Court Opinion

ID: 9466452
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:16:08.540287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:44.438015
License: Public Domain

McKAY, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the result:
Since Larranaga was sentenced to concurrent probationary periods, I believe that, under the authority of Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 165, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1975), we have no double jeopardy problem before us. However, because the majority’s analysis would apply even had Larranaga been sentenced to consecutive terms of imprisonment, I feel compelled to express my disagreement with that analysis.
The government’s proof establishes only that Larranaga, a convicted felon, was handed a gun which had been in interstate commerce. These facts form the basis for Larranaga’s convictions for receipt under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(h)(1) and 924(a) and for possession under 18 U.S.C. App. § 1202(a). The majority sustains both convictions against a double jeopardy challenge because it finds a theoretical distinction between receipt and possession.
Indeed, there are circumstances where this theoretical distinction becomes important — for instance, where the government can prove the defendant held the gun illegally but not where or how he obtained it. But a theoretical distinction of law does not preclude double jeopardy when there is no accompanying distinction of fact. The Supreme Court has instructed:
The applicable rule is that where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.
Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). See also Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 166, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977); Ianelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 785 n.17, 95 S.Ct. 1284, 43 L.Ed.2d 616 (1975). Recently, in Simpson v. United States, 435 U.S. 6, 98 S.Ct. 909, 55 L.Ed.2d 70 (1978), the Supreme Court elaborated on this test in terms directly applicable to this appeal: “Cases in which the Government is able to prove violations of two separate criminal statutes with precisely the same factual showing . raise the prospect of double jeopardy . .” Id. at 11, 98 S.Ct. at 912. This language makes it clear that the majority’s finding that §§ 922 and 1202 are separate statutes is immaterial.1 It is not the independence of the statutes but the difference in the facts that is decisive.
Because the facts offered to prove receipt in this case are the same as those which support the conviction for possession, double jeopardy would have arisen had different sentences been imposed. See Robbins v. United States, 476 F.2d 26, 32 (10th Cir. 1973).

. The majority relies on the reasoning and language of United States v. Batchelder, 442 U.S. 114, 99 S.Ct. 2198, 60 L.Ed.2d 755 (1979). In Batchelder the Court held not only that §§ 922 and 1202 are separate statutes, but also that a prosecutor has discretion to choose between them. The Court implied that a prosecutor may not apply them both, as was done here. Id. at 2204. Although the Court was discussing the prosecutorial choice necessarily involved when receipt can be charged under either statute, the Batchelder implication clearly extends to the instant case — where the facts to show receipt and possession are identical.