Opinion ID: 467520
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: THE ELEMENTS OF A SECTION 6928(d) OFFENSE

Text: 13 Congress did not provide any guidance, either in the statute or the legislative history, concerning the meaning of knowing in section 6928(d). 4 Indeed, Congress stated that it had not sought to define 'knowing' for offenses under subsection (d); that process has been left to the courts under general principles. S.Rep. No. 172, 96th Cong., 2d Sess. 39 (1980), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1980, pp. 5019, 5038. In discerning the relevant general principles, we turn to a few examples from a long line of Supreme Court cases discussing the necessary elements of regulatory offenses. 14 Whether Knowledge of the Regulations is Required 15 In certain cases, the Court has held that an offense requires no mental element, but simply requisite actions. In United States v. Freed, 401 U.S. 601, 91 S.Ct. 1112, 28 L.Ed.2d 356 (1971), the defendant was charged with violating a statute making it unlawful to receive or possess a firearm which is not registered to him. 401 U.S. at 607. The Court held that no element of scienter was necessary for conviction; a person need not even have known that the grenades were unregistered. The Court reasoned that the statute itself set forth no mental element, and that the statute was 16 a regulatory measure in the interest of the public safety, which may well be premised on the theory that one would hardly be surprised to learn that possession of hand grenades is not an innocent act. 17 401 U.S. at 609, 91 S.Ct. at 1118. See also United States v. Dotterweich, 320 U.S. 277, 64 S.Ct. 134, 88 L.Ed. 48 (1943). 18 The Court has had greater difficulty with statutes in which Congress has created an offense of knowingly violating a regulation. In United States v. International Minerals & Chemical Corp., 402 U.S. 558, 91 S.Ct. 1697, 29 L.Ed.2d 178 (1971), the defendant was charged with knowingly violating an I.C.C. regulation. The regulation prohibited shipping hazardous materials without showing them on the shipping papers. The Court held that knowledge of the regulation was not an element of the offense; the use of knowingly in the statute referred only to the defendant's knowledge that the materials being shipped were dangerous. The Court noted the general maxim that ignorance of the law is no excuse, but also reasoned that where 19 obnoxious waste materials are involved, the probability of regulation is so great that anyone who is aware that he is in possession of them or dealing with them must be presumed to be aware of the regulation. 20 402 U.S. at 565, 91 S.Ct. at 1701. The Court interpreted a similar statute in Boyce Motor Lines v. United States, 342 U.S. 337, 72 S.Ct. 329, 96 L.Ed. 367 (1952): the statute also punished knowing violations of I.C.C. regulations. The regulation at issue required shippers of dangerous materials to select the least crowded route. The Court stated that a conviction would require that the shipper knew of a safer route or willfully neglected to consider a safer route. 342 U.S. at 342, 72 S.Ct. at 331. 21 The Court reached a different result in a recent case involving food stamps, Liparota v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 2084, 85 L.Ed.2d 434 (1985). The statute in Liparota provided punishment for anyone who knowingly uses, transfers, acquires, alters, or possesses coupons or authorization cards in any manner not authorized by [the statute] or the regulations. 105 S.Ct. at 2085. The government argued that knowingly simply referred to knowledge of acquiring or possessing food stamps, and that the defendant need not have known the acquisition was in violation of the regulations. The Court disagreed, holding that knowledge of illegality was necessary. The Court reasoned that to hold otherwise would be to criminalize a broad range of apparently innocent conduct. 105 S.Ct. at 2088. The Court also noted that the statute was distinguishable from those in Freed and International Minerals, because it did not involve a type of conduct that a reasonable person should know is subject to stringent public regulation and may seriously threaten the community's health and safety. 105 S.Ct. at 2092. 22 The appellees contend that our interpretation of section 6928(d)(1) should be controlled by Liparota. They argue that a violation of section 6928(d)(1) therefore requires knowledge of transportation, knowledge that the waste is a waste within the meaning of the statute, knowledge that disposal sites must have a permit, and knowledge that the site in question does not have a permit. In short, they contend that the defendants must have known that their actions violated the statute. The appellees find some support for their position in the recent decision of United States v. Johnson & Towers, 741 F.2d 662 (3d Cir.1984), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 1171, 84 L.Ed.2d 321 (1985). 