Opinion ID: 608149
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Collateral Estoppel and the Alford Plea.

Text: 70 The Tax Court held that Blohm was estopped from denying liability for the additional tax for fraud assessed under 26 U.S.C. § 6653(b) because of his Alford plea to tax evasion under 26 U.S.C. § 7201. Blohm claims error based on two grounds. First, he claims that collateral estoppel is inappropriate here because he was denied a fair opportunity to litigate in the district court. Second, he argues that an Alford plea has no collateral estoppel effect. 71 Collateral estoppel bars relitigation of an issue previously decided if the party against whom the prior decision is asserted had a 'full and fair opportunity' to litigate that issue in an earlier case. Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 94-95, 101 S.Ct. 411, 414-15, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980). For collateral estoppel to be invoked 1) the issue must be identical in the pending case to that decided in the prior proceeding; 2) the issue must necessarily have been decided in the prior proceeding; 3) the party to be estopped must have been a party or have been adequately represented by a party in the first proceeding; and 4) the precluded issue must actually have been litigated in the first proceeding. In re Raiford, 695 F.2d 521, 523 (11th Cir.1983). 72 Blohm's argument that he was denied a full and fair opportunity to litigate in the district court is based on his assertion that the criminal indictment against him was fraudulently obtained. He argues that the government knew or should have known that the factual basis of the indictment against him was false. The indictment was based, inter alia, on information provided by Ritchey. Blohm's arguments, contained in his § 2255 petition, were previously dispatched by this court. Blohm v. United States, No. 91-7422 (11th Cir. May 22, 1992). We need not exhume them here. 73 Next, Blohm argues that an Alford plea is analogous to a plea of nolo contendere 11 and thus has no collateral estoppel effect in a subsequent civil proceeding. See Hudson v. United States, 272 U.S. 451, 455, 47 S.Ct. 127, 128, 71 L.Ed. 347 (1926); Raiford, 695 F.2d at 523; Doherty v. American Motors Corp., 728 F.2d 334, 337 (6th Cir.1984). Blohm claims, therefore, that he should be free to relitigate the issue of fraud in his § 6653(b) proceeding. We disagree. 74 A criminal tax fraud conviction under 26 U.S.C. § 7201 estops a taxpayer from denying liability for civil fraud under 26 U.S.C. § 6653(b) for the same year. Klein v. Commissioner, 880 F.2d 260, 262 (10th Cir.1989); Carlson v. Commissioner, 65 T.C.M. 1880, 1883, 1993 WL 27506 (1993). This is because the elements of criminal tax evasion and of civil tax fraud are identical. Gray v. C.I.R., 708 F.2d 243, 246 (6th Cir.1983). The same result attaches if the conviction is based upon a guilty plea. Id. (stating that a guilty plea is as much a conviction as a jury trial); Manzoli v. Commissioner, 904 F.2d 101, 105 (1st Cir.1990). Thus, for purposes of applying the doctrine of collateral estoppel, there is no difference between a judgment of conviction based upon a guilty plea and a judgment rendered after a trial on the merits. See United States v. Killough, 848 F.2d 1523, 1528 (11th Cir.1988); Mazzocchi Bus Co., Inc. v. Commissioner, 65 T.C.M. (CCH) 1858, 1865, 1993 WL 20139 (1993). The conclusive effect is the same. Raiford, 695 F.2d at 523. 75 The collateral consequences of a guilty plea may not be avoided by the simultaneous assertion of innocence. A guilty plea is more than a confession which admits that the accused did various acts. Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 242, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1711, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969). It is an admission that he committed the crime charged against him. Alford, 400 U.S. at 32, 91 S.Ct. at 164; McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 466, 89 S.Ct. 1166, 1170, 22 L.Ed.2d 418 (1969). A guilty plea is distinct from a plea of nolo contendere. A guilty plea is an admission of all the elements of a formal criminal charge. McCarthy, 394 U.S. at 466, 89 S.Ct. at 1170. A nolo contendere plea is instead a consent by the defendant that he may be punished as if he were guilty and a prayer for leniency. Alford, 400 U.S. at 35 n. 8, 91 S.Ct. at 166 n. 8. Guilty pleas must be rooted in fact before they may be accepted. Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(f); Alford, 400 U.S. at 35 n. 8, 91 S.Ct. at 166 n. 8. No similar requirement exists for pleas of nolo contendere. Alford, 400 U.S. at 35 n. 8, 91 S.Ct. at 166 n. 8. Courts may accept them without inquiring into actual guilt. Id. 76 Once accepted by a court, it is the voluntary plea of guilt itself, with its intrinsic admission of each element of the crime, that triggers the collateral consequences attending that plea. Those consequences may not be avoided by an assertion of innocence. As long as the guilty plea represents a voluntary and intelligent choice among alternative courses of action open to the defendant, see Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 242, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1711, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969), and a sufficient factual basis exists to support the plea of guilt, see Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(f), the collateral consequences flowing from an Alford plea are the same as those flowing from an ordinary plea of guilt. Were this not so, defendants pleading guilty would routinely proclaim their innocence to reap two benefits: (1) the avoidance of a trial and a possible reduction in sentence, and (2) the extinguishment of all collateral consequences of their plea. Nothing in Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure or in Alford sanctions this distortion of the pleading process. As we noted in a similar context, 77 A federal criminal defendant wishing to avoid a trial and any collateral effect may ask the court for permission to plead nolo contendere. (Citations omitted.) A defendant who fails to exercise this option cannot argue subsequently that the lack of a contested trial renders the plea ineffective for collateral estoppel purposes. 78 Raiford, 695 F.2d at 523. Assertions of innocence, therefore, do not transform ordinary guilty pleas into pleas of nolo contendere. Each remains distinct, and the collateral effects of a guilty plea are undiminished by a simultaneous protestation of innocence. 79 Blohm cites a case in which the Ohio Court of Appeals determined that a defendant's previous Alford plea to arson was tantamount to a plea of nolo contendere, thus precluding collateral estoppel in a subsequent civil action: 80 Such a plea does not constitute an admission of guilty [sic], but rather that the accused is willing to waive a trial and accept the consequences of the plea. It, however, does not act as an admission of the plea but rather is similar to the nolo contendere plea. 81 Therefore, appellant's guilty plea, by way of a qualified Alford plea, operates in the same fashion as a nolo contendere plea for the purposes in a subsequent civil action. 82 Based upon the foregoing, the plea does not operate ... to foreclose litigation on the issue of whether appellant intentionally set the fire.... 83 Fleck v. State Farm Ins. Co., No. 89-L-14-070, 1990 WL 124648 (Ohio Ct.App. Aug. 24, 1990). 84 We respectfully differ with the Ohio Court of Appeals. A guilty plea, even one accompanied by a claim of innocence, is not a plea of nolo contendere. 12 See Fed.R.Crim.P. 11. A guilty plea's basic chemistry is not transformed by a concurrent claim of innocence. The collateral consequences stemming from a guilty plea remain the same whether or not accompanied by an assertion of innocence. A taxpayer who enters an Alford plea to tax evasion under § 7201 is therefore collaterally estopped from denying fraud in a subsequent civil proceeding with respect to the same year. Lackey v. Commissioner, 35 T.C.M. (CCH) 1330, 1337, 1976 WL 3478 (1976). The Tax Court properly estopped Blohm from denying liability for the additional tax for fraud assessed under § 6653(b). 85 Finally, Blohm argues that the government violated the plea agreement. The agreement states in pertinent part: The United States will recommend to the Court that Nelson M. Blohm receive a protective sentence, a $5,000 fine and that the tax due and owing for 1981 be determined in civil proceedings. Blohm argues that this agreement enshrines a promise that the conviction would not be used against him in civil proceedings. We disagree. The government promised that the tax due and owing for 1981 [will] be determined in civil proceedings. Those proceedings are before us now. The plea agreement did not promise Blohm the chance to relitigate the facts underlying his guilty plea. It promised only that the tax due and owing would be determined in a subsequent civil proceeding. The language of the plea agreement assumes that taxes are due for the tax evasion to which Blohm pled guilty; it simply left for another day the determination of the amount. 86 Blohm further argues that courts should explore the circumstances behind a guilty plea to determine the plea's collateral effect. He claims that he did not understand that his plea might later be used against him in a civil proceeding, and thus this misunderstanding should not be used against him. He cites Plunkett v. Commissioner, 465 F.2d 299, 306 (7th Cir.1972), a case wherein the court estopped a taxpayer from denying civil liability for tax evasion where the taxpayer had previously pled guilty to the charge. Blohm argues that the Plunkett court examined the circumstances behind the plea when it noted that the [p]etitioner did not misunderstand the terms or immediate consequences of the agreement and his plea of guilty. 465 F.2d 299 at 306. We note, however, that the court's remark in Plunkett was made pursuant to its examination of whether the defendant's plea was voluntary, not whether the defendant misperceived the plea's collateral consequences. The district court here examined Blohm thoroughly at his plea hearing and found the plea to be voluntary and made with the understanding of the nature of the charge and the consequences of the plea. Blohm plea colloquy at 20. A close examination of the plea colloquy's transcript reveals no clear error.