Opinion ID: 2575468
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Issue 5: Were Pham's convictions of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary multiplicitous?

Text: Pham argues that his convictions for conspiracy to commit kidnapping and conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary are multiplicitous because there was just one conspiracy containing various subplots, citing State v. Mincey, 265 Kan. 257, 963 P.2d 403 (1998), and State v. Wilkins, 267 Kan. 355, 985 P.2d 690 (1999). The State responds that there were two separate agreements to perform two different substantive offenses. The first agreement, to steal money in the Nguyen family home, was made at the pool hall in Liberal on November 11 and partially acted upon via the drive to Garden City. The second agreement, to kidnap the Nguyens, was made in the car outside their home and partially acted upon in cutting the white T-shirt to bind the Nguyen family members. As previously noted, whether convictions are multiplicitous is a question of law subject to unlimited review. State v. Stevens, 278 Kan. 441, Syl. ¶ 1, 101 P.3d 1190 (2004). See State v. Mincey, 265 Kan. at 266 (whether a defendant can be convicted of two conspiracies based upon a single agreement to commit two distinct crimes is a question of law over which this court has unlimited review). As mentioned, in State v. Schoonover, 281 Kan. 453, we established a stair-step analysis to determine whether multiplicity exists. First, we determine whether the charges arise from the same conduct. If not, there is no double jeopardy violation. If yes, a second component must be analyzed to see if the convictions arise from the same offense. If the double jeopardy issue arises from convictions for multiple violations of a single statute, the unit of prosecution test is applied. The law of conspiracy does not easily lend itself to this particular analysis, however, especially using arising from the same conduct as the threshold question. A single conspiracy can last for years, with many of its substantive offenses being completed during that time, i.e., necessarily involving different conduct for each substantive offense. See, e.g., United States v. DiPasquale, 561 F. Supp. 1338 (E.D.Pa. 1983) (conspiracy to collect claimed debts by extortionate means lasted approximately 2 years; defendants also convicted of multiple counts of substantive offenses committed on different dates during that span). Conspiracy is an offense which continues up to the point of abandonment or success. 2 LaFave, Substantive Criminal Law, § 12.3, p. 286 (2d ed. 2003). As discussed later in this opinion, we begin with a determination of the applicable unit of prosecution, and then proceed to a factual analysis. But first, some background is required. The seminal case for our approach to the instant case is Braverman v. United States, 317 U.S. 49, 87 L. Ed. 23, 63 S. Ct. 99 (1942). There, the defendants were engaged in the illegal manufacture, transportation, and distribution of liquor in violation of a number of internal revenue laws, for which they were charged and convicted on seven counts. Similar to the instant case, each count charged a conspiracy to violate a different internal revenue law, but pursuant to a single conspiracy statute, § 37 of the Criminal Code. The government conceded that only a single agreement had been proved, and the Court reversed for this reason: [T]he precise nature and extent of the conspiracy must be determined by reference to the agreement which embraces and defines its objects. Whether the object of a single agreement is to commit one or many crimes, it is in either case that agreement which constitutes the conspiracy which the statute punishes. The one agreement cannot be taken to be several agreements and hence several conspiracies because it envisages the violation of several statutes rather than one. 317 U.S. at 53. The Court continued: The single agreement is the prohibited conspiracy, and however diverse its objects it violates but a single statute, § 37 of the Criminal Code. For such a violation, only the single penalty prescribed by the statute can be imposed. 317 U.S. at 54. The Court reiterated its Braverman holding in United States v. Broce, 488 U.S. 563, 102 L. Ed. 2d 927, 109 S. Ct. 757 (1989). After quoting Braverman, it stated: A single agreement to commit several crimes constitutes one conspiracy. By the same reasoning, multiple agreements to commit separate crimes constitute multiple conspiracies. 