Opinion ID: 742598
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Overlapping Convictions for CCE and Conspiracy

Text: 163 Finally, Miller contends that the district court erred in entering a judgment of conviction for conspiracy to distribute narcotics in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, as that conspiracy was a lesser included offense of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848, of which he was also convicted. He contends that convicting him on both counts constitutes multiple punishment for the same offense, which violates the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Given the Supreme Court's recent decision in Rutledge v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 1241, 134 L.Ed.2d 419 (1996), ruling that [a] guilty verdict on a § 848 charge necessarily includes a finding that the defendant also participated in a conspiracy violative of § 846; conspiracy is therefore a lesser included offense of CCE, id. at ----, 116 S.Ct. at 1250, the government concedes, and we agree, that Miller's conviction for narcotics conspiracy should be reversed, and that count of the indictment against him should be dismissed. 164 Although the former practice of this Court, when a defendant had been convicted of both offenses, was to instruct the district courts to combine the conviction[ ] on the lesser offense[ ] ... with the conviction on the greater offense, United States v. Osorio Estrada, 751 F.2d 128, 135 (2d Cir.1984), modified on reh'g on other grounds, 757 F.2d 27 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 830, 106 S.Ct. 97, 88 L.Ed.2d 79 (1985), leaving the defendant convicted of two offenses but punished for only one, the Supreme Court in Rutledge instructed that instead, one of the convictions must be dismissed, see --- U.S. at ---- - ----, 116 S.Ct. at 1250-51 (remanding for dismissal of one of the counts). Accordingly, we remand for the district court to dismiss the narcotics conspiracy count against Miller. 165 Miller also argues that his CCE conviction too must be set aside because the narcotics conspiracy was an impermissible predicate for CCE. We reject that contention. A lesser included § 846 conspiracy may serve as a predicate offense for a § 848 CCE conviction. See United States v. Young, 745 F.2d 733, 748-52 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1084, 105 S.Ct. 1842, 85 L.Ed.2d 142 (1985). The decision in Rutledge did not purport to alter this principle. In Rutledge itself, the § 846 conspiracy was a predicate for the CCE count, see --- U.S. at ---- n. 2, 116 S.Ct. at 1244 n. 2, and that Court remanded for dismissal of only one of the two convictions, id. at ---- - ----, 116 S.Ct. at 1250-51. Accordingly, the CCE conviction is affirmed.