Court Opinion

ID: 9467273
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:44:12.375718+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:16.284062
License: Public Domain

BREITENSTEIN, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
My colleagues agree that for the purpose of double jeopardy analysis Counts I and II are the same offense. I do not agree and therefore dissent. Judge Logan affirms the conviction because the case presents a sin*1299gle rather than successive prosecution. Judge McKay rejects the single prosecution concept and would reverse apparently on the ground that the guilty plea to Count II is a conviction of a lesser included offense and double jeopardy bars a trial of the greater offense. I agree with the result reached by Judge Logan and would affirm.
Count I charges violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(a) and (d). Count II charges violation of § 2113(b). Section 2113 creates and defines several crimes incidental and related to thefts from banks. Prince v. United States, 352 U.S. 322, 323-324, 77 S.Ct. 403, 404-405, 1 L.Ed.2d 370. Subsection (a) covers taking “by force and violence or by intimidation.” Subsection (b) covers taking and carrying away “with intent to steal or purloin.” Subsection (d) increases the penalty when violations of (a) or (b) are accompanied by assault or jeopardy of life by use of a dangerous weapon or device. Because no additional penalty was imposed under (d), that subsection is of no pertinence to this discussion.
The joinder of offenses was proper under Rule 8(a), F.R.Crim.P. Subsection (a) requires proof of violence or intimidation with general intent to deprive a bank of something of value. Subsection (b) requires proof of taking with the specific intent to steal. Under the test held applicable for determination of whether two offenses are the same for double jeopardy purposes, see Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306; Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 166, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 2225, 53 L.Ed.2d 187, and Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. -, 100 S.Ct. 2260, 65 L.Ed.2d 228, double jeopardy does not bar the trial on Count I.
Cumulative sentences under § 2113 are forbidden when the same episode results in convictions under more than one of its subsections. The prohibition is of no pertinence in this case because no cumulative sentence was imposed. Brown v. Ohio, supra, 432 U.S. at 166, 97 S.Ct. at 2226, says that, if two offenses are the same to bar cumulative sentences, “they necessarily will be the same for purposes of barring successive prosecutions.” Brown considered two separate state offenses. The defendant was first charged with, and pleaded guilty to, joyriding. He was later indicted for both vehicle theft and joyriding. There were two separate and distinct prosecutions. The Court held that double jeopardy barred the second prosecution. The case at bar presents one, single prosecution.
The law applicable to lesser included offenses is of no pertinence. Rule 8(a) requires that there be a separate count for each offense. A joinder of subsection (a) with subsection (b) violates the rule and is duplicitous. The prime reason for the rule against duplicity is the protection of the defendant. See United States v. Starks, 3 Cir., 515 F.2d 112, 116-117. We are not concerned with what might have happened but with what did happen.
We have one episode, one indictment with two properly joined counts, a guilty plea to one count, a guilty verdict on the other count, one trial, and one noncumulative sentence. When defendant pleaded guilty to Count II, the offense carrying the lesser penalty, both he and his lawyer knew that the plea did not dispose of Count I which carried the greater penalty. The plea was made with the intent to establish a basis for a double jeopardy claim. In accepting the guilty plea to Count II, the court fiilly complied with Rule 11, F.R.Crim.P. Sentence was deferred. After the guilty verdict on Count I, the court merged the two counts for sentence. Defendant makes no claim of prosecutorial or judicial overreaching, oppression, harassment, or other misconduct.
Discussion of whether acceptance of a guilty plea is tantamount to a jury verdict and of whether acceptance of such plea is a judgment has no pertinence to the instant case. Not only do we have a single prosecution but also a situation for which the defendant is solely responsible. Acceptance of a double jeopardy claim in the situation presented will throw the criminal law into a state of confusion. Neither the prosecution nor the court will know how to proceed when one episode presents plural offenses. *1300I suggest that a defendant cannot avoid a rape prosecution by a guilty plea to indecent liberties. See Lambert v. People, 102 Colo. 415, 80 P.2d 443, 444.
United States v. Scott, 437 U.S. 82, 99, 98 S.Ct. 2187, 2198, 57 L.Ed.2d 65 says that “the Double Jeopardy Clause, which guards against Government oppression, does not relieve a defendant from the consequences of his voluntary choice.” Defendant made his choice with full knowledge that the government intended to proceed on Count I. His clever maneuver does not forestall trial and conviction of Count I. The judgment should be affirmed.