488 U.S. at 570-71. State v. Mincey, 265 Kan. 257, was the first time that this court addressed the issue of multiplicity in conspiracies. Mincey was convicted by a jury of, among other things, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. Although the issue had not been raised at the trial court, because Mincey's claim involved only a point of law and was determinative of some issues, this court nevertheless reviewed her argument that she could not be convicted of two separate conspiracies arising out of one agreement to commit two offenses. 265 Kan. at 259, 266. We held that whether a defendant can be convicted of two conspiracies based upon a single agreement to commit two distinct crimes is a question of law over which we had unlimited review. 265 Kan. at 266. The Mincey court did not recite Kansas' general conspiracy statute, K.S.A. 21-3302, which states at subsection (a): A conspiracy is an agreement with another person to commit a crime or to assist in committing a crime. No person may be convicted of a conspiracy unless an overt act in furtherance of such conspiracy is alleged and proved to have been committed by such person or by a co-conspirator. Nevertheless, this court implicitly interpreted the statute's operative language, an agreement . . . to commit a crime or to assist in committing a crime, to also mean an agreement to commit several crimes. It impliedly did so when it relied upon Braverman v. United States , which dealt with a similar statute. See Wong Tai v. United States, 273 U.S. 77, 78 n.1, 71 L. Ed. 545, 47 S. Ct. 300 (1927) (Section 37 of the Criminal Code provides: `If two or more persons conspire . . . to commit any offense against the United States, . . . and one or more of such parties do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy each of the parties to such conspiracy' shall be fined, imprisoned, or both.). After discussing Braverman, the Mincey court concluded: A single continuing conspiracy, however diverse its objects, cannot be broken down into component sub-agreements for the purpose of multiple punishments or multiple prosecutions. When separate conspiracies are alleged and both are founded on a general conspiracy statute, the relevant inquiry is whether there existed more than one agreement to perform an illegal act or acts. 265 Kan. at 268. The Mincey court held that the convictions of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery were multiplicitous because the defendant had known substantially in advance of the crimes that her son and friend were going to rob someone, and she counseled and advised them to kill the victim if they thought they might be identified and arrested. We therefore affirmed the conviction of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and reversed the conviction of the less serious offense of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. It is not entirely clear from the opinion whether the State only argued one conspiracy to commit several crimes, in which case Braverman controlled the result, or whether this court determined that the facts warranted a conclusion of only one conspiracy. We stated:  Braverman, like the conspiracy alleged against Mincey, has a single agreement to commit several crimes. Here, Mincey conspired to commit aggravated robbery and, if necessary, premeditated murder. Even though there was the possibility of two crimes occurring, there was only one criminal agreement entered into by the defendants. 265 Kan. at 268. If the Mincey court determined that the facts warranted a conclusion of only one conspiracy, it did not specify what factors, if any, it considered in reaching its conclusion. It is also unclear whether the two substantive offenses were discussed in the same general conversation or in different conversations at different times as in the instant case. Similarly, in State v. Wilkins, 267 Kan. 355, the defendant was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. Because the issue of multiplicity of the conspiracy charges had not been raised by either of the parties, the court addressed it sua sponte to serve the ends of justice and to prevent a denial of Wilkins' fundamental rights. 267 Kan. at 367. After quoting the Mincey language set forth earlier in this opinion, this court held that there was only one agreement between Wilkins and Bittle to kill the victim and for Wilkins to take the victim's necklace to Bittle as proof of the killing: The single continuing conspiracy in this case cannot be broken down into component sub-agreements for the purpose of multiple prosecutions or punishments. 