805 F.2d at 1469; see also United States v. Juvenile Male, 923 F.2d 614, 619 (8th Cir.1991). The cases cited by the government in support of a case-by-case approach interpret crime of violence as used in Sec. 4B1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines, which does not include the by its nature language that is dispositive here. See, e.g., United States v. Cornelius, 931 F.2d 490, 492-93 (8th Cir.1991). Because not every Sec. 846 conspiracy involves a substantial risk of physical force, count 3 did not allege a crime of violence and thus was not transferable.
48 Count 10 charged Rupley, Jr., with manufacture of methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a). According to the superseding indictment, Rupley, Jr., committed the offense on or about July 30, 1983, when he was 15 years old. The transfer statute in effect on that date permitted transfer only for crimes alleged to have been committed ... after [the juvenile's] sixteenth birthday which if committed by an adult would be a felony that is punishable by a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment or more, life imprisonment, or death. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 5032 (1982) (emphasis added). The statute was amended in 1984 to permit transfer for acts alleged to have been committed ... after [the juvenile's] fifteenth birthday which if committed by an adult would be a felony that is a crime of violence or an offense described in [21 U.S.C. Sec. 841]. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 5032 (1988) (emphasis added); Pub.L. No. 98-473, Sec. 1201(b)(2), 98 Stat. 1837, 2150 (1984). Because under the law existing at the time of the offense Rupley, Jr., could be adjudicated only under the JDA for count 10, he contends that application of the amended statute to that count violated the Ex Post Facto Clause. We review an alleged ex post facto violation de novo. United States v. Kohl, 972 F.2d 294, 297 (9th Cir.1992). Because Rupley, Jr., failed to raise this issue before the district court, however, we will reverse only if the transfer of count 10 constituted plain error. United States v. Calabrese, 825 F.2d 1342, 1346 (9th Cir.1987). 49 The Ex Post Facto Clause prohibits statutes  ' which punish[ ] as a crime an act previously committed, which was innocent when done; which make[ ] more burdensome the punishment for a crime, after its commission, or which deprive[ ] one charged with crime of any defense available according to law at the time when the act was committed.'  Collins v. Youngblood, 497 U.S. 37, 42, 110 S.Ct. 2715, 2719, 111 L.Ed.2d 30 (1990) (quoting Beazell v. Ohio, 269 U.S. 167, 169-70, 46 S.Ct. 68, 69, 70 L.Ed. 216 (1925)). In United States v. Juvenile Male, 819 F.2d 468, 470 (4th Cir.1987), the Fourth Circuit held that the Ex Post Facto Clause prohibited applying the 1984 amendment to Sec. 5032 retroactively because it exposed the juvenile defendant to a much more severe sentence. We find the Fourth Circuit's analysis persuasive and conclude that applying the amended statute to a previously committed offense violated the Ex Post Facto Clause. 50 Moreover, we hold that the transfer of count 10 was plain error under Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b). The error is clear and unquestionably affected Rupley, Jr.'s substantial rights by subjecting him to a much harsher sentence than otherwise would have been authorized. See United States v. Olano, --- U.S. ----, ---- - ----, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1777-78, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993). We therefore reverse Rupley, Jr.'s conviction on count 10.
51 Count 15 also charged Rupley, Jr., with manufacture of methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a). This count, however, alleged violations on or about July 19, 1983 through on or about December 6, 1983. Thus the conduct involved in count 15 occurred both before and after November 10, 1983, Rupley, Jr.'s sixteenth birthday. Although the government took the position at trial that count 15 alleged a single incident of manufacturing, various witnesses testified that the activity in question occurred anywhere between October and early December. 52 Were it indisputable that Rupley, Jr., committed the count 15 offense when he was 15, we would be required to reverse this conviction on ex post facto grounds despite the lack of an objection at trial. There was evidence, however, to support a finding that the crime occurred after Rupley, Jr.'s sixteenth birthday, thus making the 1984 amendment to Sec. 5032 irrelevant. A jury's verdict represents a finding that the crime was committed as alleged in the indictment. Calabrese, 825 F.2d at 1346; Leyvas v. United States, 371 F.2d 714, 717 (9th Cir.1967). In this case, the jury's verdict represents a finding, supported by the evidence, that Rupley, Jr., could have committed the offense after his sixteenth birthday. Although the district court, had Rupley, Jr., raised an ex post facto challenge to the transfer, might have been obligated to resolve the ambiguity in the evidence, any error is not obvious and does not clearly affect substantial rights. See Olano, --- U.S. at ---- - ----, 113 S.Ct. at 1777-78. We therefore hold that the transfer of count 15 did not constitute plain error. See Calabrese, 825 F.2d at 1346.