Opinion ID: 712236
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Forfeiture Proceeding as a Jeopardy for the Same Offense

Text: 93 The government's next contention is that, even if the instant forfeiture is punishment, the civil proceeding that imposed it was not a jeopardy for the same offense. First, the government contends that at least some of the property is forfeitable on the basis of acts for which Mr. May was never tried. Next, the government contends that the elements of civil forfeiture differ from those of the criminal offense and are thus different offenses for double jeopardy purposes. Under Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), recently reaffirmed in United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. at 688, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 125 L.Ed.2d 556 (1993), a court faced with a claim of double jeopardy must ask whether each offense contains an element not contained in the other; if not, they are the 'same offence' and double jeopardy bars additional punishment and successive prosecution. Id. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2856. Finally, the government argues that whatever conclusion is reached under Blockburger, the same conduct may form the basis of two proceedings if Congress so intends.
94 As to the argument from unindicted conduct, it is axiomatic that a party cannot rely on the Double Jeopardy Clause to avoid punishment for conduct for which he was never previously placed in jeopardy. In this case, the court found that one possible basis for forfeiture of the $2,800 was the possibility that it was proceeds from drug sales. The government also made the same argument, with supporting evidence, as to the $13,050, although the court did not explicitly predicate forfeiture thereon. We agree that basing forfeiture on previous conduct for which Mr. May was never indicted cannot constitute double jeopardy. See United States v. One 1978 Piper Cherokee Aircraft, 37 F.3d 489, 495 (9th Cir.1994). 95 In light of our earlier discussion of the ownership of the $2,800, we hold that Mr. May's interest in that sum may be forfeited on remand if he is found to have had any ownership interest therein and if the money is found to be proceeds from previous, unprosecuted sales. As to the $13,050, the record is insufficient to affirm summary judgment for the government on this alternative theory, but we hold that that sum may also be forfeited on remand to the extent that it is found to be proceeds from previous, unprosecuted sales. However, the record is devoid of any indication by the government that either the house or the business property are forfeitable based on unprosecuted conduct. Thus, we must turn to the government's more ambitious contentions.
96 The government next argues that civil forfeiture, even when based on precisely the same conduct previously used to establish criminal charges, cannot violate the Double Jeopardy Clause; either the criminal penalty and the forfeiture are not punishment for the same offense, because under Blockburger the forfeiture offense and the crime each require proof of a fact that the other does not, or they do punish the same offense, but with congressional approval. Neither argument is persuasive. 97
98 We note first that the government's Blockburger argument presupposes that § 881 defines an offense as well as a punishment--presumably, the offense of being the owner of guilty property. This proposition is by no means self-evident; in general, a statute may very well create a punishment without defining a separate offense. In Kurth Ranch, for instance, the Court did not find itself obliged to consider whether Montana's drug tax statute defined a separate offense; it was enough for double jeopardy purposes that the statute imposed a second punishment for offenses defined elsewhere. Similarly, 21 U.S.C. § 853, the criminal forfeiture statute for drug offenses, merely prescribes a punishment, not a separate offense. Libretti v. United States, --- U.S. ----, ----, 116 S.Ct. 356, 364, 133 L.Ed.2d 271 (1995). 99 Moreover, the idea that § 881 itself defines a separate offense is at odds with Austin 's review of that section's legislative history. Although at common law the forfeiture of guilty property was sometimes described as a penalty for carelessness, Austin, 509 U.S. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2806 (quoting Calero-Toledo, 416 U.S. at 683, 94 S.Ct. at 2091), the Court noted in Austin that the innocent owner defense contained in § 881 revealed a congressional intent to punish only those involved in drug trafficking, id. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2811. The section's legislative history also reveals an intent to punish, not negligent ownership, but  'the enormously profitable trade in dangerous drugs.'  Id. (quoting S.Rep. No. 225, 98th Cong., 1st Sess. at 191 (1983)). Finally, none of the opinions in Austin analyzes the excessive fines issue in that case in terms of a second offense. See id. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2815 (Scalia, J., concurring) (suggesting that proportionality of the forfeiture be measured in terms of the property's relationship to the crime previously committed); id. at ---- n. 15, 113 S.Ct. at 2812 n. 15 (noting Justice Scalia's suggestion that the sole measure of an in rem forfeiture's excessiveness is the relationship between the forfeited property and the offense, and declining to rule out the possibility that the connection between the property and the offense may be relevant) (emphasis added). 100 The foregoing considerations indicate that, with respect to claimants previously prosecuted for the illegal activity occasioning the forfeiture, § 881 defines a punishment, but not a separate offense. However, even if a second offense had been created, we conclude below that prosecution therefor in a second, postconviction proceeding is barred under Blockburger. 101
102 Under Blockburger, two offenses are different only if each contains an element not present in the other. Dixon, 509 U.S. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2856. When only one offense contains an extra element not found in the other, the latter is a lesser included offense of the former, and a defendant may not be charged with both in separate proceedings. See Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. 410, 421, 100 S.Ct. 2260, 2267, 65 L.Ed.2d 228 (1980) (holding that, where a defendant convicted of failing to reduce speed was subsequently tried for involuntary manslaughter, remand would be necessary to determine whether under state law the former was an element of the latter); Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 168-69, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 2227, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977) (holding that a defendant could not be tried for auto theft once convicted of the lesser included offense of joyriding); Harris v. Oklahoma, 433 U.S. 682, 682, 97 S.Ct. 2912, 2912, 53 L.Ed.2d 1054 (1977) (per curiam) (holding that a defendant could not be tried for felony murder once convicted of the lesser included offense of robbery). 103 The situation appears to be similar here. Property is forfeit under § 881(a) whenever it has the requisite relationship to a violation of title 21, chapter 13, subchapter I. Thus, if any provision of § 881(a) defines an offense, it is one with two elements: the underlying drug violation and the use of property in connection therewith. All drug violations in subchapter I, and a fortiori their underlying elements, would therefore be contained within § 881(a) as lesser included offenses of the forfeiture offense. Under Harris and its progeny such an offense may not be prosecuted once a jeopardy for the lesser included offense has occurred. 104 Against this reading of § 881(a), the government argues that the forfeiture provision passes the Blockburger test because, unlike the drug crime, it has no mens rea element, does not require proof of an individual claimant's unlawful conduct, and may give rise to a forfeiture when there are no claimants at all. Of course, these arguments tend to undermine the government's basic position by suggesting that § 881 does not define an offense at all. In addition, they overlook the fact that the government must show mens rea and unlawful conduct on someone's part, or the forfeiture will fail for lack of an underlying drug crime. But more fundamentally, these arguments apply Blockburger at too abstract a level. The government's argument is that forfeiture in general need not be based on any particular past offense by a particular claimant, so forfeiture does not punish the same offense when in a particular case it is based squarely on such a past offense. However, in applying Blockburger, courts are not so free to ignore the facts on which prosecutions are based. For example, felony murder need not be based on any particular felony, yet in Harris the Court considered a felony murder conviction to bar prosecution for the underlying felony of robbery. 433 U.S. at 682, 97 S.Ct. at 2912. Similarly, in Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 100 S.Ct. 1432, 63 L.Ed.2d 715 (1980), the Court held that a District of Columbia statute codifying Blockburger made rape a lesser offense included within the offense of felony murder. Id. at 694 n. 8, 100 S.Ct. at 1439 n. 8. Thus, where commission of one of a certain class of offenses is a necessary element of another offense, and where the identical conduct or unit of prosecution is the factual basis of both, each offense within the class is a species of lesser-included offense in relation to the greater offense. Vitale, 447 U.S. at 420, 100 S.Ct. at 2267. For purposes of the government's Blockburger argument, we conclude that the crimes for which Mr. May was previously convicted constitute a species of lesser-included offense in relation to the civil forfeiture, which is therefore barred under the cases discussed above. 105
