Opinion ID: 666579
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Elements under section 841(a)(1)--cocaine base

Text: 24 Section 841(a)(1) makes it unlawful to knowingly or intentionally manufacture, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, a controlled substance. 20 The term controlled substance is defined in 21 U.S.C. Sec. 802(6) as a drug or other substance, or immediate precursor, included in schedule I, II, III, IV, or V of part B of this subchapter. The referenced schedules are set forth in 21 U.S.C. Sec. 812(c). Provision for amendments to the schedules by the Attorney General is made in 21 U.S.C. Sec. 811. See also section 812(a) & (b). The current schedules are set forth in 21 C.F.R. Secs. 1308.11-1308.15. 25 The schedules list a vast number of controlled substances, among the more commonly known of which are heroin, Lysergic acid diethylamide, marihuana, opium, and several others. 26 Cocaine is, and has been ever since well prior to the offense in question, included in schedule II as set forth in section 812(c) in the following language: 27 Schedule II 28 (a) Unless specifically excepted or unless listed in another schedule, any of the following substances whether produced directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of vegetable origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis: 29 . . . . . 30 (4) Coca leaves except coca leaves and extracts of coca leaves from which cocaine, ecgonine, and derivatives of ecgonine or their salts have been removed; cocaine, its salts, optical and geometric isomers, and salts of isomers, ecgonine, its derivatives, their salts, isomers, and salts of isomers; or any compound, mixture, or preparation which contains any quantity of any of the substances referred to in this paragraph. (Emphasis added). 21 31 Section 841(b) sets out a series of penalties, introduced by the language any person who violates subsection (a) of this section shall be sentenced as follows. Various different penalties are set out in the subsequent paragraphs of section 841(b), generally depending on which particular controlled substance is involved in the offense, the quantity thereof, and whether the defendant committed the offense after a prior drug offense conviction. For any violation of section 841(a) involving cocaine or any other of the controlled substances listed in any of schedules I, II, III or IV, the authorized sentence always includes confinement in excess of one year, and the offense is hence always a felony regardless of the drug quantity or of which particular one of the various controlled substances listed in the schedules is involved (and regardless also of the presence or absence of prior convictions or other factors). 22 More particularly, any violation of section 841(a) where the controlled substance is cocaine is always a felony, regardless of whether or not the cocaine is cocaine base and regardless of the quantity involved or the presence or absence of prior convictions. 32 Neither cocaine base nor crack cocaine nor any equivalent term is mentioned in section 841(a) or in any of the controlled substance schedules; nor is there anything in any of the controlled substance schedules which can be said to describe cocaine base (or crack cocaine) but not cocaine, or to describe cocaine base (or crack cocaine) as a discrete variety or type of cocaine. Until 1986, all this was also true of section 841(b). However, in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, Pub.L. 99-570, October 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3207, Congress amended section 841(b)(1)(A) and (B) so as, inter alia, to insert the special sentencing provisions for cocaine base which now appear at section 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) and (B)(iii). Id. 100 Stat. 3207-2, 3207-3. These amendments in effect provided for the same sentence range for a given amount of cocaine base as for an amount of cocaine 100 times as large. 23 It will be observed that the descriptions of the covered substances given in section 841(b)(1)(A)(ii) and (B)(ii) (see note 23 supra ) are essentially in the very same wording as that used in paragraph (4) of section (a) of schedule II appearing in section 812(c), hereinabove quoted, which schedules cocaine. The inference from this is that cocaine base, as something distinct from cocaine or as some discrete variety or type of cocaine, is not listed or described in the controlled substance schedules. Apart from the noted provisions of section 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) and (B)(iii), neither cocaine base nor crack cocaine is mentioned in section 841(b). Further, when Congress in 1986 added the references to cocaine base by enacting section 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) and (B)(iii) as above described, no change was made in section 841(a)(1) or in the wording by which cocaine was listed in schedule II. 33 There is no statutory definition of cocaine base. While there may be some relatively minor differences in judicial definitions, all concur that cocaine base is a form of cocaine. See United States v. Metcalf, 898 F.2d 43, 46 (5th Cir.1990) ( 'Cocaine base or crack is any form of cocaine with [a] hydroxyl radical' in the chemical compound, (quoting United States v. Buckner, 894 F.2d 975, 976 n. 1 (8th Cir.1990)); United States v. Brown, 859 F.2d 974, 975-6 (D.C.Cir.1988) ( 'Cocaine base' ... is any form of cocaine with the hydroxyl radical; 'cocaine base' excludes, for example, salt forms of cocaine). 