Court Opinion

ID: 9477043
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:11:54.269882+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:39.058728
License: Public Domain

POOLE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I believe that the regulation in question imposes strict liability on Semenza for the unauthorized entry of his cattle onto National Forest Land. See United States v. Larson, 746 F.2d 455, 456 (8th Cir.1984). As the evidence clearly shows that Semenza’s cattle had repeatedly entered onto National Forest Lands and that he had no permit, I would affirm his conviction.
The majority opinion cites Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246, 72 S.Ct. 240, 96 L.Ed. 288 (1952) for the proposition that courts should be reluctant to dispense with a mens rea requirement. While the Court so held with respect to crimes “incorporated from the common law,” id. at 262, 72 S.Ct. at 249, the Court carefully distinguished “regulatory measures ... where the emphasis of the statute is evidently upon achievement of some social betterment rather than the punishment of the crimes as in cases of mala in se.” Id. at 258-59, 72 S.Ct. at 247. Justice Brennan elaborated on this distinction in United States v. Freed, 401 U.S. 601, 91 S.Ct. 1112, 28 L.Ed.2d 356 (1971), saying:
[Wjhere a federal criminal statute omits mention of intent and where it seems to involve what is basically a matter of policy, where the standard imposed is, under the circumstances, reasonable and adherence thereto properly expected of a person, where the penalty is relatively small, where the conviction does not gravely besmirch, where the statutory crime is not one taken over from the common law, and where congressional purpose is supporting, the statute can be construed as one not requiring criminal intent.
401 U.S., n. 4 at 613, 91 S.Ct., n. 4 at 1115 (Brennan, J., concurring) (quoting Holdridge v. United States, 282 F.2d 302, 310 (8th Cir.1960)).
The regulation at issue here is exactly of the type to which the passage from Freed refers. The maximum penalty under 16 U.S.C. § 551 is a $500 fine or six months in prison. The standard imposed is a matter of policy and it is reasonable to require that a cattle owner take responsibility for his animals. The conviction is hardly one which will “gravely besmirch” Semenza’s reputation. Consequently, I would uphold the district court’s conclusion that the regulation establishes a strict liability offense. As the offense is not one imported from the common law, Morissette does not require a different result.
The majority opinion also relies on United States v. Launder, 743 F.2d 686 (9th Cir.1984), in which this Court reversed a hiker’s conviction for “permitting” or “suffering” a fire to burn or spread beyond his *226control. I find that case to be inapposite here. The statute involved in Launder was enacted by Congress under Title 18, which specifically deal with Crimes and Criminal Procedure. In contrast, the regulation here was promulgated under 16 U.S. C. § 551, which grants the Secretary of Agriculture authority to make provisions for the protection of national forests. The entire thrust of the statute is regulatory, not criminal. The regulation at issue should be contrasted with the provision under Title 18 which makes it a crime for a person to “knowingly” permit his cattle to enter onto certain public lands. 18 U.S.C. § 1857. The existence of this criminal statute, with its intent requirement, supports my view that the Department of Agriculture did not intend merely to duplicate it in promulgating its regulations, but intended rather to establish a strict-liability prohibition in support of its protective mandate.
Finally, I suggest that whether the government agrees or disagrees with the outcome reached here, it has the power to amend the regulation to make its intended scope clear. Such a clarification would avoid the necessity of litigating this question in future cases.