106 Finally, the government contends, apparently in the alternative, that legislative intent, not Blockburger, is what controls the government's ability to impose multiple punishments in successive proceedings. Blockburger has been held to be a mere rule of statutory construction, to be utilized only when the will of Congress is not clear. Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U.S. 359, 368, 103 S.Ct. 673, 679, 74 L.Ed.2d 535 (1983). Relying on such language, the government appears to argue that two offenses that are the same offense under Blockburger can still be separately tried and punished if Congress so chooses. 107 However, we must conclude that congressional intent, no matter how clear, cannot bestow constitutional legitimacy upon multiple punishments for the same offense when they are imposed in multiple proceedings. The government's position is correct with respect to multiple punishments in the same proceeding. See Hunter, 459 U.S. at 366, 103 S.Ct. at 678; Whalen, 445 U.S. at 689, 100 S.Ct. at 1436; Yparrea v. Dorsey, 64 F.3d 577, 579 (10th Cir.1995). But neither Hunter nor Whalen was decided in the context of multiple proceedings. On the other hand, cases that do involve multiple proceedings have applied Blockburger or an analogous elements test and have almost uniformly failed to consider legislative intent. See Dixon, 509 U.S. at ---- - ----, 113 S.Ct. at 2860-63 (reviewing cases and concluding that the elements test is the sole test for double jeopardy in the multiple proceeding context); Vitale, 447 U.S. at 419-20, 100 S.Ct. at 2266-67 (holding that double jeopardy would bar prosecution for manslaughter after conviction for failure to reduce speed if, as a matter of state law, the latter is a necessary element of the former); Harris, 433 U.S. at 682, 97 S.Ct. at 2912 (holding that a defendant previously convicted of felony murder during a robbery could not then be tried for the robbery); Brown, 432 U.S. at 168-69, 97 S.Ct. at 2226-27 (holding that Blockburger prevents prosecution for auto theft after conviction for the lesser included offense of joyriding); Gavieres v. United States, 220 U.S. 338, 344, 31 S.Ct. 421, 423, 55 L.Ed. 489 (1911) (upholding successive criminal prosecutions because [e]ach offense required proof of a fact, which the other did not); Ex parte Nielsen, 131 U.S. 176, 188, 9 S.Ct. 672, 676, 33 L.Ed. 118 (1889) (holding that a defendant convicted of one offense may not then be prosecuted for a lesser included offense). In Garrett v. United States, 471 U.S. 773, 105 S.Ct. 2407, 85 L.Ed.2d 764 (1985), where the Court did consult legislative history in a multiple prosecution setting, id. at 782-85, 105 S.Ct. at 2413-15, the Court then proceeded to perform an independent double jeopardy analysis based on identity of conduct, id. at 786, 105 S.Ct. at 2415, before reaching its conclusion that double jeopardy was not violated by the use of a prior drug conviction as a predicate offense of the crime of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise. Thus, we do not read Garrett as an exception to the approach set forth in Nielsen, Gavieres, Brown, Harris, and Vitale. 108 These cases culminate in Halper and Kurth Ranch, where the Court limited the effect of federal and state statutes by barring the imposition of civil penalties for an offense previously prosecuted. The point is especially clear in Kurth Ranch, where the Montana legislature chose to impose a civil penalty only on those potentially subject to a first prosecution. --- U.S. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1947. Once the Court determined that the tax was a punishment, it inquired no further into the intent of the legislature, but held that the tax must be imposed during the first prosecution or not at all. Id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1948. 109 With respect to nonremedial civil penalties, we take Halper and Kurth Ranch to be dispositive. Although Congress may allow multiple punishments for the same offense in the same proceeding, it cannot legitimize multiple punishments for the identical offense in different proceedings.