267 Kan. at 367. Accordingly, Wilkins reinforced Mincey's reliance upon Braverman and Mincey's lack of reference to the language of the general conspiracy statute, K.S.A. 21-3302. The Wilkins court reversed the jury's conviction of the less serious offense of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. As with Mincey, the Wilkins opinion is not entirely clear on whether the State only argued one conspiracy to commit several crimes, in which case Braverman controlled the result, or whether this court determined that the facts warranted a conclusion of only one conspiracy. If the latter, the court did not specify what factors, if any, it considered in reaching its conclusion. It does appear that the two substantive offenses were discussed in the same general conversation, see 267 Kan. at 358, unlike the facts of the instant case. We believe that State v. Bobic, 140 Wash. 2d 250, 996 P.2d 610 (2000), provides assistance in resolving the conspiracy multiplicity issue because it generally follows Kansas' analytical approach. There, the two defendants and their associates stole vehicles, stripped them of contents and key parts, and stored the stolen items in various facilities. When insurance carriers sold the stripped-out cars at auction, defendants bought the cars to obtain clear title. They then reassembled the vehicles with the stolen parts and sold them. The defendants were charged with theft, possession of stolen property, and trafficking in stolen property, with one count of conspiracy for each of the three substantive offenses. Both were convicted of multiple counts of possession of stolen property and of each of the three conspiracy counts. They appealed the conspiracy convictions on the grounds of double jeopardy, i.e., multiplicity. The Bobic court acknowledged that the same elements test adopted in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 76 L. Ed. 306, 52 S. Ct. 180 (1932), for determining whether a defendant was punished multiple times for the same offense would only apply where the defendant has multiple convictions for violating several statutory provisions. Because the defendants were charged with three counts of conspiracy, each under the same conspiracy statute, for acts arising from a single, ongoing, multiobjective agreement, the court decided not to apply the Blockburger analysis. Instead, the proper inquiry is `what unit of prosecution has the Legislature intended as the punishable act under the specific criminal statute.' 140 Wash. 2d at 261 (citing, inter alia, Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81, 99 L. Ed. 905, 75 S. Ct. 620 [1955]). The court then examined the Washington statute, Wash. Rev. Code § 9A.28.040(1) which, like the statute in Braverman and like K.S.A. 21-3302, provided for a crime, an agreement, and a step/overt act in pursuing the agreement: `A person is guilty of criminal conspiracy when, with intent that conduct constituting a crime be performed, he or she agrees with one or more persons to engage in or cause the performance of such conduct, and any one of them takes a substantial step in pursuance of such agreement.' 140 Wash. 2d at 262. Defendants argued under Braverman that their single agreement  to steal, strip, repurchase, and resell the vehicles for profit  constituted a single violation of the state conspiracy statute, regardless of the number of criminal objects of their agreement. The State responded that the conspiracy statute required it to prove a single specific underlying crime; consequently, the legislature intended to punish separately each individual criminal object of the agreement. The Bobic court held that the first step in a unit of prosecution case is to analyze the statute in question. It held that its state statute was remarkably similar to the federal statute construed in Braverman. It concluded that as in Braverman, the appropriate focus in Washington is on the conspiratorial agreement, not the specific criminal object or objects. 140 Wash. 2d at 265. The court held that its legislature intended that the unit of prosecution for conspiracy, within the meaning of double jeopardy, to be an agreement and an overt act rather than the specific criminal objects of the conspiracy. The court next observed that its analysis of legislative intent did not end its unit of prosecution analysis, however: Of necessity, a factual analysis as to the unit of prosecution is necessary because even where the Legislature has expressed its view on the unit of prosecution, the facts in a particular case may reveal more than one `unit of prosecution' is present. [Citation omitted.] Multiple conspiracies may be charged where the facts of the case support multiple criminal agreements. [Citation omitted.] 140 Wash. 2d at 266. The Bobic court noted that 21 years earlier the Washington Court of Appeals had looked to whether the time, persons, places, offenses, and overt acts were distinct in deciding if multiple conspiracies were present. Similarly the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit looks to see if the following factors overlap in determining whether multiple conspiracies are only a single conspiracy for double jeopardy purposes; the offenses charged; overlap of participants, overlap of time; similarity of operation; existence of common overt acts; the geographic scope of the actions or location of the overt acts; common objectives; degree of the interdependence between the actions. United States v. Macchia, 35 F.3d 662, 667 (2d Cir. 1994); United States v. Korfant, 771 F.2d 660, 662 (2d Cir. 1985). 