Opinion ID: 2003427
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Were the CSET's Civil and Criminal Sanctions Multiple Punishments for the Same Offense?

Text: Having concluded the CSET's civil sanction was a jeopardy, we must now determine whether the imposition of the CSET's civil and criminal penalties constituted multiple punishments for the same offense. Because the CSET imposes its civil and criminal penalties in two separate proceedings, we are not required to address the permissibility of multiple punishments imposed in the same proceeding. See, e.g., Kurth Ranch, ___ U.S. at___, n. 21, 114 S.Ct. at 1947, n. 21; cf. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 2076-77, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969). Rather, we must address whether the CSET's criminal and civil punishments violate the double jeopardy prohibition against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction or acquittal because it imposes separate sanctions in successive proceedings. [16] In determining whether the two offenses are the same, we apply the test first announced in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), and recently revived in United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 125 L.Ed.2d 556 (1993). [17] 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 that the other does not. If each statute requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not, the offenses are not the same offense for double jeopardy purposes. Blockburger, 284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. at 182. For example, a state violates double jeopardy protection when it punishes a defendant for a greater offense and a lesser included offense. That is, if the lesser included offense requires no proof beyond that required for the greater offense, the two are the same offense for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause. [18] There are, however, similar offenses which do not violate the same elements test. Crimes which possess overlapping proof are not conclusively double jeopardies. The conduct proved may be  `one and the same'  so long as each offense possesses  `an element not embraced in the other.'  Dixon, 509 U.S. at 704, 113 S.Ct. at 2860 (quoting Gavieres v. United States, 220 U.S. 338, 345, 31 S.Ct. 421, 423, 55 L.Ed. 489 (1911)). Employing the same elements analysis, we find that the CSET's civil and criminal sanctions are punishments for the same offense. Both punishments require that a person deliver, possess or manufacture a controlled substance without having paid the CSET to be subject to prosecution. The only distinction between the punishments is found in the criminal sanction imposed for nonpayment in subsection (b) of § 6-7-3-11. This provision requires a mens rea of knowingly or intentionally for criminal conviction. The CSET's civil sanction requires no mens rea. However, its elements are identical to the criminal sanction's elements in all other respects. Because the civil penalty invoked by subsection (a) of the statute requires no elements other than those included in the criminal penalty found in subsection (b), these subsections are two punishments for the same offense.