Opinion ID: 535716
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Comparison of the Two Indictments

Text: 30 The first and second indictments charge the same statutory violation, the same mailing in furtherance of the scheme, and the same underlying transaction for the bribe. The difference, as Italiano stresses, is in the objects of the schemes alleged in each indictment: the first alleges a scheme to deprive the county of good government, the second alleges a scheme to deprive the county of a cable television franchise. Italiano argues that, in keeping with these different objectives, the first indictment alleged pure good government facts while the second indictment alleged money and property facts. Accordingly, he states that the first indictment provided good government notice but did not provide money and property notice. 31 We have no quarrel with Italiano's contention that the objects of the schemes alleged in the first and second indictment are very different. Indeed, a panel of this court, finding the first indictment invalid, explained at length that 32 [t]he allegations in the indictment, even given a broad interpretation, are only susceptible of one interpretation: that the citizens of Hillsborough County were deprived of their intangible right to good government.Italiano, 837 F.2d at 1486. Nowhere does the first indictment specifically state that the object of the scheme was to defraud the government of a cable television franchise. In contrast, the second indictment, returned post-McNally, deliberately avoids reliance on a good government theory and alleges instead that the point of the scheme was to deprive the government of property in the form of a cable television franchise. 6 33 Our finding that the alleged objectives of the scheme differ between the two indictments does not end our inquiry. For, in deciding whether the first indictment tolled the limitations period, the crucial inquiry is whether approximately the same facts were used as the basis of both indictments. If so, Italiano would have been put on notice within the limitations period of the charges on which he was ultimately convicted. In characterizing the facts of the first indictment as good government facts and the facts of the second indictment as money and property facts, Italiano implies that the object of the scheme determines the nature of the facts underlying the scheme. We disagree. The facts are the sequence of actions that Italiano performed as part of a scheme to secure a television franchise for Coaxial. These facts are the same in both indictments. 34 Italiano relies heavily upon United States v. O'Neill, 463 F.Supp. 1205 (E.D.Pa.1979), to argue that the factual dissimilarity of the two indictments is fatal to the second indictment. O'Neill involved a defendant indicted under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1014 for making false statements in relation to an application for a loan at a federally insured bank in order to influence the bank to approve the loan. A superseding indictment was issued outside of the limitations period. Although both the original and superseding indictments were based on the same transaction, the O'Neill court dismissed the superseding indictment, finding that the indictments were not based on approximately the same facts. 35 We agree with the district court that the present case can easily be distinguished from O'Neill. In O'Neill, the superseding indictment involved a different false statement from the two false statements described in the first indictment. The first indictment stated that O'Neill falsely represented to the bank that the insurance policies submitted as security for the loan were in full force and effect. The second indictment stated that O'Neill falsely represented to the bank that the insurance policies submitted as security had a future cash surrender value and that they had been assigned to him. 36 The O'Neill court found that [t]he charge in the first indictment contains no mention of the specific misrepresentations charged in the second indictment. If anything, the first indictment would serve to draw the defendant's attention away from the misrepresentations alleged in the superseding bill. Id. at 1207. The court concluded that [t]he original indictment therefore did not put the defendant on notice that he might face a revised indictment alleging two quite different misrepresentations. Id. at 1208. 37 Unlike O'Neill, the second indictment in this case did not introduce any material new facts not found in the original indictment. 7 For this reason, we conclude that the first indictment provided sufficient notice of the actions which allegedly constituted criminal conduct and of the type of evidence that the government would introduce at trial. We see no way in which any disparity between the first and second indictments hindered Italiano's understanding of the conduct for which he would be held accountable or his ability to prepare a defense for that conduct. See Grady, 544 F.2d at 601. 8 38 Italiano seeks to support his assertion that the indictments are factually dissimilar by noting that the first indictment did not withstand McNally scrutiny, but the second one did. He argues that if the indictments were factually similar, as the government claims, then the first one would not have been dismissed. He implies that substantive notice could only have been achieved if the first indictment had alleged facts sufficient to allow it to be upheld under McNally. We disagree with Italiano's attempt to equate indictments invalid under McNally with indictments insufficient to toll the statute of limitations and note that at least two other courts have rejected the same argument. 39 In United States v. Davis, 714 F.Supp. 853, 864 (S.D.Ohio 1988), the district court was faced with the issue presently before this court. The Davis court held that a superseding indictment returned after a first indictment was found invalid under McNally did not impermissibly broaden the language of the indictment where the superseding indictment charged the same acts and offenses and differed only in the legal theory stated. The court wrote that [a]lthough the government had to abandon the intangible rights theory, it does not follow that a simple change of theory automatically bars reindictment. Id. 9 40 In United States v. Lytle, 677 F.Supp. 1370 (N.D.Ill.1988), the court found that an indictment for mail fraud, dismissed on the basis of McNally, provided sufficient notice to the defendant to render a second indictment timely because each of the underlying factual allegations in the indictment was the same. Id. at 1377. The Lytle court held that the first indictment satisfied the notice requirement because only the form and not the substance of the claim had changed. Id. at 1376. 41 Italiano seeks to distinguish Lytle on the grounds that the first indictment in Lytle made some mention of money or property fraud whereas the first indictment in his case alleged only a scheme to defraud of good government. We find the reasoning in Lytle persuasive and Italiano's efforts to distinguish it unconvincing. If we were to accept Italiano's argument, then section 3288 would be rendered essentially useless in correcting defects in indictments that stem from legal errors. 10 42 In sum, the court finds Italiano's attempt to distinguish between one type of notice that he terms good government notice and another type of notice that he terms money and property notice unavailing. Italiano was aware from the first indictment that he was on trial for his part in the scheme to bribe the commissioners to vote for Coaxial as the recipient of the cable television franchise. The only difference between the two indictments is the alleged objective of the scheme. This is not enough to deprive Italiano of notice and take the second indictment out of the section 3288 exception. Accordingly, the order of the district court denying Italiano's motion to dismiss the indictment is AFFIRMED.