Court Opinion

ID: 9469908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:51:53.791919+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:37.553484
License: Public Domain

McKAY, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur in the majority’s conclusion that sentencing under the “dangerous special offender” provisions of the Organized Crime Control Act requires procedural protections beyond those provided in normal sentencing. However, I dissent from the majority’s conclusion that the “preponderance of the information” sentencing standard specified by these provisions is sufficient to protect the defendant’s due process rights.
I.
Section 3575 of the Organized Crime Control Act provides criminal sentences, beyond those specified in the crime charged, for convicted defendants who are identified as “dangerous special offenders.” 18 U.S.C. § 3575 (1976). Under the provisions of section 3575, the prosecution notifies the trial judge before trial of its intention to seek the special sentence. 18 U.S.C. § 3575(a). The jury is not informed of this notification. 18 U.S.C. § 3575(a). If the defendant is convicted of the crime originally charged, the trial judge holds a proceeding to determine whether the convicted defendant is a “special offender” under section 3575(e), and whether the defendant is “dangerous” under section 3575(f). Upon find* ing by the preponderance of the information that the defendant is both a “special offender” and “dangerous,” the judge must sentence the defendant to the punishment prescribed by section 3575. 18 U.S.C. § 3575(b).
The majority recognizes that section 3575 imposes a sentence on a convicted defendant that is not specified by the crime charged and that is based upon a factual inquiry conducted in a separate criminal proceeding. The majority correctly con-*680eludes that under the principles of due process expressed in Specht v. Patterson, 386 U.S. 605, 87 S.Ct. 1209, 18 L.Ed.2d 326 (1967), the defendant is entitled to greater procedural safeguards in the section 3575 sentencing proceeding than he would receive in a normal sentencing proceeding. The principles of Specht are crucial to an understanding of the procedural protection that is due to the defendant, and therefore merit further elaboration.
In Specht, the Court considered the due process rights of a defendant sentenced under Colorado’s Sex Offenders Act. This statute provided that if the trial court was “of the opinion that any ... person [convicted of specified sex offenses], if at large, constitutes a threat of bodily harm to members of the public, or is an habitual offender and mentally ill,” he might receive an indeterminate sentence of from one day to life imprisonment. 386 U.S. at 607, 87 S.Ct. at 1211. Specht had been convicted of taking indecent liberties under a statute that carried a maximum penalty of ten years. He was sentenced to an indeterminate sentence under the Sex Offenders Act.
In reviewing Specht’s due process claims, the Supreme Court stated that sentencing under the Sex Offenders Act presented a “radically different situation” from normal sentencing proceedings. 386 U.S. at 608, 87 S.Ct. at 1211. The Court noted that the statute “does not make the commission of a specified crime the basis for sentencing,” but rather made one conviction “the basis for commencing another proceeding under another Act to determine whether a person constitutes a threat of bodily harm to the public, or is an habitual offender and mentally ill.” 386 U.S. at 608, 87 S.Ct. at 1211. The Court characterized the invocation of the Sex Offenders Act as “the making of a new charge leading to criminal punishment” and concluded that proceedings under the statute must be conducted with procedural protections for the defendant beyond those provided in normal sentencing. 386 U.S. at 610, 87 S.Ct. at 1212.
Courts have encountered considerable difficulty in identifying when Specht applies. Compare United States v. Bowdach, 561 F.2d 1160, 1172-75 (5th Cir. 1977) (Specht due process principles apply to section 3575 proceedings) with United States v. Stewart, 531 F.2d 326, 332 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 922, 96 S.Ct. 2629, 49 L.Ed.2d 376 (1976) (Specht due process principles do not apply to section 3575 proceedings). In particular, courts have had difficulty in determining the factors that made sentencing under the Sex Offenders Act in Specht a “radically different situation” from normal sentencing proceedings. See, e.g., Bowdach, 561 F.2d at 1173 (increased sentence triggered by a separate conviction and new finding of fact); Stewart, 531 F.2d at 332 (a new and distinct criminal charge); United States ex rel. Sero v. Preiser, 372 F.Supp. 663, 665 (S.D.N.Y.), aff’d in part, 506 F.2d 1115 (2d Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 921, 95 S.Ct. 1587, 43 L.Ed.2d 789 (1975) (a separate decision of fact outside the traditional sentencing process). This disparity of opinion demonstrates that the language of Specht, standing alone, does not provide concrete guidance in evaluating the due process interests at stake. See generally Note, The Constitutionality of Statutes Permitting Increased Sentences for Habitual or Dangerous Criminals, 89 Harv.L.Rev. 356 (1975).
