Court Opinion

ID: 9446089
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:45:54.963166+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:31.245731
License: Public Domain

*558On Petition for Rehearing
Before BIGGS, Chief Judge, and MARIS, GOODRICH, McLAUGHLIN, KALODNER, STALEY and HASTIE, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM.
In a petition for rehearing the defendant raises for the first time the point that the statute of limitations bars this prosecution. There is good authority which holds that this objection comes too late when presented at this stage. Forthoffer v. Swope, 9 Cir., 1939, 103 F.2d 707; Pruett v. United States, 9 Cir., 1925, 3 F.2d 353; cf. United States v. Franklin, 7 Cir., 1951, 188 F.2d 182.
Regardless of timeliness, however, we think the contention has no merit. 26 U.S.C.A. § 3748 provides:
“(a) Criminal prosecutions. No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished, for any of the various offenses arising under the internal revenue laws of the United States unless the indictment is found or the information instituted within three years next after the commission of the offense, except that the period of limitation shall be six years—
“(1) for offenses involving the defrauding or attempting to defraud the United States or any agency thereof, whether by conspiracy or not, and in any manner,”
Paragraph (1) covers the charge here involved as the opinion of the court, filed February 14, 1958, shows.
In accord with our conclusion is United States v. Witt, 2 Cir., 1954, 215 F.2d 580, which the defendant believes to be wrong but which we think is right. Grunewald v. United States, 1957, 353 U.S. 391, 77 S.Ct. 963, 1 L.Ed.2d 931, cited to us, was a prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 371, and is not in point here.
The final question is whether § 201 of the Miscellaneous Title to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 68A Stat. 929, 26 U.S.C.A. § 3748(a) decreased the period applicable to violations of 26 U.S. C.A. § 4047(e) (4) from six to five years. We think not. We agree with the Government that the purpose was to increase the period of limitations from three to five years in certain instances, but not to decrease the limit as to those offenses which were already covered by the six-year limitation period. This is borne out by such legislative history as there is upon the point. See 100 Cong.Rec. 9490-92, 12532-34 (1954); H.R.Rep. No. 2543, at 86, 3 U.S.Cong. & Adm. News, 83d Cong., 2d Sess. 5438 (1954).
The petition for rehearing is hereby denied.