Opinion ID: 572467
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Flynn and Marcum Sentences and the Ex Post Facto Clause9

Text: 120 Flynn and Marcum claim that the ex post facto clause requires proof that the defendant personally committed conspiratorial acts after the effective date of an amendment increasing the minimum sentence for violations of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846. 10 121 On October 27, 1986, penalty enhancement provisions for 21 U.S.C. §§ 841, 846, and 848 violations went into effect. Flynn and Marcum claim that they should not be sentenced at the enhanced levels because their personal involvement in the conspiracy stopped before the penalty enhancement became effective, even though the conspiracy continued beyond that date. 122 In United States v. Pace, 898 F.2d 1218 (7th Cir.1990), this court did not condition the application of enhancement penalty provisions to a particular conspirator upon evidence of personal involvement of the particular conspirator--but instead conditioned the application of such a penalty upon a showing that the conspiracy endured beyond the effective date of the new penalty. Citing United States v. Todd, 735 F.2d 146, 150-51 (5th Cir.1984), we said in Pace, a statute increasing the penalty for conspiracy does not violate the ex post facto clause [of the Constitution] when applied to a conspiracy begun before the increase that continued on after the increase. Pace, 898 F.2d at 1238. The government need not prove the defendant's involvement after the effective date of the enhanced penalty provision. The government must only prove that the defendant was involved in the conspiracy and that the conspiracy continued past that date. The burden of proving withdrawal is on the defendant. United States v. Patel, 879 F.2d 292, 294 (7th Cir.1989). For withdrawal to limit a conspirator's liability, 123 mere cessation of activity is not enough ...; there must also be affirmative action, either the making of a clean breast to the authorities, or communication of the abandonment in a manner calculated to reach co-conspirators. And the burden of withdrawal lies on the defendant. United States v. Borelli, 336 F.2d 376, 388 (2d Cir.1964) (Friendly, J.) (citation omitted). 124 Patel, 879 F.2d at 294. 125 Flynn and Marcum did not try to overcome either of these conditions. The government proved the existence of the conspiracy beyond 1986 and the defendants did not prove that they made themselves completely unavailable for the conspiracy's purposes during that time.