140 Wash. 2d at 266. After this recitation of factors, the Bobic court concluded that Bobic and codefendant Stepchuk participated in a criminal enterprise, which included stealing, stripping, repurchasing, and reselling stolen vehicles with an obvious intent to further the goals of their criminal conspiracy. A single agreement to commit a series of crimes by the same conspirators was present here as each crime was only one step in the advancement of the scheme as a whole. [Citation omitted.] Thus in light of the statutory direction and the facts of this case, we hold Bobic and Stepchuk committed only one violation of the conspiracy statute. (Emphasis added.) 140 Wash. 2d at 266-67. The court vacated two of the three conspiracy convictions and remanded, presumably for resentencing. As mentioned, Bobic follows the same analytical path as established by this court in Schoonover, as modified because of the United States Supreme Court's earlier conspiracy decision in Braverman, and as impliedly followed in Mincey and Wilkins. Bobic does not indicate whether the car theft conspiracy arose out of one single conversation, or as a result of a later conversation (or conversations) as in the instant case. We consider this but one factor, however, in the calculus. Indeed, the 8th Circuit looks at the totality of the circumstances to determine whether a single conspiracy or multiple conspiracies exist. United States v. Rounsvall, 115 F.3d 561, 564 (8th Cir. 1997). This includes the nature of the activities involved, the location where the alleged events of the conspiracy took place, the identity of the conspirators involved, and the time frame in which the acts occurred. United States v. Bascope-Zurita, 68 F.3d 1057, 1061 (8th Cir. 1995). Most of the other circuits have also adopted a multi-factor analysis, employing many identical or similar factors. See Theis, The Double Jeopardy Defense and Multiple Prosecutions for Conspiracy, 49 SMU L. Rev. 269, 299 n.159 (1996) (listing examples). Here, the jury found Pham guilty of both conspiracies: to commit aggravated burglary and kidnapping. Based upon Pham's statement to Falletti, the cutting up the T-shirt to use for tying up the family was Pham's idea; it apparently did not occur to him until the perpetrators  Pham and the Nguyen brothers  were sitting outside of the victims' Garden City home shortly before they entered to commit their planned aggravated burglary. Pham's statement to Falletti also established that Nam then performed the cutting in the car shortly before they entered the home. In applying the Korfant factors identified in Bobic to the instant case, we observe Pham's statement establishes that in both alleged conspiracies the participants were identical and that the times and locations substantially overlapped. See United State v. Korfant, 771 F.2d 660, 662 (2d Cir. 1985). The curbside idea and shirt-cutting, as well as entry into the home and the binding of family members, additionally establish that in both purported conspiracies the operations were the same and they shared some of the overt acts, i.e., acts which eventually helped accomplish both the aggravated burglary and the kidnapping. We also observe that the general objectives of both alleged conspiracies were the same, i.e., to steal money. Indeed, Pham repeatedly told Falletti that their only purpose was to steal money. Finally, we also note the strong presence of an additional Korfant factor: the high degree of the interdependence between the actions. 771 F.2d at 662. Or, as determined by the Bobic court, [a] single agreement to commit a series of crimes by the same conspirators was present here as each crime was only one step in the advancement of the scheme as a whole.  (Emphasis added.) 140 Wash. 2d at 266. In short, the idea to bind the victims and the actual cutting of the shirt into strips were merely to effectuate the object of the conspiracy, i.e., to facilitate the intruders in their planned burglary of a home early in the morning of a workday when the family  personally known to Nam Nguyen  would assuredly be present. We therefore conclude that the two conspiracy convictions are multiplicitous because there was only a single continuing conspiracy, i.e., whose object was to rob the Nguyen family in their home. We reverse the conviction of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and vacate its sentence. We remand for resentencing on the conviction of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary.