Opinion ID: 2713
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Harold von Hofe's Interest in 32 Medley Lane

Text: We agree with the district court that forfeiture of Harold von Hofe's one-half interest in 32 Medley Lane does not violate the Excessive Fines Clause. See 32 Medley Lane, 372 F.Supp.2d at 266. He confessed to growing sixty-five marijuana plants in his basement for about a year, to smoking marijuana since the 1960s, and to sharing marijuana with his son and neighbors. Id. at 260. He also appears to have bartered marijuana for landscaping and roofing services with his neighbors and traded marijuana for ketamine on occasion. Id. Even though Mr. von Hofe's criminal activity involved neither violence nor threats of violence, he manufactured an illicit substance, which he contributed to the local market, thereby perpetuating the product's availability for himself, his neighbors and his son. His actions and their resulting harm, perhaps difficult to quantify in objective terms, undoubtedly frustrate society's desire to stem the use of illicit substances and the market therefor. Although the government concedes Harold von Hofe's sixty-five marijuana plants do not rise to the level of a major marijuana cultivation operation, see 32 Medley Lane, 372 F.Supp.2d at 261 & n. 10, both parties acknowledge the seriousness of manufacturing and distributing a controlled substance. Congress has authorized significant penalties for such conduct; growing between fifty and one hundred marijuana plants carries a statutory maximum of a $1 million fine and twenty years imprisonment. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C). Connecticut law similarly provides significant penalties, up to a $25,000 fine and seven years imprisonment, for the manufacture of a controlled substance. See Conn. Gen.Stat. § 21a-277(b). That the terms of Mr. von Hofe's state conviction did not include a fine was fortunate for him, but does not alter our analysis. The range of possible punishments aid our analysis of the forfeiture's proportionality and the seriousness of the offenses pursued by Mr. von Hofe at 32 Medley Lane. As the district court acknowledged, our inquiry does not begin and end with the maximum penalties authorized by statute, but also includes consideration of the federal Sentencing Guidelines. See 32 Medley Lane, 372 F.Supp.2d at 265. The statutory maximum, designed as an outer limit on the punishment available, does not necessarily reflect an individual offender's culpability or the gravity of the actual offense giving rise to forfeiture. Providing ranges of punishment with greater particularity, the Guidelines allow us to better determine proportionality and to evaluate a claimant's culpability relative to other potential violators of the federal narcotics laws. Acknowledging the relevance of the Guidelines, however, does not mean we will engage in speculation as to the availability of sentencing adjustments and downward departures as if the claimant had been prosecuted and convicted in federal court. Conjecture of this sort would only impede the ultimate goal of determining whether the forfeiture is grossly disproportional to the claimant's offense. See United States v. 38 Whalers Cove Drive, 954 F.2d 29, 39 (2d Cir.1992). The manufacture of sixty-five marijuana plants may result in fifteen to twenty months imprisonment and a fine ranging from $4,000 to $40,000 under the Guidelines. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 5E1.2(c)(3). Because the statutory maximum exceeds $250,000, the Guidelines authorize imposition of a fine up to the statutory maximum, which is $1 million in this case. See id. § 5E1.2(c)(4). The commentary to the Guidelines, which carries controlling weight, Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36, 45, 113 S.Ct. 1913, 123 L.Ed.2d 598 (1993) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted), indicates that the maximum fine  either $40,000 or $1 million  should reflect at least twice the amount of gain or loss resulting from the offense. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 5E1.2, cmt. n. 4. In past forfeiture cases, the government has easily established sufficient proof of profit. See generally Collado, 348 F.3d at 327 (involving over 646 narcotics-related conversations and $20 million worth of narcotics transactions over the span of a year); 38 Whalers Cove, 954 F.2d at 32 (involving two cocaine sales in the amount of $250). But calculating the gain in this case is impossible, for the government chose not to introduce evidence that indicates either the value of the marijuana obtained at 32 Medley Lane or the profit inuring to Mr. von Hofe from his marijuana grow. The government's evidence at trial only established that Mr. von Hofe bartered marijuana for odd jobs around his house, that he sold marijuana on at least two occasions, and that Anthony Honeykutt would usually buy a half an ounce, which is $200, at 32 Medley Lane. And as the district court acknowledged, Mr. von Hofe's economic gains do not appear to have been very substantial. 32 Medley Lane, 372 F.Supp.2d at 261. Were the only argument in favor of forfeiture the maximum available punishments, we might find this lack of evidence troublesome. Despite this evidentiary shortcoming, we can confidently conclude on the record before us that forfeiture of Mr. von Hofe's interest is not an excessive fine. Although forfeiture will extinguish Harold von Hofe's equity in 32 Medley Lane, the temporal and spatial extent of his criminal activity make clear that his own actions eviscerated any sanctity he might claim in his home. He made the conscious and deliberate decision to grow marijuana in his basement for approximately one year, an operation cut short only because the Branford Police and the DEA intervened. This was neither a spur of the moment decision nor a momentary lapse of judgment. Mr. von Hofe instead expended considerable time and resources obtaining the marijuana seeds from Holland, procuring the necessary equipment, and cultivating and cloning marijuana. If two cocaine sales in the amount of $250 warrants forfeiture of one's residence, see 38 Whalers Cove, 954 F.2d at 32, so too must the year-long cultivation of sixty-five marijuana plants in the basement of a home. Mr. von Hofe's lengthy and extensive involvement in the manufacture and distribution of marijuana from his basement, the seriousness of his offenses and their relationship to his other criminal activity, allow us to easily conclude that forfeiture of his one-half interest in 32 Medley Lane is not an excessive fine.