Opinion ID: 392701
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Double Punishment

Text: 22 Anderson contends that consecutive punishment for counts I and III constitutes double punishment because the sale alleged in count I is necessarily included in the conspiracy alleged in count III. Anderson cites Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81, 75 S.Ct. 620, 99 L.Ed. 905 (1955), for the proposition that, if offenses were committed at the same time and were part of a continuous criminal act and inspired by the same criminal intent, they are susceptible of only one punishment. Bell is, however, inapposite. Bell involved simultaneous transportation of two women in violation of the Mann Act. The Supreme Court held only that, where the penal statute is ambiguous, doubts should be resolved against imposition of a harsher sentence. Id. at 83, 75 S.Ct. at 622. 23 In Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977), which dealt with the crime of stealing an automobile and the lesser included offense of operating the same vehicle without the owner's consent, the Supreme Court stated: 24 The applicable rule is 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.... 25 Id. at 166, 97 S.Ct. at 2225, citing Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). The Supreme Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause forbids cumulative punishment because the latter offense required no proof beyond that required for the former. 26 Count I charged a sale of 1,044 units of LSD on March 8, 1979, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. Count III charged that, from November 1, 1978, through May 31, 1979, the defendants conspired with one another, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, to distribute LSD. The fourteen overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy detailed, not sales of LSD, but transfers of LSD among the coconspirators, which demonstrated their interaction and cooperation. It is clear that each offense required proof of at least one fact which the other did not. See United States v. Taylor, 603 F.2d 732, 734 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 982, 100 S.Ct. 487, 62 L.Ed.2d 487 (1979). Counts I and III charged two separate crimes, and the penalty provisions of each allow separate and distinct sentences.