Opinion ID: 340098
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sufficiency of Count One of the Indictment

Text: 13 Appellant Pheaster argues that his conviction under Count One of the indictment must be reversed, because that count fails to state a federal offense and is therefore, incapable of supporting his conviction. Although this argument was not raised on appeal by appellant Inciso, it would, if accepted, apply equally to his conviction under Count One. 14 Count One of the indictment charges that appellants did willfully and knowingly combine, conspire, confederate and agree together, with each other, and with other co-conspirators whose names are unknown to the Grand Jury to unlawfully kidnap and hold for ransom Larry Adell, the said Larry Adell having been willfully transported in interstate and foreign commerce following his kidnapping, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1201. The natural construction of the quoted language urged by Pheaster is a charge that the conspiracy to kidnap (in which appellants were allegedly involved) arose after Larry Adell had been kidnapped and transported in interstate commerce. (Emphasis added.) The advantage to appellants of this construction is that it removes from their alleged involvement in the kidnapping all reference to interstate transportation of the victim, a necessary element of the substantive offense in Section 1201(a) and also of the conspiracy offense in Section 1201(c). 2 Under this interpretation, the grand jury's charge concerning appellants is simply that they conspired to kidnap Larry Adell and to hold him for ransom. Stripped of the allegation concerning interstate transportation, the alleged conspiracy to kidnap Larry from the earlier (hypothetical) kidnappers might constitute a state offense but would lack the requisite jurisdictional element of interstate transportation to convert it into a federal offense. 15 Before considering the merits of Pheaster's argument, it is appropriate that we state the standards that guide our decision. We begin with the requirement or Rule 7 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure that an indictment shall be a plain, concise and definitive written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged. Any evaluation of a challenged indictment must also take into account the more fundamental requirements imposed by the Sixth Amendment. The judicial interpretations of those requirements provide the framework for our analysis here. 16 A challenge to the sufficiency of an indictment is not a game in which the lawyer with the sharpest eye or the cleverest argument can gain reversal for his client.  'Convictions are no longer reversed because of minor and technical deficiencies which did not prejudice the accused.'  Russell v. United States, 369 U.S. 749, 763, 82 S.Ct. 1038, 1046, 8 L.Ed.2d 240 (1962), quoting Smith v. United States, 360 U.S. 1, 9, 79 S.Ct. 991, 3 L.Ed.2d 1041 (1959). A criminal indictment must, however, perform certain essential functions which are of utmost importance to the protection of persons accused of crimes. The Supreme Court has emphasized that the performance of these functions is not to be compromised. Russell, 369 U.S. at 763, 82 S.Ct. 1038. In Russell the Supreme Court drew on its previous decisions in formulating the criteria to be used in evaluating a challenged indictment: 17 These criteria are, first, whether the indictment 'contains the elements of the offense intended to be charged, and sufficiently apprises the defendant of what he must be prepared to meet, ' and, secondly, ' in case any other proceedings are taken against him for a similar offense, whether the record shows with accuracy to what extent he may plead a former acquittal or conviction. (Citations omitted.)'  Id. at 763-764, 82 S.Ct. at 1047. 18 Although essentially the same criteria apply to indictments charging conspiracies, certain differences do flow from the very nature of the crime of conspiracy. Because the conspiracy is the gist of the crime charged in such an indictment, the Supreme Court has held that it is not necessary to allege with technical precision all the elements essential to the commission of the offense which is the object of the conspiracy, or to state such object with the detail which would be required in an indictment for committing the substantive offense. Wong Tai v. United States, 273 U.S. 77, 81, 47 S.Ct. 300, 301, 71 L.Ed. 545 (1927) (citations omitted). Rather, the Court has held that: 19 In charging such a conspiracy 'certainty to a common intent, sufficient to identify the offense which the defendants conspired to commit, is all that is' necessary. Ibid., quoting Goldberg v. United States, 277 F. 211, 213 (8 Cir. 1921). 