23 We conclude that Liparota does not control this case. First, section 6928(d)(1) is not drafted in a manner which makes knowledge of illegality an element of the offense. The statute in Liparota, paraphrased, prohibited knowing violation of a regulation, and reading a legal element into the offense therefore made linguistic sense. In addition, section 6928(d)(1) is undeniably a public welfare statute, involving a heavily regulated area with great ramifications for the public health and safety. As the Supreme Court has explained, it is completely fair and reasonable to charge those who choose to operate in such areas with knowledge of the regulatory provisions. Indeed, the reasonableness is borne out in this case, for the evidence at trial belied the appellees' profession of ignorance. Accordingly, in a prosecution under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6928(d)(1) it would be no defense to claim no knowledge that the paint waste was a hazardous waste within the meaning of the regulations; nor would it be a defense to argue ignorance of the permit requirement. 24 Whether Knowledge of the Permit Status is Required 25 The government argues that the statute does not require knowledge of the permit status of the facility to which the wastes are transported. The Supreme Court has noted that statutes similarly drafted in the manner of section 6928(d) are linguistically ambiguous: it is impossible to tell how far down the sentence knowingly travels. Liparota, 105 S.Ct. at 2087-88 & n. 7. 5 In Liparota, as we discussed above, the Court held that knowingly travelled all the way down the sentence. In another recent case, however, the Court held that knowingly did not modify all elements of the crime at issue. United States v. Yermian, 468 U.S. 63, 104 S.Ct. 2936, 82 L.Ed.2d 53 (1984) (statute forbidding knowingly making a false statement within the jurisdiction of a federal agency does not require actual knowledge of federal jurisdiction). 26 In this case, the congressional purpose indicates knowledge of the permit status is required. The precise wrong Congress intended to combat through section 6928(d) was transportation to an unlicensed facility. Removing the knowing requirement from this element would criminalize innocent conduct; for example, if the defendant reasonably believed that the site had a permit, but in fact had been misled by the people at the site. 6 Liparota, 105 S.Ct. at 2088. If Congress intended such a strict statute, it could have dropped the knowingly requirement. See, e.g., United States v. Freed, 401 U.S. 601, 91 S.Ct. 1112, 28 L.Ed.2d 356 (1971). We also note that the statute is different than that in Yermian, where making a false statement would not be an innocent act regardless of whether the declarant knew the statement was to be submitted to a federal agency. 27 The government does not face an unacceptable burden of proof in proving that the defendant acted with knowledge of the permit status. Knowledge does not require certainty; a defendant acts knowingly if he is aware  'that that result is practically certain to follow from his conduct, whatever his desire may be as to that result.'  United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 445, 98 S.Ct. 2864, 2877, 57 L.Ed.2d 854 (1978) (quoting W. LaFave & A. Scott, Criminal Law 196 (1972)); United States v. Bailey, 444 U.S. 394, 404, 100 S.Ct. 624, 631, 62 L.Ed.2d 575 (1980). Moreover, in this regulatory context a defendant acts knowingly if he willfully fails to determine the permit status of the facility. Boyce, 342 U.S. at 337, 72 S.Ct. at 329. 28 Moreover, the government may prove guilty knowledge with circumstantial evidence. See, e.g., United States v. Cruz-Valdez, 773 F.2d 1541 (11th Cir.1985) (en banc) (presence on vessel with large amount of contraband during long voyage allows inference of knowledge); United States v. Burns, 597 F.2d 939, 942-45 (5th Cir.1979) (approving common law inference that a person possessing stolen property knows it is stolen). 7 In the context of the hazardous waste statutes, proving knowledge should not be difficult. The statute at issue here sets forth certain procedures transporters must follow to ensure that wastes are sent only to permit facilities. Transporters of waste presumedly are aware of these procedures, and if a transporter does not follow the procedures, a juror may draw certain inferences. Where there is no evidence that those who took the waste asserted that they were properly licensed, the jurors may draw additional inferences. Jurors may also consider the circumstances and terms of the transaction. It is common knowledge that properly disposing of wastes is an expensive task, and if someone is willing to take away wastes at an unusual price or under unusual circumstances, then a juror can infer that the transporter knows the wastes are not being taken to a permit facility. 8 29 In sum, to convict under section 6928(d)(1), the jurors must find that the defendant knew what the waste was (here, a mixture of paint and solvent), and that the defendant knew the disposal site had no permit. Knowledge does not require certainty, and the jurors may draw inferences from all of the circumstances, including the existence of the regulatory scheme.