Five years after Specht, the Supreme Court developed a more disciplined method of due process analysis that concentrates on the nature of the interest at stake. See Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). Under this approach, a court first determines whether the party raising a due process complaint has a protected property or liberty interest. 408 U.S. at 570-71, 92 S.Ct. at 2705-06. If the court finds that the party has such an interest, the court must then determine what procedural safeguards are required, based on the importance of the interests involved. 408 U.S. at 570 n.8, 92 S.Ct. at 2705 n.8. The Supreme Court has employed this method in cases that raise issues of post-conviction due process rights. See, e.g., Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1973); Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, *68133 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972). Recent applications of this method clarify the due process rights accorded by Specht.
In Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 96 S.Ct. 2532, 49 L.Ed.2d 451 (1976), the Supreme Court stated that by convicting a person of a crime, the government curtails a liberty interest. 427 U.S. at 224, 96 S.Ct. at 2538. The Court explained that “given a valid conviction, the criminal defendant has been constitutionally deprived of his liberty to the extent that the State may confine him and subject him to the rules of its prison system so long as the conditions of confinement do not otherwise violate the Constitution.” 427 U.S. at 224, 96 S.Ct. at 2538; accord Greenholtz v. Nebraska Penal Inmates, 442 U.S. 1, 7, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 2103, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979). The Court noted that a conviction curtails a defendant’s right to freedom from confinement, but it does not extinguish this liberty interest completely. See Meachum, 427 U.S. at 224-25, 96 S.Ct. at 2538. Thus, in Vitek v. Jones, 445 U.S. 480, 100 S.Ct. 1254, 63 L.Ed.2d 552 (1980), the Court held that where a convicted felon was transferred from a state prison to a mental hospital pursuant to a state statute, the transfer implicated a liberty interest that is protected by the due process clause. 445 U.S. at 494, 100 S.Ct. at 1264. Relying in part on Specht, the Court concluded that the transfer of a prisoner to a mental hospital was not within the range of confinement justified by the conviction. 445 U.S. at 493, 100 S.Ct. at 1264.
Meachum and Vitek indicate that the crucial inquiry where post-conviction due process claims are advanced is whether the party asserts a liberty interest which was not extinguished by the criminal conviction. In particular, Vitek suggests that Specht due process concerns arise where a statute imposes a post-conviction restriction on the defendant’s liberty greater than that permitted by the criminal conviction. Thus, the application of Specht requires an inquiry into the nature and scope of a criminal conviction.
As the Supreme Court has stated, a criminal conviction limits a defendant’s right to freedom from confinement. Meachum, 427 U.S. at 224-25, 96 S.Ct. at 2538; Greenholtz, 442 U.S. at 7, 99 S.Ct. at 2103. The scope of this limitation typically is specified by a sentence, or a range of sentences, in the statute that defines the crime. A defendant has only limited grounds to contest the sentence specified in the statute because the specification is a matter of “legislative prerogative." Rummel v. Estelle, 445 U.S. 263, 274, 100 S.Ct. 1133, 1139, 63 L.Ed.2d 382 (1979) (footnote omitted). Likewise, when a court chooses the sentence from the range specified in the statute, the defendant has only limited due process rights to contest the court’s choice, Williams v. New York, 337 U.S. 241, 69 S.Ct. 1079, 93 L.Ed. 1337 (1949), because the criminal conviction has extinguished the defendant’s right to freedom within that range. However, when a separate statute imposes on a convicted defendant a sentence beyond that specified in the statute defining the crime, Specht states that a “radically different situation” arises. 386 U.S. at 608, 87 S.Ct. at 1211. This situation is different because the statute encroaches on a liberty interest in freedom from confinement which was not extinguished by the criminal conviction.
