Court Opinion

ID: 9477029
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:11:31.093469+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:38.525790
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I concur with the majority in all respects except as to sentence enhancement to twenty years imprisonment on Count I.
I disagree that an enhanced sentence on the conspiracy count can be imposed in this case. Wood was charged with three counts in the indictment: conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine (Count I), interstate travel in aid of a racketeering enterprise (Count II), and possession with intent to distribute approximately five kilograms of cocaine (Count III). It is apparent from the record that the allegations of Count III constitute one of the overt acts alleged in support of the conspiracy. All three of the counts were submitted to the jury which returned guilty verdicts on Counts I and II and a not guilty verdict on Count III. The district court nevertheless sentenced Wood to a prison term of twenty years, pursuant to the sentence enhancement provisions of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(l)(A)(ii).
In this case, the Government in its indictment charged the defendant with crimes involving sufficient amounts of cocaine to trigger a sentence enhancement. The conspiracy count alleged as an overt act that defendant gave “five (5) kilograms of cocaine to a co-conspirator in Key Largo, Florida.” Count II alleged no quantity of any narcotic, but Count III charged Wood with participation in a distribution arrangement of approximately five kilograms of cocaine.
The problem we face arises from the jury reaching a not guilty verdict on Count III and the trial court’s instruction on Count I stating that a “measureable amount of cocaine” would support the charge in the indictment. The combined effect of the instructions and not guilty verdict on Count III is that the jury, in terms of the indictment, made no finding directly or by implication as to the amount of cocaine involved in the crimes for which Wood stands convicted.
On this appeal, the Government does not argue that sentence enhancement may occur regardless of the amount of cocaine alleged in the indictment. To the contrary, the Government asserts that its indictment contained allegations sufficient to invoke the enhanced penalty. The issue then is whether to support the sentence the jury needed to make a finding under the indictment sufficient to invoke enhancement. As we have noted, no such jury finding exists.
Appellant cites United States v. Alvarez, 735 F.2d 461 (11th Cir.1984), in support of his contention. There the court held the *1391indictment as drawn, which did not mention the amount of marijuana, could not support an enhanced penalty. The court stated, “[sjince the quantity of the substance constitutes a critical element of the offense under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(6), and no quantity of marijuana was specifically alleged in the indictment, the enhanced sentences imposed pursuant to that provision are invalid.” Id. at 468. The Government in its brief apparently recognizes the validity of Alvarez but would distinguish it because, in the present case, the Government had made allegations in the indictment of the amount of drugs. Yet, the essence of Alvarez rests on the absence of a jury finding upon a “critical element of the offense.” Id. See also United States v. Buishas, 791 F.2d 1310 (7th Cir.1986); United States v. Orozco-Prada, 732 F.2d 1076 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 845, 105 S.Ct. 154, 83 L.Ed.2d 92 (1984); Brown v. United States, 299 F.2d 438 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Thornton v. United States, 370 U.S. 946, 82 S.Ct. 1593, 8 L.Ed.2d 812 (1962). These cases indicate that where uncertainty exists as to whether the jury has made a finding justifying an enhanced sentence, the enhanced sentence will be vacated. These cases further suggest the use of a special verdict, where necessary, to establish the underlying fact or facts to support the increased sentence.1
In response to an initial draft of this dissent containing the text as written above, the majority engages in extensive dialogue justifying its decision on an issue, which I have demonstrated, has not been raised by any party in the district court or on appeal. The issue is raised and discussed nowhere else in the record, only in the majority opinion. See maj. op. at 1388-90.
Disregarding the state of the record in this case, the majority justifies this resolution of a non-issue in this case by misreading and misapplying a rule of appellate practice. The majority states:
It is well established, however, that an appellate court can affirm a judgment on any grounds supported by the record, whether or not raised, argued, decided, or relied upon by the district court. Schweiker v. Hogan, 457 U.S. 569, 585 n. 24, 102 S.Ct. 2597, 2607 n. 24, 73 L.Ed.2d 227 (1982); Wycoff v. Menke, 773 F.2d 983, 986 (8th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1028, 106 S.Ct. 1230, 89 L.Ed.2d 339 (1986).
Maj. Op. at 1389 n. 4 (emphasis added).
The emphasized phrase is not now nor has it ever been the rule on appeal in this court nor any other federal appellate court to this writer’s knowledge.
In the Hogan case, the Court stated in the text, “[although appellees did not advance this argument in the District Court, they are not precluded from asserting it as a basis on which to affirm that court’s judgment.” Schweiker v. Hogan, 457 U.S. 569, 585, 102 S.Ct. 2597, 2607, 73 L.Ed.2d 227 (1982).
That language does not apply here because the issue decided by the majority has not been raised by appellee (or any other party) as a basis for affirmance.
In Wycoff, this court dismissed a prisoner’s civil rights suits on statute of limitations grounds — grounds that already had been asserted to the district court by defendant Menke in a motion to dismiss. Wycoff v. Menke, 773 F.2d 983 (8th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1028, 106 S.Ct. 1230, 89 L.Ed.2d 339 (1986). The pertinent language in Wycoff reads:
Menke did not raise the Iowa two-year statute of limitations as an affirmative defense in his answer to Wycoff’s complaint. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(c). While this failure would normally result in the waiver of a limitations defense, see, e.g., Myers v. John Deere Ltd., 683 F.2d 270, 273 (8th Cir.1982), no waiver occurred in this case since this defense had already *1392been asserted by Menke as a Fed.R. Civ.P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss.
* * * *