24 34 We have generally held that the quantity listings in section 841(b)(1) are merely sentencing factors, not elements of the section 841(a) offense. See United States v. Valencia, 957 F.2d 1189, 1197 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 254, 121 L.Ed.2d 185 (1992) (no need to charge jury on quantity of heroin as [q]uantity is not an element of the crimes proscribed by 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1) ...). Most other circuits are in accord. See United States v. Campuzano, 905 F.2d 677, 678 (2nd Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 947, 111 S.Ct. 363, 112 L.Ed.2d 326 (1990) (cocaine; citing cases). Contra: United States v. Alvarez, 735 F.2d 461, 467-68 (11th Cir.1984). 35 Just as section 841(a)(1) does not speak to quantity, so also it says nothing about the identity of the substance involved other than that it must be a controlled substance. Arguably, therefore, the identity of the particular controlled substance involved is not an element of the section 841(a)(1) offense, the only requirement being that the substance involved is a controlled substance. Cf. United States v. Cartwright, 6 F.3d 294, 303 (5th Cir.1993) (not necessary in section 841(a)(1) prosecution to show that the defendant knew the substance was cocaine, only that the defendant knew that the substance was a controlled substance); United States v. Collado-Gomez, 834 F.2d 280 (2nd Cir.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 969, 108 S.Ct. 1244, 99 L.Ed.2d 442 (1988) (the government does not have to prove that the defendant knew the specific nature and amount of the controlled substance ...). On the other hand, it is also arguable that unless the jury, petit or grand, knows what the controlled substance is it cannot know that it is a controlled substance. No such concern, however, is implicated respecting cocaine base, for all cocaine base is cocaine, the controlled substance schedules do not mention cocaine base or describe some discrete substance which is cocaine base as distinguished and different from cocaine, and cocaine base is a controlled substance only because it is or contains cocaine. This is likewise clear from the fact that cocaine base, as a form of cocaine, was a controlled substance before the term cocaine base was ever introduced into Title 21, from the fact that section 841(b)(1)(A)(ii) and (B)(ii) (see note 23, supra) in substance replicate the listing for cocaine in schedule II, and from the fact that when section 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) and (B)(iii) respecting cocaine base were added in 1986 there was no corresponding change in the schedule II listing embracing cocaine. 36 Accordingly, we conclude that the identity of the involved controlled substance as being cocaine base rather than simply cocaine is not an element of any section 841(a)(1) offense. For a section 841(a)(1) offense involving cocaine base the indictment need only allege, and the jury need only find, that the substance was cocaine, and whether or not it was the cocaine base form of cocaine is purely a sentencing factor. 25 We are aware of no court which has held otherwise, and implicit in numerous decisions is the conclusion that for purposes of section 841(a)(1), whether or not the cocaine involved is cocaine base is merely a sentencing factor. That, of course, is the implicit holding of Michael. 37 In United States v. Barnes, 890 F.2d 545 (1st Cir.1989), in affirming a section 841(a)(1) conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and a sentence therefore under section 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) because the substance was cocaine base, the First Circuit observed: 38 It is important to note that the court, not the jury, determines the quantity and type of controlled substance appropriate under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b).... Section 841(b) describes the penalty provisions for violations of section 841(a), in this case possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. Therefore, as a penalty provision, the district court judge determines the facts at the sentencing.... 39 . . . . . 40 ... questions as to whether the mixture found was cocaine base and its specific weight were factual findings for the judge at sentencing. The jury need only have found that the three chunks seized contained some mixture of cocaine as defined in schedule II. See 21 U.S.C. Sec. 812. Id. at 551 n. 6. 26 41 See also United States v. Easter, 981 F.2d 1549, 1557 (10th Cir.1992) (with respect to cocaine base, [s]ection 841(b)(1) is merely a penalty provision and as such does not change the elements of cocaine trafficking offenses, rather it lengthens the penalties that Congress has already imposed for those offenses); United States v. Lopez-Gil, 965 F.2d 1124 (1st Cir.1992) (conviction following jury trial for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and importation of cocaine affirmed, but sentence remanded to trial court for it to determine whether the cocaine was cocaine base); United States v. Pinto, 905 F.2d 47, 50 (4th Cir.1990) (as to alleged vagueness of cocaine base, section 841(b) is a sentencing provision. As such, the notice required to satisfy due process is less rigorous than that applied to substantive provisions); United States v. Levy, 904 F.2d 1026, 1033, 1034 (6th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1091, 111 S.Ct. 974, 112 L.Ed.2d 1060 (1991); 27 Collado-Gomez (The 1986 amendments [adding Sec. 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) & (B)(iii) concerning cocaine base] did not alter the elements of the substantive offense, which require the government to prove that a defendant knowingly and intentionally possessed a controlled substance). 42