The legislature’s specification of a sentence, or range of sentences, in the statutory definition of a crime declares the liberty interest in freedom from confinement which is lost through a conviction. By explicitly providing the maximum sentence that can result from conviction, however, it also defines the residuum of liberty interest in freedom from confinement that the defendant retains after conviction. See Meachum, 427 U.S. at 225, 96 S.Ct. at 2538 (confinement must be within “the range of custody which the conviction has authorized the State to impose”); Vitek, 445 U.S. at 493, 100 S.Ct. at 1264 (conviction of a defendant does not entitle a State to subject him to involuntary commitment in a mental hospital). Unlike the post-conviction liberty interests involved in parole revocation, Morrisey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972), and “good-time *682credit” revocation, Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1973), this residual liberty interest is not created and conditioned by statutory enactment. Instead, it is the absolute right to freedom from confinement that was left unextinguished by the conviction. Specht implicitly recognizes the existence of this interest. Articulated in the terminology of modern due process analysis, Specht provides that a statute that imposes a sentence in a post-conviction proceeding beyond that specified in the crime charged impairs a defendant’s residual liberty interest in freedom from confinement.1 Consequently, under the theory of due process explained in Roth, 408 U.S. at 570 n.8, 92 S.Ct. at 2705 n.8, such a statute must provide procedural safeguards consistent with the interests involved.2
Section 3575 and the dangerous special offender proceeding it provides clearly implicate Specht due process concerns.3 The statute imposes a sentence on a convicted defendant beyond that specified in the crime for which he was convicted, and thereby encroaches on a protected liberty interest in freedom from confinement. I conclude, as the majority agrees, that Specht requires the government to provide procedural safeguards in the section 3575 proceeding that are consistent with the interests at stake. I further conclude, unlike the majority, that the procedural safeguards must include a standard of proof of greater discipline than the “preponderance of the information” standard.
II.
The Specht opinion lists a number of procedural safeguards that must be provided in post-conviction sentencing statutes. 386 U.S. at 610, 87 S.Ct. at 1212. However, as the majority notes, Specht does not specify the appropriate standard of proof for proceedings conducted under these statutes. Consequently, Mr. Schell’s claim that the liberty interest at stake in the “dangerous special offender” proceeding merits a standard more rigorous than the “preponderance of the information” test must be determined by evaluating the importance of the competing interests involved. Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 570 n.8, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2705 n.8, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1974). In particular, identification of the specific dictates of due process requires consideration of three factors: (a) the private inter*683est that the government’s action will affect; (b) the risk of an erroneous deprivation of the interest through the procedures used, and the probable value of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and (c) the government’s interest, including the function involved and the burdens that the substitute procedural requirements would entail. Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 335, 96 S.Ct. 893, 903, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976).
A.
The liberty interest that Schell asserts is his right to freedom from confinement beyond the maximum term specified for the crime charged. This interest is perhaps less substantial than the liberty interest at stake during a criminal trial: additional confinement may be less onerous than surrender of freedom in the first instance; the stigma that attaches to the special offender status may be less odious than the stigma of conviction. Nevertheless, punitive incarceration is among the most severe intrusions on fundamental freedom, curtailing “interests of immense importance.” In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 363, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 1072, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). Furthermore, Mr. Schell’s liberty interest is not delimited by the terms of its creation. Unlike the interests encountered in parole revocation, Morissey, supra, or revocation of “good-time credit,” Wolff, supra, the interest that Mr. Schell asserts is not created or conditioned by statute. Nor is Mr. Schell’s liberty interest diminished by considerations of his own best interests. Unlike the civil commitment considered in Addington v. Texas, 429 U.S. 418, 99 S.Ct. 1804, 60 L.Ed.2d 323 (1979), Mr. Schell’s confinement is not for treatment from which he might benefit. These considerations indicate that Mr. Schell’s right to freedom from confinement is fundamentally important and unqualified. Consequently, Mr. Schell asserts a liberty interest of high order.