20 In Wong Tai the alleged defect in the indictment was that it was insufficiently detailed with respect to the times, people, and places involved. In this Circuit and elsewhere, courts have relied upon Wong Tai to sustain indictments in which elements of the object offense have been not merely imprecisely stated but completely omitted. For example in Stein v. United States, 313 F.2d 518 (9 Cir. 1962), this Court considered an appeal from a conviction under 21 U.S.C. § 174 for trafficking in unlawfully imported narcotics. The conspiracy count of the indictment failed to allege that the appellant knew that the heroin had been illegally imported although such knowledge was a necessary element of the substantive offense. Id. at 519. Although we held that the necessary facts could be implied from the indictment, we held alternatively that the omission of such an allegation was not fatal to a charge of conspiracy to commit the substantive offense. Id. at 520-521. See also Brown v. United States, 403 F.2d 489 (5 Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 927, 90 S.Ct. 932, 25 L.Ed.2d 106 (1970) (indictment sufficient despite failure to allege knowledge by defendant that heroin had been imported into the United States contrary to law as required under 21 U.S.C. § 174); Danielson v. United States, 321 F.2d 441 (9 Cir. 1963) (indictment sufficient despite mingling elements of forgery and uttering under 18 U.S.C. § 495). But cf. Nelson v. United States, 406 F.2d 1136 (10 Cir. 1969) (indictment charging conspiracy to transport altered securities in interstate commerce fatally defective because of failure to allege the acts were accompanied with unlawful or fraudulent intent as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2314). 21 Finally, we must note that the asserted inadequacy of Count One was first brought to the attention of the district court only after all the evidence had been received in an extensive jury trial. Failure of an indictment to state an offense is, of course, a fundamental defect which can be raised at any time. See, e. g., United States v. Clark, 412 F.2d 885, 888 (5 Cir. 1969); Chappell v. United States, 270 F.2d 274, 276 (9 Cir. 1959). However, the very limited resources of our judicial system require that such challenges be made at the earliest possible moment in order to avoid needless waste. Consequently, although such defects are never waived, indictments which are tardily challenged are liberally construed in favor of validity. For example, this Court held that when an indictment is not challenged before the verdict, it is to be upheld on appeal if  'the necessary facts appear in any form or by fair construction can be found within the terms of the indictment.'  Kaneshiro v. United States, 445 F.2d 1266, 1269 (9 Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 992, 92 S.Ct. 537, 30 L.Ed.2d 543 (1971), quoting Hagner v. United States, 285 U.S. 427, 433, 52 S.Ct. 417, 76 L.Ed. 861 (1932). See Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure : Criminal § 123, at 225-226. In our view, the same standard should apply here, where the challenge came in a motion for acquittal after all evidence had been received. Such a long delay in raising the issue suggests a purely tactical motivation of incorporating a convenient ground of appeal in the event the jury verdict went against the defendants. Furthermore, the fact of the delay tends to negate the possibility of prejudice in the preparation of the defense. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has applied a stringent standard similar to that stated in Kaneshiro in cases where no pretrial motion attacking the sufficiency of the indictment was made. United States v. Logwood, 360 F.2d 905, 907 (1966). We think that such a standard is appropriate here. 22 Although Count One inexplicably and inexcusably falls far short of a model pleading of a conspiracy offense under Section 1201(c), it is well established that an indictment need not be drafted in the most precise form possible. The issue before us on this appeal is whether, under the standards set out above, Count One is so defective that reversal of the convictions under it must be ordered. Although the question is not a frivolous one, we find that reversal is not mandated. 