Opinion ID: 599337
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of the Evidence on Commerce

Text: 16 The district court instructed the jury that interstate commerce is an element of the offense under 30 U.S.C. § 820(d), which the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. The government does not dispute this instruction. It is the district court's view of the proof required to establish the commerce element that the government challenges in this portion of its appeal. 17 In ruling on defendant's post-trial motion for a judgment of acquittal, the district court held that the government did not show any connection of the mine to interstate commerce, since 18 [t]he only possible connection with interstate commerce that was introduced at trial was that defendant purchased mining supplies from the Carl Morris supplier in Knox County, but there was nothing to show that Carl Morris purchased supplies manufactured outside Kentucky, or sold supplies to purchasers from outside Kentucky. There was also evidence that the defendant had been using electricity from the Cumberland Valley Rural Electric Cooperative, although it was an illegal connection, inasmuch as the Cumberland Valley R.E.C.C. had not given him permission to use it. One would suspect that Cumberland Valley R.E.C.C. is connected with many other utilities in several states and purchases coal from various suppliers, which would have an effect on interstate commerce, but there was no proof at trial on it. 19 The court concluded that it was left with the question of whether as a matter of law the operation of any coal mine would affect commerce without any evidence to support it. The court's review of a number of cases in which mines had at least some connection with commerce of an interstate, as opposed to intrastate, nature led it to conclude that the government failed to produce adequate evidence of the required nexus with interstate commerce. 20 In our opinion, the district court adopted too restrictive a view of the evidence required to establish that defendant operated a coal mine the operations or products of which affect commerce. Because, as we have noted, Congress intended to employ the full reach of its Commerce Clause authority, cases construing that authority are instructive. Although earlier cases suggested that Congress could regulate those intrastate activities which in a substantial way interfere with or obstruct commerce, see United States v. Wrightwood Dairy Co., 315 U.S. 110, 119, 62 S.Ct. 523, 526, 86 L.Ed. 726 (1942) (emphasis added), recent precedents significantly broaden that authority by permitting regulation of small scale intrastate activities, where they might be said to affect interstate commerce when combined with similar small scale activities. That principle was firmly established in Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111, 63 S.Ct. 82, 87 L.Ed. 122 (1942), in which the Supreme Court held that growing wheat solely for consumption on the farm had an impact on interstate commerce. See id. at 128-29, 63 S.Ct. at 90-91. In 1975, moreover, the Court underscored the breadth of the Commerce Clause power: Even activity that is purely intrastate in character may be regulated by Congress, where the activity, combined with like conduct by others similarly situated, affects commerce among the States or with foreign nations. Fry v. United States, 421 U.S. 542, 547, 95 S.Ct. 1792, 1795, 44 L.Ed.2d 363 (1975). 21 This case law leads inexorably to the conclusion that the government did produce sufficient evidence to prove that the operations or products of defendant's coal mine affected interstate commerce. There was uncontroverted evidence that defendant operated a coal mine and that its coal was sold locally. He purchased mining supplies from a local dealer and consumed commercially produced electricity. Even if the coal production at defendant's mine was small and sales of coal were entirely local, under the Supreme Court's holdings in Wickard and Fry, defendant's efforts are deemed to affect interstate commerce, since such small scale efforts, when combined with others, could influence interstate coal pricing and demand. 22 Although Wickard and its progeny define interstate commerce in the civil context, there is no reason to suppose that the same standard does not apply to this criminal prosecution, so long as proof is established beyond a reasonable doubt. See 1 Ronald D. Rotunda & John E. Nowak, Treatise on Constitutional Law, § 4.10(b)-(c) (2d ed. 1992). Indeed, that appears to be the view adopted by the Supreme Court. In Russell v. United States, 471 U.S. 858, 105 S.Ct. 2455, 85 L.Ed.2d 829 (1985), the defendant contended that a federal explosives and arson statute could not, consistent with the Commerce Clause, be applied to his conduct in attempting to burn a two-unit apartment building he owned. The statute prohibited the burning of any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property used in interstate or foreign commerce or in any activity affecting interstate or foreign commerce. 18 U.S.C. § 844(i). The Court concluded that because the building was used for the rental of apartment units, it was used in an activity affecting commerce. 23 The rental of real estate is unquestionably [an activity that affects commerce]. We need not rely on the connection between the market for residential units and 'the interstate movement of people,' to recognize that the local rental of an apartment unit is merely an element of a much broader commercial market in rental properties. The congressional power to regulate the class of activities that constitute the rental market for real estate includes the power to regulate individual activity within that class. 24 471 U.S. at 862, 105 S.Ct. at 2457 (footnotes omitted). 25 The same rationale applies here. Just as evidence of apartment rentals in Russell demonstrated a commerce connection, the government's proof of defendant's production and sale of coal permitted the jury to find that his mine affected the interstate market in coal. Because the government established these facts beyond a reasonable doubt, it met its constitutional burden of proof on the commerce element of the crime. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's judgment of acquittal on the five mining safety offenses.