Court Opinion

ID: 9651164
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 16:09:25.4907+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:19:35.576076
License: Public Domain

PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I dissent from that part of the opinion which upholds the sufficiency of the indictments in Numbers 2807 and 2808.
It is not sufficient to charge a conspiracy in general terms. The unlawful agreement and the unlawful purpose must be set forth with sufficient particularity to enable the defendant to ascertain from the charge itself what he is called upon to answer, to prepare his defense and get the witnesses to meet the charge and, if necessary, to plead the judgment on such charge as a bar to a second prosecution for the same offense. “A crime is made up of acts and intent; and these must be set forth in the indictment, with reasonable particularity of time, place, and circumstances.” Every element of the offense “must be accurately and clearly alleged.” United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542, 558, 23 L.Ed. 588.
In Number 2807 the indictment alleges that the defendants engaged in a conspiracy from on or about January 1, 1920, until January 20, 1943, a period slightly in excess of 23 years; that the defendants carried on their business through 2825 stores, in 1029 towns, in 20 states and in the District of Columbia; and that the conspiracy was carried out in part in the District of Kansas, and “in many states of the United States.”
In Number 2808 the indictment alleges that the defendants engaged in a conspiracy from January 1, 1917, to January 20, 1943; a period slightly in excess of 26 years; that the defendants carried on their business through 3422 stores, in 19 states; and that the conspiracy was carried out in part in the District of Kansas, and “in many states of the United States.”
At the oral argument, counsel for the government admitted it did not rely upon an express agreement or conspiracy, but upon acts and circumstances from which a conspiracy may be implied. In neither indictment is the time, place, and circumstances of the alleged long-continuing conspiracies set forth with particularity. It follows that the defendants in each case must be prepared to defend their entire conduct with respect to the matters charged against them over a period of approximately a quarter of a century, and in a great number of cities and towns throughout a large number of the states of the United States. To prepare a defense to the charges laid would be most difficult if not impossible. It imposes an unnecessary burden which can and should be avoided. The sufficiency of an indictment should be determined by practical, not purely technical, considerations. The test should be, does it, under all the circumstances of the case, tell the defendant all that he needs to know to enable him to prepare his defense, and does it so specify that with which he is charged that he will not be in danger of being a second time put in jeopardy?1
I agree that it is not necessary to plead, with particularity, the time, place, and circumstances of the manner and means of effecting the objects of the conspiracy. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 66, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680. But it does seem to *836me that the time, place, and circumstance of the unlawful agreement should be pleaded with particularity. Paragraph 23 of the indictment in Number 2807 and Paragraph 20 of the indictment in Number 2808 do plead the terms of the alleged unlawful agreements. But neither alleges them with any particularity as to time, place, or circumstance, leaving the government free to prove acts and conduct from which it will ask the jury to infer the unlawful agreement, in Number 2807 limited only with respect to time to a period in excess of 23 years and with respect to place within 20 states of the Union and in the District of Columbia, and in Number 2808 limited only with respect to time to a period in excess of 26 years and with respect to place within 19 states of the Union. One of the terms of both the conspiracies as charged is that the defendants would select local areas wherein they would use their dominant advantage to injure and destroy the competition of independent grocers, meat dealers, and small, local food ¡'stores. Another term of both of the conspiracies as charged is that the defendants would systematically prevent competition in selected trade areas. The government expects to prove facts and circumstances from which it will ask the jury to infer that the defendants so agreed and conspired. If the unlawful agreement was an implied one, arising out of acts and conduct on the part of the defendants, then the time and place of the unlawful agreement were coincident with the time and place, of such acts and conduct, and that time and place should be alleged in the indictments.
I see no reason why the government should not allege, and, indeed; it seems to me it should be required to allege, in each indictment, with reasonable particularity the period within which it expects to prove the acts and conduct from which such term of the conspiracy may be implied, and with , reasonable particularity the place or places at which such acts and conduct took place. The same is true with respect to the other terms of the conspiracy alleged in Paragraph 23 in Number 2807 and the terms of the conspiracy alleged in Paragraph 20 in Number 2808. If the exact time was unknown to the grand jurors, that fact could be alleged, but with reasonable approximation the government should be able to allege the period of time within which such acts and conduct occurred and the place or places where they occurred. I do not mean that the government should have alleged the acts and conduct, but rather that it should have alleged the time and place of such acts and conduct, as for example, “in continuation of, and as a part of the same combination and conspiracy, the defendants between the first day of December, 1926, and the first day of December, 1927, the exact date being to the grand jurors unknown, in the states of Ohio and California, the exact places being to the grand jurors unknown, conspired and agreed to select local areas wherein they would use their dominant advantage to injure and destroy the competition of independent grocers, meat dealers, and small local food stores.” The times and places in the example, of course, are improvised. By so doing, the government would meet the requirements laid down in the Cruikshank case that the acts and the intent which make up the crime must be set forth in the indictment with reasonable particularity as to time, place, and circumstance.
There áre practical reasons why the requirement of particularity should be strictly adhered 'to in a conspiracy charge. It is a well-known fact that the preparation of a defense to a conspiracy charge imposes a most difficult task and the government should not be permitted to increase that difficulty by resorting to general allegations in the indictment.
Both indictments charge a conspiracy “to restrain interstate trade and commerce in food and food products.” In neither indictment is the phrase defined with particularity. The food and food products dealt in by the defendants embrace a vast number of items. It seems to me that the indictments should charge the general categories of food and food products, as for example, “fresh fruits and vegetables,” “canned fruits and vegetables,” “coffees, teas, and spices,” so that the defendants will know the categories of food and food products with respect to which they are charged to have conspired to restrain interstate trade and commerce, and thus be able to prepare their defense.
‘For the foregoing reasons, and the reasons stated by Judge VAUGHT in his dissenting opinion filed to the first opinion, now withdrawn, in Numbers 2807 and 2808, it is my opinion that the demurrers to the indictments were properly sustained. A copy of such dissenting opinion is appended hereto.