Court Opinion

ID: 9475794
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:38:23.037137+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:56.280371
License: Public Domain

MERRITT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The issue presented- by this appeal is whether the substantive and conspiracy RICO offenses are the same, thus making separate punishments impermissible under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the United States Constitution. Unlike the majority, I find that under the facts of this case, the offenses are the same, and I therefore dissent.
The RICO enterprise charged and proved in this case is that defendant Evan Calla-nan, Sr.’s judicial office was conducted through a pattern of criminal activity, namely, taking bribes to fix cases. The *549conspiracy charged was the agreement to take money to fix cases. This agreement was essential to the government’s proof on the substantive offense. In order for the defendants charged in the RICO substantive offense to conduct the enterprise in this way they necessarily had to agree to do it. This agreement is the conspiracy offense charged and proved — nothing more, nothing less. The government’s proof on the conspiracy count was an essential element, a lesser included offense, of the substantive offense.
The Double Jeopardy Clause protects against multiple punishments for the same offense. Ohio v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 493, 498, 104 S.Ct. 2536, 2540, 81 L.Ed.2d 425 (1984). This protection against cumulative punishments is intended to guarantee that the sentencing discretion of courts is confined to the limits established by the legislature. Thus, the question of whether punishments are multiple “is essentially one of legislative intent.” See id. at 499, 104 S.Ct. at 2541 (citing Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U.S. 359, 366-68, 103 S.Ct. 673, 678-79, 74 L.Ed.2d 535 (1983)). When legislative intent is unclear, however, the question of whether multiple punishments are permissible is governed by the test established in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), and its progeny. See Albernaz v. United States, 450 U.S. 333, 337, 101 S.Ct. 1137, 1141, 67 L.Ed.2d 275 (1981); Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 691, 100 S.Ct. 1432, 1437, 63 L.Ed.2d 715 (1980); Pandelli v. United States, 635 F.2d 533 (6th Cir.1980). The assumption under the Blockburger test is that Congress ordinarily does not intend to punish the same behavior under separate statutes. Ball v. United States, 470 U.S. 856, 859, 105 S.Ct. 1668, 1670, 84 L.Ed.2d 740 (1985).
There is no evidence of Congressional intent that conspiracy and the underlying substantive offense should be separately punishable in all cases. Although the reach of the RICO statute was clearly intended to be broad, nothing in the legislative history indicates that Congress intended to authorize multiple punishments for substantive and conspiracy offenses where the conspiracy charged is an essential element of the substantive offense. Where actual Congressional intent is unclear, the Blockburger standard is applied to determine whether multiple punishments are permissible.
The Blockburger test traditionally required that the reviewing court consider the two statutes in the abstract and determine whether each statute “requires proof of a fact that the other does not.” Over time, the Blockburger test has been refined, and it is now clear that the requisite statutory elements must be examined from the vantage point of the particular case before the court. See Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. at 694, 100 S.Ct. at 1439. This court has held that “[w]hat the reviewing court must now do in applying Blockburger is go further and look to the legal theory of the case or the elements of the specific cause of action for which the defendant was convicted without examining the facts in detail.” Pandelli v. United States, 635 F.2d at 538. But see United States v. Finazzo, 704 F.2d 300 (6th Cir.1983), which fails to recognize and apply the more refined test developed in Whalen and Pandelli.1
*550Applying this standard to the facts of this case, it is clear that the conspiracy is a lesser included offense of the substantive charge. The nature of the offense charged in this case — exacting bribes — necessarily requires an agreement to exact those bribes. This agreement cannot then provide the basis for conviction and punishment for conspiracy, in addition to conviction and punishment for the substantive offense of taking bribes. This agreement was the government’s sole proof of conspiracy in this case, and the government does not deny that the proof on the two charges was identical. United States v. Qaoud, 777 F.2d 1105, 1118 (6th Cir.1985). For these reasons, I would find that in the context of this case, these offenses are identical and, therefore, separate punishments are impermissible.
The correctness of this result is also suggested by United States v. Sutton, 642 F.2d 1001 (6th Cir.1980) (en banc). In that case, this court held that where the proof presented for a RICO substantive and conspiracy offense is identical, the conspiracy conviction merges with the substantive offense. The court therefore required concurrent sentences.
In Ball, the Supreme Court held that where offenses merge under the Blockbur-ger standard it is not sufficient to require concurrent sentences; rather, one of the convictions must be vacated. 470 U.S. at 865, 105 S.Ct. at 1673. The Court reasoned that the separate conviction has potential adverse consequences beyond the mere sentence which are impermissible under the Double Jeopardy Clause. Id.
Analyzing Sutton and Ball together requires vacation of the conspiracy conviction in this case. In Sutton, this court held that where the government’s proof is identical, a RICO conspiracy count merges with the substantive offense. In Ball, the Supreme Court held that merger requires the vacation of the second conviction. Therefore, the petitioner’s conspiracy conviction should be vacated.
Accordingly, I dissent.

. The fundamental difference between my position and that of the majority is that the majority also relies on the historical Blockburger analysis rejected by the Supreme Court in Whalen and this court in Pandelli. The majority considers whether in the abstract the substantive offense and the conspiracy could require different proofs. After determining theoretically that the RICO conspiracy charge could require proof of an agreement which the RICO substantive offense may not, the majority decides that the Blockburger test has been met. This reasoning is incorrect under Whalen and Pandelli Whalen and Pandelli require the court to consider whether the agreement which formed the basis for the conspiracy was, in fact, the same agreement which formed the basis for the enterprise, which was the substantive offense in this case. Applying this analysis, the agreement was the same in this case and therefore multiple punishments are impermissible under the Double Jeopardy Clause.
*553(emphasis supplied). Defendant contends that a law is not state law under 29 U.S.C. § 1144(c)(2) unless it “purports to regulate” a benefit plan.
Other jurisdictions have concluded that a state law is not preempted by ERISA unless it "relates to” and "purports to regulate” a plan. See, e.g., Martori Bros. Distributors v. James-Massengale, 781 F.2d 1349, 1356-59 (9th Cir.1986); Rebaldo v. Cuomo, 749 F.2d 133, 137 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 472 U.S. 1008, 105 S.Ct. 2702, 86 L.Ed.2d 718 (1985). Our conclusion that the Akron ordinance does not "relate to” an ERISA plan makes it unnecessary to reach the "purports to regulate” issue. "As a logical matter, if a state law does not 'relate to’ ERISA plans, it cannot 'purport to regulate’ them, for ‘relates’ includes, but is much broader than, ‘purports to regulate.’” Martori Bros. Distributors, 781 F.2d at 1359.