Opinion ID: 746461
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Davis' Remaining Concerns

Text: 49 Davis moved to Texas in late 1985 or early 1986 and has remained there. He has not repeatedly changed jurisdictions or simply vanished from sight. He therefore contends that the CSRA is unconstitutional as applied to him because he did not move out-of-state with a willful intent to avoid child support payments. However, the CSRA merely requires that a nonpaying parent live in a state different from the state where that parent's child lives and that he or she willfully fail to pay a past due child support obligation. See 18 U.S.C. § 228(a). The CSRA does not mandate that the parent's move out-of-state be motivated by a willful attempt to avoid support; the parent need only willfully fail to pay the support. We therefore cannot agree with Davis' position. 50 Davis also argues that the Government failed to prove his willfulness beyond a reasonable doubt. Specifically, Davis contends that the trial court erred when it admitted his 1992 and 1993 federal tax returns and that these records should be stricken from the record. Davis concludes that striking the returns from evidence would necessarily compel this Court to vacate his conviction because these returns were the Government's only evidence of his willfulness. 51 At trial, Davis objected to the admission of his original 1992 and 1993 returns because they were not his final returns for those years. When the trial court admitted the returns over Davis' objections, Davis moved for a mistrial. At the hearing on Davis' motion for judgment of acquittal or a new trial, Davis introduced his amended 1992 and 1993 tax returns, which were filed in 1996. The district court determined that the introduction of Davis' amended returns would not establish that he had no income in 1992 and 1993. The amended returns only showed that Davis reported the income differently in his amended returns--as borrowed funds rather than as earned income. The trial court determined that Davis' claim in 1996 that the income he reported in 1992 and 1993 was in reality borrowed money is much more damaging than helpful to him. It considered the 1996 returns suspect. The court concluded, Considering all of the surrounding circumstances [in Davis' case], this Court is not persuaded that the amended returns are exculpatory. 52 On appeal, Davis essentially argues that the district court erred in admitting his 1992 and 1993 tax returns and in refusing to admit his amended returns. We review a district court's admission of evidence for abuse of discretion. United States v. Short, 4 F.3d 475, 479 (7th Cir.1993). It makes no difference from what source Davis claims to have received income. What matters is that he still had income, in whatever form he wishes to characterize it. Accordingly, we find no abuse of discretion in the district court's refusal to admit the amended returns. 53 Because it was not error to refuse to admit Davis' amended tax returns, we find that Davis' declaration to the IRS that he had income for 1992 and 1993, together with his nonpayment of child support after October 1992, were clear evidence of his willfulness. Davis is also mistaken that there was no other evidence of his willfulness. The district court considered that at the time of their divorce, Davis told his wife that he was going to move to Texas to avoid paying child support. The court also weighed that what Davis did pay in support was very little in proportion to his obligation. Thus, there was ample evidence to find Davis' nonpayment willful.
54 We review the constitutionality of a federal statute de novo. United States v. Wilson, 73 F.3d 675, 678 (7th Cir.1995). The Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution prohibits the retrospective application of a criminal law which prejudices a defendant. See U.S. C ONST. art. I, § 9, cl. 3. A statute violates the Ex Post Facto Clause when it:(1) criminalizes conduct that was legal when done;(2) imparts greater punishment for an offense than that which existed at the time the offense was committed; and (3) eliminates a defense available under the law that was in effect at the time the offense was committed. Collins v. Youngblood, 497 U.S. 37, 42, 110 S.Ct. 2715, 2719, 111 L.Ed.2d 30 (1990) (citations omitted); see also United States v. Couch, 28 F.3d 711, 713 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 993, 115 S.Ct. 495, 130 L.Ed.2d 405 (1994). 55 Davis argues that his nonpayment was legal when done because when the CSRA was enacted on October 25, 1992, his son James was twenty-two years old, and therefore emancipated. James was also over twenty-one years old when Davis was charged by information on December 22, 1995. Davis also contends that his younger son John was eighteen years old when the Act was passed and could have been adjudged emancipated by an Indiana court at that time. John was also over twenty-one years old when the charges against Davis were brought. Davis offers that in Indiana, a past due child support obligation cannot be enforced with a criminal or contempt action once the youngest child is no longer dependent. As to punishment, Davis argues that the district court initially found that the highest possible amount of restitution would be $21,600, but at sentencing the court imposed restitution totaling $111,800, an amount that traces back to the entry of the Davises' divorce decree. Finally, Davis maintains that before the passage of the CSRA, he could have presented factors in mitigation to a state court tribunal with authority to reduce his child support obligation. However, Davis claims that the district court's ruling at trial and imposition of restitution deprived him of that right. While some of these observations may be true, they in no way render the CSRA, as applied to Davis, an ex post facto law. 56 Clearly, the CSRA, on its face, does not violate the ex post facto clause insofar as it imposes punishment upon a person who, after October 25, 1992, willfully fails to pay a past due child support obligation. United States v. Crawford, 115 F.3d 1397, 1402 (8th Cir.1997). In this case, the information charged, and the district court found beyond