23 We have no difficulty in rejecting Pheaster's imaginative but rather far-fetched interpretation of Count One. In construing the language of an indictment, courts must be guided by common sense and practicality. United States v. Anderson, 532 F.2d 1218, 1222 (9 Cir. 1976). Pheaster's double kidnapping interpretation of Count One clearly fails that test, especially when the language of the disputed count is read as a whole. Absent an explicit incorporation provision in the charging language, a conspiracy indictment's specification of overt acts cannot be used to supply the allegation of a critical element completely missing from the charging language. United States v. Knox Coal Co., 347 F.2d 33, 38 (3 Cir. 1965), cert. denied, Lippi v. United States, 382 U.S. 904, 86 S.Ct. 239, 15 L.Ed.2d 157 (1965). Nevertheless, reference to the overt acts is appropriate to confirm an otherwise common-sense interpretation of an allegation which is included in the charging language. A reading of the overt act alleged in Count One confirms that the allegation concerning Larry Adell's transportation in interstate commerce is to be attributed to appellants and their unnamed co-conspirators and not to another group of kidnappers whose existence is sought to be inferred from the admittedly poor phrasing of Count One. This interpretation of Count One eliminates the foundation on which Pheaster's argument was built. 24 Although we are convinced that Pheaster's argument concerning Count One is without merit, our consideration of the indictment has brought to light another argument which is related to the one raised by Pheaster and which we mention for the sake of completeness. The careless drafting of Count One makes it possible to argue that the allegation of conspiracy does not embrace the allegation of the interstate transportation of Larry Adell. That is, Count One might be paraphrased to charge that appellants and others conspired to kidnap Larry and conspired to hold him for ransom and, importantly, that he actually was transported in interstate commerce following his kidnapping pursuant to the conspiracy. So construed, Count One might be seen as the conjunction of a part of an adequate conspiracy charge with another part of an adequate substantive offense charge, thus achieving an inadequate hybrid charge of a non-existent federal crime. Although all of the necessary elements could be found in some form, the failure to adhere consistently either to a conspiracy allegation or to a substantive offense allegation could be argued to be a fatal defect, requiring reversal. 25 Having stated the argument, we reject it. When an objection to an indictment is not timely made, the reviewing court has considerable leeway to imply the necessary allegations from the language of the indictment. See, e. g., Kaneshiro v. United States, supra, 445 F.2d at 1268-1269. If the ambiguous language of Count One is read as an allegation that Larry Adell was transported in interstate commerce, the indictment is sufficient because  the allegation of acts which would amount to commission of the substantive offense was merely descriptive of the conspiracy. Reno v. United States,317 F.2d 499, 502 (5 Cir.), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 828, 84 S.Ct. 72, 11 L.Ed.2d 60 (1963). Under the liberal rules of interpretation which are to be applied here, we hold that the necessary elements of a violation of Section 1201(c) can be found in the language of Count One. 3 26 Referring to the functions that indictments must serve in our criminal justice system, we find that Count One, despite its defects, adequately served those functions in this case. Pheaster has not claimed either before the district court or before us that the language of Count One has in any way prejudiced the preparation of his defense. If such a claim had been made, the facts of this case would tend to belie it. Pheaster was represented by unusually competent and experienced counsel; 4 yet, the challenge to the indictment came only at the end of the trial, after all the evidence had been received. Pheaster's co-defendant, Inciso, was also convicted under Count One but has not asserted its inadequacy in his appeal. Pheaster's argument bordered on the formalistic, relying on an extremely strained interpretation of the language of Count One. Finally, although a fatally defective indictment cannot be saved by remedial jury instructions, we note that, if anything, the jury instructions in this case worked to the considerable benefit of appellants. Similarly, no claim has been made to the district court or on appeal that the defective drafting of Count One would in any way impair appellants' ability to plead their conviction in any subsequent prosecution. The language of Count One speaks in terms of conspiracy, and the count itself is captioned by a reference to the conspiracy provision in 18 U.S.C. § 1201(c). Kaneshiro v. United States, supra, 445 F.2d at 1269. 27 Because Count One can be read to include an allegation of a conspiracy to commit all of the elements of the substantive offense specified in § 1201(a), and because there has been no suggestion that the defective drafting caused any confusion as to the charges that had to be met, we find that Count One of the indictment is sufficient to support the convictions in this case.