B.
The “preponderance of the information” standard utilized in section 3575 proceedings is applied to determine whether the defendant is a “dangerous special offender.” Under section 3575, the defendant is dangerous if “a period of confinement longer than that provided [in the crime for which the defendant was convicted] is required for the protection of the public from further criminal conduct by the defendant.” 18 U.S.C. § 3575(f). The application of the preponderance standard to this determination of dangerousness results in a substantial risk of an erroneous deprivation of the defendant’s liberty interest.
The Supreme Court, the lower courts, legal commentators and psychiatrists all recognize that it is exceedingly difficult to predict future dangerousness. See Addington v. Texas, 441 U.S. 418, 429, 99 S.Ct. 1804, 1811, 60 L.Ed.2d 323 (1979); Hollis v. Smith, 571 F.2d 685, 695 (2d Cir. 1978); ABA Standards for Criminal Justice — Sentencing Alternatives and Procedures 40 (1979). See also American Psychiatric Association, Task Force Report on the Clinical Aspects of Violent Individuals 28 (1974) and Rubin, Prediction of Dangerousness in Mentally Ill Criminals, 27 Arch. General Psychiatry 397 (1972), cited in United States v. Edwards, 430 A.2d 1321, 1370 n.17 (D.C. App.1981) (en banc) (Mack, J. dissenting), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1022, 102 S.Ct. 1721, 72 L.Ed.2d 141 (1982). The uncertainty attendant in predicting dangerousness, coupled with the low threshold of proof required to establish dangerousness under section 3575, creates a substantial risk that persons who are not truly dangerous will be erroneously deprived of their liberty.
A more rigorous standard of proof is likely to reduce substantially the risk of an erroneous deprivation of liberty. A more rigorous standard mitigates the uncertainty involved in determining dangerousness. Moreover, it offers particular protection to the defendant who is merely “more likely than not” to be dangerous, the defendant most likely to be erroneously deprived of his freedom.
C.
The government has two interests in the standard of proof used to determine “dan*684gerous special offender” status: first, the protection of society from persons who are indeed dangerous; and second, the protection of persons who are not dangerous from imprisonment. Both interests are of a high order, the first assuring the safety of the public, the second maintaining the “moral force” of the criminal law. See Addington, 441 U.S. at 428-30, 99 S.Ct. at 1810-11.
The preponderance standard furthers the first interest because it imposes a minimal burden in establishing dangerousness, and thereby increases the likelihood that dangerous special offenders will be insulated from society. However, as previously noted, the preponderance standard poses a substantial threat that persons who are not dangerous will be sentenced as well. Thus, the preponderance standard hampers the government’s second interest by wrongfully imprisoning persons and undermining the moral force of the criminal law.
A more rigorous standard of proof will affect the government’s interests, but the precise effect depends upon the standard imposed. A standard requiring proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” offers enhanced assurance that defendants are not erroneously determined to be dangerous, but it might prove an insuperable obstacle to removing dangerous defendants from society. The Supreme Court has noted that in determinations of dangerousness for the purpose of civil commitment, this standard may be too demanding given the subjective nature of the dangerousness determination. Addington v. Texas, 441 U.S. 418, 429-30, 99 S.Ct. 1804, 1811, 60 L.Ed.2d 323 (1979). A standard requiring “clear and convincing” evidence provides a compromise between the preponderance and the reasonable doubt standards. It offers increased protection from erroneous determinations of dangerousness compared to the preponderance standard, yet provides an attainable standard for establishing dangerousness. Courts have required a “clear and convincing” standard to determine dangerousness in civil commitment proceedings, Adding-ton, and to determine dangerousness in state “sex offender” sentencing proceedings, Hollis v. Smith, 571 F.2d 685 (2d Cir. 1978). The Supreme Court has required this standard in deportation proceedings as well. Woodby v. INS, 385 U.S. 276, 87 S.Ct. 483, 17 L.Ed.2d 362 (1966).4
The foregoing consideration of the factors relevant to Mr. Schell’s due process claim indicates that his liberty interest is of a high order and that the use of the preponderance of evidence standard presents a substantial risk of an erroneous deprivation of that interest. It also shows that a more rigorous standard of proof will significantly reduce the risk of this deprivation. Finally, it indicates that the government’s interests are also important. The preponderance standard furthers the government’s interest in minimizing the burden of proving dangerousness but it impedes the government’s interest in avoiding erroneous determinations of dangerousness. A more rigorous standard increases the burden of proving dangerousness, but reduces the risk of an erroneous determination.
