Opinion ID: 555443
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Double Jeopardy, Dual Criminality, and Due Process

Text: 68 In addition to his specialty contention, Riviere relies on the double jeopardy and dual criminality provisions of the treaty as well as his due process rights as bars to his prosecution on the firearms offenses. Furthermore, he asserts that his extradition for the marijuana offense was a sham. US-UK Treaty, Art. V(1)(a), 28 T.I.A.S. at 230 (App. at 192); id. Art. III(1)(a) at 229. App. at 191. The double jeopardy provision provides that extradition shall not be granted if the person to be extradited, if proceeded against in the territory of the requested party for the offense for which his extradition is requested, would be entitled to be discharged on the grounds of a previous acquittal or conviction in the territory of the requesting or requested Party or of a third State. The dual criminality provision sets forth that extradition shall be granted for an offense punishable under the laws of both parties by imprisonment or other form of detention for more than one year or by the death penalty. 69 In Dominica, Riviere pleaded guilty to (1) possession of narcotics (3 grams of marijuana); (2) possession of ammunition; (3) possession of a firearm; (4) possession of prohibited firearms; (5) failure to declare; and (6) importation of arms and ammunition. App. at 249. We, however, see no need to make an analysis of Dominican law to ascertain whether Riviere, after his guilty plea in Dominica, could have asserted a double jeopardy defense in Dominica if that country sought to prosecute him for the matters involving firearms in Information No. 89-41. 16 We reach this conclusion because there is no reason to limit the waiver by the Dominican Attorney General to the rule of specialty as the waiver was open-ended without an exclusion for the double jeopardy provision of the treaty. Thus, the comity principles we have already discussed are as applicable to the double jeopardy contention as they are to the specialty argument. 70 We note that Riviere does not seem to assert a double jeopardy argument under the Fifth Amendment independently of the treaty. Of course, even if he is asserting such a contention, it would be without merit, for it is well established that separate sovereigns may prosecute for the same act without violating double jeopardy protections. United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 317-18, 98 S.Ct. 1079, 1082, 55 L.Ed.2d 303 (1978) (Indian tribes are sovereigns such that a defendant may be prosecuted by both federal government and Navaho tribe for multiple crimes arising out of one act); Bartkus v. Illinois, 359 U.S. 121, 139, 79 S.Ct. 676, 686, 3 L.Ed.2d 684 (1959) (state's prosecution of a defendant after acquittal on a federal indictment for substantially identical facts does not violate due process clause). 17 See also United States v. Pungitore, 910 F.2d 1084, 1105-07 (3d Cir.1990). 71 Riviere possessed the weapons and ammunition as well as the marijuana in different jurisdictions which each prosecuted him for violations of its own statutes. While the statutes may overlap in content, prosecutions under the laws of separate sovereigns do not, in the language of the Fifth Amendment, 'subject [the defendant] for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy.'  Wheeler, 435 U.S. at 317, 98 S.Ct. at 1083. See also Chua Han Mow v. United States, 730 F.2d 1308, 1313 (9th Cir.1984). 72 We also reject Riviere's dual criminality claim. Initially in this regard we point out that we see no reason why the waiver by the Attorney General does not foreclose this issue, just as it does the specialty and double jeopardy contentions. We can conceive of no good reason why, if an asylum country extradites a requested person for a criminal act in the requesting state and voluntarily waives any limits on his prosecution, he cannot be prosecuted when returned to the requesting state regardless of the law of the asylum country. 73 In any event, even on a substantive basis, there is no merit to the dual criminality claim. The extraditable offenses were departing the United States by aircraft in possession of marijuana, prohibited in this country under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 955, and exportation of marijuana, prohibited in this country under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 953. 18 The rule of double criminality does not require that the elements, purposes, or punishment for foreign offenses be identical to ours. Rather, it requires that the acts charged be proscribed in each nation. Collins v. Loisel, 259 U.S. 309, 312, 42 S.Ct. 469, 470-71, 66 L.Ed. 956 (1922) (not necessary that offense have same name in each country or that scope of liability be coextensive); Wright v. Henkel, 190 U.S. 40, 58, 23 S.Ct. 781, 783, 47 L.Ed. 948 (1903) (absolute identity of crimes not required; sufficient where essential character of conduct is same and criminal in each nation); Brauch v. Raiche, 618 F.2d 843, 851 (1st Cir.1980) (offenses of two countries must be substantially analogous). The crimes enumerated in 21 U.S.C. Secs. 953, 955 are recognized as offenses under Dominican law, which proscribes mere possession of three grams of marijuana. Commonwealth of Dominica Narcotics Control Act of 1969, Act No. 23, Sec. 3 (as amended Apr. 28, 1980). Thus, there was no violation of the dual criminality principle here. 74 We reject Riviere's contention that his prosecution on the firearms offenses violated due process. The 'due process of law' here guaranteed is complied with when the party is regularly indicted by the proper grand jury in the state court, has a trial according to the forms and modes prescribed for such trials, and when, in that trial and proceedings, he is deprived of no rights to which he is lawfully entitled. Ker, 119 U.S. at 440, 7 S.Ct. at 227. Riviere has not contended that his charging upon information or the proceedings in the District Court of the Virgin Islands suffered any defect other than those related to his extradition and we can conceive of none. Furthermore, the US-UK Treaty specifically provides for provisional arrest for up to 45 days on an application properly made through diplomatic channels. US-UK Treaty, Art. VIII. Thus, Riviere's detention until April 10, 1989, was authorized by the treaty, even though the information against him was not filed until that day. 75 Finally, we also reject Riviere's argument that the United States perpetrated a sham on the government of Dominica by seeking his extradition on the marijuana offense as a ruse for prosecuting him for firearms offenses. The marijuana offense was real. In any event, there is no reason in the record to believe that Dominica would have refused his extradition on the firearms offenses. In fact, Domenica waived any treaty limitation on Riviere's prosecution and apparently was perfectly willing to see him depart. 19 76