Opinion ID: 1292188
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: A Double Jeopardy Issue

Text: Depending on the circumstances, aggravated sexual contact may be a lesser-included offense of aggravated sexual abuse. See United States v. No Neck, 472 F.3d 1048, 1054 (8th Cir.2007). Bercier argues that his convictions for both offenses violated the Fifth Amendment's Double Jeopardy Clause, invoking the familiar principle that a defendant may not be convicted of both a greater and a lesser included offense. [T]he lesser offense . . . requires no proof beyond that which is required for conviction of the greater. . . . The greater offense is therefore by definition the `same' for purposes of double jeopardy as any lesser offense included in it. Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 168, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977). Bercier did not raise this issue in the district court, so our review is for plain error. United States v. Honarvar, 477 F.3d 999, 1001 (8th Cir.2007). The problem with this contention is that, while abusive sexual contact may be a lesser included offense when a single criminal event is involved, aggravated sexual abuse is a different crime, and each may be violated during a series of distinct criminal acts. Here, Blue's testimony, which we must assume the jury credited for these purposes, established that Bercier engaged in conduct that violated each statute during the alleged assault. Touching and kissing Blue's breast to gratify his sexual desire was sexual contact that constituted abusive sexual contact when done by force or threat. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2244(a)(1), 2246(3). Digital and oral sex were sexual acts that constituted aggravated sexual abuse when done by force or threat. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2241(a)(1), 2246(2)(B) and (C). The real question in these circumstances is one that Bercier does not address  were the two counts multiplicitous. In other words, how many sex crimes does a defendant commit when he inflicts a series of distinct sexual offenses on the victim during a single incident? See generally Gore v. United States, 357 U.S. 386, 78 S.Ct. 1280, 2 L.Ed.2d 1405 (1958). We addressed this question in United States v. Chipps, 410 F.3d 438, 447-49 (8th Cir.2005), which involved the crime of simple assault. The question turned, we explained, on whether Congress intended the facts underlying each count to make up a separate unit of prosecution. Id. at 447. To answer that question, we looked to whether Congress intended to punish assault as a course of conduct, such that the first bit of assaultive conduct . . . is of a piece with the second bit . . . or whether Congress sought to punish separately individual acts within an assaultive episode. Id. at 448. Our decision turned on an analysis of the statutory language, the statutory scheme, and any relevant legislative history. After concluding that simple assault was a course of conduct offense, we then applied the impulse test which treat[s] as one offense all violations that arise from that singleness of thought, purpose or action, which may be deemed a single `impulse.' Id. at 449, quoting United States v. Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp., 344 U.S. 218, 224, 73 S.Ct. 227, 97 L.Ed. 260 (1952). In this case, the district court instructed the jury, without objection, that Bercier was charged with two offenses and that it must separately consider the evidence pertaining to each offense. A number of cases have held that state court convictions for multiple sex offenses did not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause if, under state law, a defendant may receive multiple punishments for numerous sex offenses rapidly committed with the sole aim of sexual gratification. Rhoden v. Rowland, 10 F.3d 1457, 1462 (9th Cir.1993); see Holdren v. Legursky, 16 F.3d 57, 62 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 831, 115 S.Ct. 106, 130 L.Ed.2d 53 (1994); State v. James, 643 S.E.2d 34, 37-38 (N.C.Ct.App.2007); State v. Cleveland, 237 Wis.2d 558, 614 N.W.2d 543, 550-51 (2000). We have not found a case thoroughly addressing this question in the context of the federal sexual assault offenses here at issue. Cf. United States v. Torres, 937 F.2d 1469, 1471, 1475 (9th Cir.1991); Pinson v. Morris, 830 F.2d 896, 897 (8th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 829, 109 S.Ct. 83, 102 L.Ed.2d 59 (1988). As there was sufficient evidence that Bercier committed two distinct sex offenses during the assault, there was no plain error. However, we leave the question open for further development on remand.