a reasonable doubt, that from on or about October 25, 1992, to on or about October 13, 1995, Davis willfully failed to pay a past due child support obligation of roughly $100,000 for two children who live in another state. The time-frame in the information post-dated the effective date of the statute. The CSRA afforded Davis fair warning that his conduct would be considered criminal, but he elected not to pay. Davis' prosecution did not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause because he was punished in accordance with the law as it existed at the time of his offense. Id. at 1402. In short, an arrearage of more than $5,000 accrued before either child's emancipation. Emancipation did not wipe away the arrearage that had already accumulated. Thus, there is no question that Davis owed at least $5,000 in unpaid child support. The CSRA punishes a parent for nonpayment of such a debt. That this debt arose before the passage of the CSRA is irrelevant. What is relevant is that it remained unpaid. 57 As to the second prong of Collins v. Youngblood, as near as we can tell, Davis argues that, in calculating the restitution amount, the district court should not have included obligations that accrued before the effective date of the CSRA. We disagree. Restitution is not punishment within the meaning of the Ex Post Facto Clause. Crawford, 115 F.3d at 1403; United States v. Hampshire, 95 F.3d 999, 1006 (10th Cir.1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 753, 136 L.Ed.2d 690 (1997). In Hampshire, the Tenth Circuit reasoned that a restitution order under the CSRA does not inflict punishment on the parent because it attempts to compensate the child for the parent's failure to pay past due support. 95 F.3d at 1006. 58 Davis misconstrues the district court's findings. The district court found the Ex Post Facto Clause inapplicable because, even if the court were to consider only the amount of Davis' total arrearage that had accrued after the passage of the CSRA, that amount exceeded the CSRA's statutory amount. Specifically, the court stated that Davis had owed $21,600 since the passage of the Act, which remained unpaid for one year and was certainly greater than $5,000. The court was only addressing Davis' argument that he was being held responsible for conduct that was not criminal before the passage of the CSRA. The court did not hold that $21,600 was the highest possible amount of restitution for which Davis could be found liable. Davis apparently takes the court's findings to mean that it agrees with his contention that the court can consider only those obligations that accrued after the effective date of the CSRA. 59 The district court's tracing back to the entry of the Davises' divorce decree in imposing restitution in the amount of $111,800 does not render the CSRA an ex post facto law as applied to Davis. We have already stated that restitution is not punishment, but even if it were, the very terms of the CSRA permit, and in fact, instruct the district court to do exactly what it did in this case. In any event, the CSRA [itself] provides '[u]pon conviction under this section, the court shall order restitution ... in an amount equal to the past due support obligation as it exists at the time of sentencing.'  Crawford, 115 F.3d at 1403 (citing 18 U.S.C. § 228(c)) (emphasis added). 60 In sum, even if restitution is tantamount to punishment within the context of the Ex Post Facto Clause, the district court did not punish Davis for behavior that was innocent at the time it was done, and the punishment here is not greater than that which was authorized at the time the offense occurred. See id.; see also Hampshire, 95 F.3d at 1006. Quite simply, [t]he CSRA gives fair warning that the district court shall order restitution in the full amount due at the time of sentencing. Crawford, 115 F.3d at 1403. 61 Finally, the CSRA does not eliminate defenses available under the law in effect at the time the offense was committed. Before the passage of the CSRA, Davis had the legal ability to present mitigating factors to a state court with the authority to reduce the amount of support he owed. The CSRA did not eliminate this possibility. The district court considered Davis' emancipation argument at least twice. When it found Davis guilty, the district court determined that it was up to Davis to bring his emancipation claim to the state court's attention and found that Davis did not do so. 4 The district court again addressed the issue in its order on Davis' motion for acquittal, or a new trial and found it irrelevant. 5 That the district court disagreed with Davis' emancipation defense does not mean that it failed to consider it, and it certainly does not mean that the CSRA eliminates any mitigation factors available under state law. In sum, Davis has not met any of the factors enumerated in Collins v. Youngblood. Davis has failed to show how the CSRA violates the Ex Post Facto Clause. 62 Finally, Davis alleges that when the district court entered its finding of guilt, it refused to apply or consider factual and legal defenses available under Indiana law, and thereby denied him the right to due process of law. As far as we can tell, the only defense discussed by the district court was emancipation and Davis does not elaborate on exactly what other defenses the district court refused to hear. We have already found this argument unavailing when Davis brought it under the rubric of the Ex Post Facto Clause. Davis' allegation works no better as a due process argument for the district court in fact entertained his emancipation argument. 63 Davis has repeatedly made emancipation an issue, so we feel compelled to echo an earlier, much beleaguered, point: Davis amassed more than $5,000 in past due child support before either of his children was eligible for emancipation, and this amount remained outstanding at the time of the passage of the CSRA and during the time period alleged in the information--period. Emancipation ends a child support obligation, but it does not retroactively whisk away any arrearage that accumulated before emancipation. The district court correctly found that the issue of emancipation is irrelevant in Davis' case.