On the basis of these considerations, I conclude that a section 3575 proceeding requires a more rigorous standard of proof than preponderance of the evidence when the proceeding results in the deprivation of the defendant’s liberty interest in freedom from confinement. I believe that, at a minimum, a “clear and convincing” standard is required by due process. The “clear and convincing” standard provides essential protection of the defendant’s important liberty interest while providing a comparatively small additional burden on governmental interests. Moreover, the “clear and convincing” standard is the commonly used test for determinations of dangerousness in other equally serious contexts where important *685liberty interests are at stake. For these reasons, I dissent from the majority opinion.

. It is sufficient for the purposes of this case simply to identify the holding of Specht. However, the reason why Specht holds that a post-conviction sentencing statute impairs a liberty interest deserves mention. The statutory definition of a crime expresses the legislature’s determination of the relevant facts and the consequent punishment for the particular crime. A trial provides the mechanism for proving the relevant facts beyond a reasonable doubt, and a conviction classifies the defendant as within the statutory definition and subject to the specified punishment. A statute that imposes an additional sentence through a separate post-conviction proceeding results in a reclassification of the defendant for the purpose of enhanced punishment. This reclassification is essentially identical to an additional criminal conviction. Consequently, the defendant’s liberty interest that survived the original conviction is entitled to procedural protections, similar to those provided at trial, in the post-conviction proceeding. See Specht, 386 U.S. at 608-10, 87 S.Ct. at 1211-12.

. In determining whether the restriction on liberty exceeds that permitted by the criminal conviction, a court may need to consider tradeoffs between the length of the term imposed and the conditions of confinement. See Carter v. United States, 306 F.2d 283, 285 (D.C.Cir. 1962) (a longer term imposed under the Youth Corrections Act is constitutional because the conditions of confinement under the Act cannot be equated with incarceration in an ordinary prison). But see Ralston v. Robinson, 454 U.S. 201, 219-20 n.13, 102 S.Ct. 233, 244 n.13, 70 L.Ed.2d 345 (1981) (if conditions of confinement are modified so that a youth serves an adult sentence of greater length than an adult could receive, constitutional issues may arise).

. Indeed, in drafting the Organized Crime Control Act, Congress recognized that section 3575 implicated the due process concerns expressed in Specht. See H.R.Rep.No. 1549, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. (1970), reprinted in 1970 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 4007, 4069-70 (response of the Department of Justice to inquiries concerning the Organized Crime Control Act); id. at 4074-75 (statement of Rep. Dennis); id. at 4086-87 (statement of Reps. Conyers, Mikva and Ryan). Apparently in response, Congress incorporated in section 3575 the procedural safeguards explicitly mentioned in Specht.

. Indeed, Congress itself has required a “clear and convincing” standard for determinations of dangerousness in pretrial detention proceedings. D.C.Code Ann. § 23-1322(b)(2)(A). The constitutionality of the pretrial detention standard has not been finally adjudicated; issues include whether even the “clear and convincing” standard is sufficient to protect defendant’s due process rights. See United States v. Edwards, 430 A.2d 1321 (D.C.App.1981) (en banc), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1022, 102 S.Ct. 1721, 72 L.Ed.2d 141 (1982).