Finally, Wycoff contends that this court should not address the limitations issue since Menke failed to assert this issue by cross-appeal. This contention is without merit. Even if Wilson [471 U.S. 261, 105 S.Ct. 1938, 85 L.Ed.2d 254] had been decided prior to Wycoff's appeal, Menke would have had no obligation to raise the limitations issue by cross-appeal because Wilson simply provides an additional ground on which to affirm the district court in its entirety. When a party seeks neither to modify nor alter a lower court decision ‘but only to sustain it on grounds other than those relied on by the court below,’ no obligation to cross-appeal exists.
Id. at 984-85 (citation omitted).
Rules governing appeals such as enunciated in Hogan, supra, and Wycoff, supra, are a far cry from the appellate rule applied by the majority — that an appeals court can affirm a judgment of the district court on issues never raised there nor on appeal by any party.
It seems to me the reaching out to decide an issue never before the appeals court or the district court represents an improper procedure. Appellate courts ought not decide important legal issues without benefit of briefs submitted by the parties on such issues. Yet, the majority makes such a decision today.
Finally, I must note that the majority rushes to judgment in this case where my other brethren on this circuit have refused to tread. In United States v. Darveaux, 830 F.2d 124 (8th Cir.1987), Judge Bowman wrote a unanimous opinion (with Judges Heaney and Wollman) considering the enhanced penalty provisions of the Armed Career Criminal Act. See 18 U.S.C. app. § 1202(a)(1) (1982 & Supp.III 1985). In an extensive footnote which I quote below, the judges, recognizing a split of authority in the circuits, declined to resolve the issue for the Eighth Circuit whether the penalty provision of that Act requires, or does not require, the elements for an enhanced penalty to be alleged in the indictment and tried to the fact finder.
We note a split of authority amongst the circuits regarding whether the enhanced penalty portion of § 1202(a) states a separate offense, all the elements of which must be alleged in the indictment and tried to the fact-finder [United States v. Davis, 801 F.2d 754, 755 (5th Cir.1986)], or merely a penalty enhancement provision relating to the offense described in § 1202(a)(1) [United States v. West, 826 F.2d 909 (9th Cir. 1987); United States v. Jackson, 824 F.2d 21, 25-26 (D.C.Cir.1987); United States v. Hawkins, 811 F.2d 210, 220 (3d Cir.), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. May 5, 1987) (No. 86-6847); United States v. Gregg, 803 F.2d 568, 570 (10th Cir.1986), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 107 S.Ct. 1379, 94 L.Ed.2d 693 (1987)]. There is no controlling authority in this circuit on whether the enhanced penalty portion of § 1202(a) states a separate offense or is merely a penalty enhancement provision. However, on September 14, 1987, the Court en banc heard argument in the cases of United States v. Rush, 824 F.2d 1537 (8th Cir.1987), and United States v. Cloyd, 819 F.2d 836 (8th Cir.1987), which present this issue and provide us the opportunity to resolve it in the near future. This issue is not before us in the instant case, since Darveaux does not contend that it was improper for the government to charge his prior felonies and introduce evidence to convince the jury of their existence.
Darveaux, 830 F.2d at 125, n. 2.2
Earlier in United States v. McGeehan, 824 F.2d 677 (8th Cir.1987), Judge Henley’s opinion (joined by Judges Arnold and Ma-gill) held that the government failed to prove the requisite amount of a drug (LSD) to justify an enhanced sentence. That panel took special pains to note that it would not reach out and decide whether or not *1393facts underlying the enhanced penalty need be found by a jury, or by the trial court.3
I do not agree with the majority’s decision to address the merits of whether the statute here under consideration requires a jury or a judge to make the requisite factual determination triggering an enhanced penalty, except to observe that McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 2411, 91 L.Ed.2d 67 (1986), cited in the majority opinion. See maj. op. at 1389-90, is off the beaten path of this case. There, the Pennsylvania statute, in issue on due process grounds, specifically provided for the judge (not a jury) to impose a mandatory minimum sentence in certain felonies where the judge finds the defendant “visibly possessed a firearm.” Id. at-, 106 S.Ct. at 2414. The precise language of that statute cannot equate with the uncertainties present in the enhancement provisions of federal laws relating to crimes for possession or trafficking of various quantities of contraband drugs.
The majority has validated the sentence in this case on an issue not briefed or argued by the parties. I would leave that issue — whether the amount of cocaine is a critical element of the offense to be determined by a judge or the jury — to another day and another case where the issue is properly presented, briefed and argued by the parties.
In my view, the prosecution’s contention that the jury has found the requisite quantity of cocaine to permit the trial court to apply an enhanced penalty must be rejected. Accordingly, in the present appeal, I would vacate the twenty-year prison sentence and direct the district court to reduce the sentence for conspiracy to the maximum sentence of fifteen years.

. I recognize that Alvarez does not represent the only view about the requirement of a jury finding on the amount of drugs being necessary to support an enhanced sentence on the basis that quantity of the drug is an essential element of the crime. The majority opinion in United States v. Gibbs, 813 F.2d 596 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S.—, 108 S.Ct. 83, 98 S.Ct. 45 (1987), is to the contrary. That opinion and the dissent of then Chief Judge Aldisert contains an illuminating discussion of the issue and citation to relevant cases.

. As of this writing, no en banc opinions in Cloyd and Rush have been filed.

. In a footnote, the court stated the following:
In present circumstances, we need not address the question whether the amount of LSD is an element of the offense to be determined by the jury, or an issue for the district court at sentencing. See Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 696-701, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 1888-1890, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1974); United States v. Gibbs, 813 F.2d 596, 602-03 (3d Cir.1987) (2-1); id. at 603-07 (Aldisert, J., dissenting) (discussion of both sides of this issue).
United States v. McGeehan, 824 F.2d 677, 681-82 n. 7 (8th Cir.1987).