Opinion ID: 440538
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Bascaro

Text: 175 The only issue raised by Bascaro that merits discussion and that was not considered previously as a common issue, is his double jeopardy claim. 16 The government appears to acknowledge that Bascaro was previously tried and convicted of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute in connection with a smuggling venture undertaken by the enterprise/conspiracy being prosecuted in the instant case. If true, this state of affairs would raise a question as to the validity of Bascaro's subsequent continuing criminal enterprise conviction and possibly his RICO conspiracy conviction in this case. See United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971, 1015 n. 64 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981); see generally id. at 1004-1015. We do not, however, reach the merits of Bascaro's double jeopardy claim. The issue is raised for the first time on appeal; Bascaro's double jeopardy defense was thus waived by his failure to assert it at trial. Grogan v. United States, 394 F.2d 287, 289 (5th Cir.1967). 176 Bascaro attempts to justify his failure to raise the double jeopardy defense until now on the basis of the district court's denial of Bascaro's motion for a bill of particulars. This is an exercise in obfuscation. In order to make a timely objection to the instant prosecution on the double jeopardy grounds previously discussed, Bascaro needed only the indictment and record of judgment in the former prosecution, and the indictment in the present case. A bill of particulars would have furnished no additional relevant information. 177 Bascaro's motion for a bill of particulars, and his assignment of error to the court's refusal to grant that motion, relates to a different and less troubling double jeopardy claim. The function of a bill of particulars is to provide a defendant with information about the details of the charge against him if this is necessary to the preparation of his defense, and to avoid prejudicial surprise at the trial. United States v. Diecidue, 603 F.2d 535 (5th Cir.1979); see also C. Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure Sec. 129. A bill of particulars has been held to be appropriate where necessary to permit the defendant to plead double jeopardy in the event of a subsequent prosecution of the same offense. United States v. Gorel, 622 F.2d 100, 104 (5th Cir.1979). The thrust of Bascaro's argument is that his activities in connection with the smuggling episode for which he had been previously convicted were not listed among the overt acts of the enterprise in the instant indictment, yet were used to convict him again here. He asserts that a bill of particulars would have revealed as much, but that as a consequence of the denial of his motion for a bill of particulars, Bascaro was unprepared to lodge a double jeopardy objection. 178 The motion for a bill of particulars was properly denied. Acts committed by Bascaro in connection with the episode for which he was previously tried were not included among the overt acts listed in the present indictment for the very simple reason that those acts were not part of the present indictment. The fact that various witnesses made passing references to the episode in the course of their testimony does not prove the contrary. In short, Bascaro was not convicted in this case on the basis of facts peculiar to the incident for which he had been previously tried, and a bill of particulars amplifying the details of the charges against him in this case would have served no purpose.