Opinion ID: 711122
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Attachment of Jeopardy

Text: 33 The government argues, finally, that even if jeopardy could be said to attach as a result of an administrative forfeiture, the defendant's double jeopardy claim must fail because jeopardy attached in the criminal case before it arguably attached in the forfeiture case. 34 It is well established that jeopardy attaches in a criminal prosecution when the jury is empaneled and sworn. United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U.S. 564, 569, 97 S.Ct. 1349, 1353, 51 L.Ed.2d 642 (1977); United States v. White, 980 F.2d 836, 842 (2d Cir.1992). Accordingly, jeopardy attached in Idowu's criminal case on August 15, 1994. 35 Although we have never had occasion to consider when jeopardy attaches in a civil forfeiture proceeding, several other circuits have addressed the question. The majority of courts have held that jeopardy attaches (1) when the trier of fact begins to hear evidence at a judicial forfeiture proceeding, Baird, 63 F.3d at 1218 (holding that jeopardy does not attach until a defendant is put to trial before a trier of facts); Torres, 28 F.3d 1463, 1465 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 669, 130 L.Ed.2d 603 (1994) (concluding that jeopardy attaches when the case is first presented to the trier of fact), or (2) when there is an order for final administrative action against the defendant's property. See Ursery, 59 F.3d at 572 (Jeopardy attaches in a nontrial forfeiture proceeding when the court ... enters the judgment of forfeiture.); United States v. Park, 947 F.2d 130, 135 (5th Cir.1991) (holding that jeopardy does not attach until there is adjudication or final administrative action), vacated in part on other grounds on rehearing in part, 951 F.2d 634 (5th Cir.1992); Ragin v. United States, 893 F.Supp. 570, 574 (W.D.N.C.1995) ([J]eopardy attaches when the final judgment of forfeiture is entered, and not when the claim or answer is filed or the property is seized.); cf. United States v. Barton, 46 F.3d 51, 52 (9th Cir.1995) (noting that the earliest jeopardy could attach to civil forfeiture proceedings was when the defendant filed his answer to the forfeiture complaint). 36 Since Idowu never filed a claim to the property, the forfeiture was never brought before a trier of fact. The administrative declaration of forfeiture was not issued until September 13, 1994--almost one month after Idowu's trial commenced (August 15, 1994) and after her conviction on criminal charges (August 17, 1994). Accordingly, we find that jeopardy in the forfeiture action, if it attached at all, did not attach until well after jeopardy had attached in Idowu's criminal prosecution. 37 As noted above, the Double Jeopardy Clause protects criminal defendants from both successive prosecutions for the same offense after conviction and successive punishments for the same offense. See Halper, 490 U.S. at 440, 109 S.Ct. at 1897. At oral argument, a question was raised about whether the analysis for determining when jeopardy attaches changes when we focus on the Double Jeopardy Clause's prohibition against successive punishments, rather than its prohibition against successive prosecutions. More specifically, the issue is whether, in successive punishment cases, jeopardy should attach when the criminal trial begins and the defendant is placed at risk of being punished (as it is in successive prosecution cases) or whether it should attach when jeopardy is complete--that is, the date when the punishment is imposed. This question is important here because although Idowu was tried and convicted in August 1994 (a month before jeopardy arguably attached in the forfeiture case), she was not actually sentenced until February 13, 1995 (six months after jeopardy arguably attached in the forfeiture case). In United States v. Pierce, 60 F.3d 886, 889-90 (1st Cir.1995), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Oct. 19, 1995) (No. 95-6474), the First Circuit rejected the identical argument about measuring the attachment of jeopardy from the date that punishment is complete: 38 [This argument implies that] a defendant ought to have the option to endure an unconstitutional second trial in the hope that it will both conclude first and lead to a more lenient punishment than that eventually imposed in the first trial, and then to object to the punishment imposed in the first trial on double jeopardy grounds. We cannot locate any authority to support this proposition, and we reject it out of hand. 39 The Double Jeopardy Clause is a shield against the oppression inherent in a duplicative, punitive proceeding; it is not a tool by which a defendant can avoid the consequences of the proceeding in which jeopardy first attached. 40 Id. at 890. We find this reasoning persuasive, and likewise reject out of hand the theory that jeopardy in the context of successive punishments does not attach until the time of punishment. 41 Because the grounds set forth above are enough to require rejection of Idowu's double jeopardy claim in this appeal, it is not necessary for us to address the other arguments made by the government.