Mike Milanovich and Virginia Milanovich v. United States

275 F.2d 716, 1960 U.S. App. LEXIS 5196

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: March 8, 1960
• Docket: 7825
• Status: Published

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Mike Milanovich was convicted in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on a count charging him with larceny of $14,788.78 on June 2, 1958, from the United States Naval Amphibious Base at Little Creek, Virginia. His wife, Virginia Milanovich, was convicted on the same count of larceny, and also on a count charging her with receiving stolen goods (i. e., the same $14,788.78) on June 2, 1958.¹ The convictions were under 18 U.S.C.A. § 641, the first paragraph of which makes it an offense to steal property belonging to the United States, while the second paragraph makes it an offense to receive such stolen property. Both husband and wife have appealed.

The evidence against the Milanovichs consisted chiefly of the testimony of three accomplices. It was revealed that they and their three accomplices had previously planned the robbery, that all five drove at night in Mike Milanovich’s automobile to the Amphibious Base, and that the three accomplices actually broke into the commissary store on the base where they opened the safe, while the Milanovichs waited in their automobile outside the store. Because the theft took longer than had been anticipated, the Milanovichs left the base and did not wait, as had been planned, for their confederates to finish. After leaving the commissary store, the three hid the stolen money in a nearby woods on the base, and then proceeded to a prearranged meeting place where Virginia Milanovich picked them up. It is not clear from the evidence exactly when, or by whom, the money was actually retrieved, but there was testimony that more than two weeks after the theft, Virginia Milanovich assisted in the counting of it. It was also disclosed that on June 19, 1958, a suitcase was found at the Milanovich home containing $500.00, allegedly part of the loot.

On the larceny count, Mike Milanovich was sentenced to five years imprisonment, while Virginia was sentenced to ten years. The court imposed on Virginia an additional sentence of five years for receiving the stolen goods, to run concurrently with her ten year sentence for the larceny.

Six assignments of error are discussed in the appellants’ brief, but, in our view, only the first has any merit.

1. Convictions for Larceny and Receiving the Same Property

The contention is made that, in the light of her conviction upon the larceny count, Virginia Milanovich could not properly be convicted of receiving the stolen money. ' This claim of error is applicable only to Virginia Milanovich as she alone was convicted of both offenses.

Both at common law and under the federal statutes, the settled rule is that a person cannot be convicted for stealing goods and receiving them also. People v. Barnhill, 333 Ill. 150, 164 N.E. 154; People v. Daghita, 301 N.Y. 223, 93 N.E.2d 649; State v. Hamilton, 172 S.C. 453, 174 S.E. 396; Annotation 136 A.L.R. 1087; 2 Wharton’s Criminal Law and Procedure (1957 ed.) § 576; 45 Am. Jur., Receiving Stolen Property, § 2. However, there is a recognized exception that an accessory before the fact, not participating in the actual theft, who in federal law and in many states is regarded as a principal, may, nevertheless, be convicted of both larceny and receiving the stolen goods. Both the rule and exception to it have been applied in appropriate cases to federal statutory crimes, Aaronson v. United States, 4 Cir., 175 F.2d 41.

In Aaronson, where convictions for both offenses were affirmed, the defendant had agreed with two other persons that if they would steal for him certain goods from a Government warehouse, he would pay them $2,500.00. On the day of the theft, the defendant did not accompany the two thieves to the warehouse, but he met them after the theft at a considerable distance from the Government warehouse. It has been argued to us that Virginia Milanovich was much more an actual participant in the theft than was the defendant in Aaron-son, and thus the general rule prohibiting convictions for both larceny and receiving the same goods applies, rather than the limiting exception.² We do not reach this question, as we think that the Supreme Court, in Heflin v. United States, 358 U.S. 415, 79 S.Ct. 451, 3 L.Ed. 2d 407, decided after the trial of this case, has indicated the general view that in the absence of a contrary indication by Congress, a defendant charged with offenses under statutes of this character may not be convicted and punished for stealing and also for receiving the same goods.

In Heflin, which was a prosecution under the bank robbery statute [18 U.S. C.A. § 2113] it was held that Congress did not intend to subject to double punishment a person who robbed a bank and received the fruits of the robbery. The Court said, 358 U.S. at page 419, 79 S.Ct. at page 454:

“ * * * it seems clear that subsection (c) was not designed to increase the punishment for him who robs a bank but only to provide punishment for those who receive the loot from the robber. We find no purpose of Congress to pyramid penalties for lesser offenses following the robbery. * * * ”

The Court did not discuss the common law distinction between an accessory before the fact and a person actually partaking in the theft, but the language of the opinion precludes such a distinction. The decision was based, not upon any constitutional ground, but upon the view that Congress, by making it an offense to receive the stolen money, intended to reach an entirely distinct group of persons, and not to proliferate the punishment of those who commit robbery in violation of the statute. In saying “ * -» * we think Congress was trying to reach a new group of wrongdoers, not to multiply the offense of the bank robbers themselves,” the Supreme Court would seem to refute any suggestion of a congressional purpose to draw a technical line whereby, while the thief may not be prosecuted as a receiver, his accessory may be answerable for both offenses.

The Government, however, argues that the Heflin decision is not applicable here because it involved the bank robbery statute [18 U.S.C.A. § 2113] with its particular legislative history, while the case before us involves another statute, that dealing with the theft of Government property [18 U.S.C.A. § 641]. We perceive no differences between the two statutes or their legislative histories justifying divergent interpretations in respect to the issue before us. In each statute, the first part makes the theft itself a crime, while a subsequently added paragraph deals with receivers of the stolen property. In Heflin, the Supreme Court, after observing that the legislative history of § 2113(c) was meager, pointed out that subsection (c), dealing with receiving, came into the law later than the subsection pertaining to the actual robbing of a bank. The same, however, is true of § 641, under which Virginia Milanovich was prosecuted. The first paragraph, making it an offense to steal Government property, has its origin in the act of March 2, 1863, ch. 67, 12 Stat. 696, 698; the second paragraph, pertaining to receivers, is derived from the act of March 3, 1875, ch. 144, § 2, 18 Stat. 479. The Government has failed to point out anything in the legislative history of the two sections requiring different constructions. Moreover, we find no reason to think that it was the congressional purpose to punish for stealing Government property and also for receiving the same, although it is now settled that one may not be convicted for robbing a bank and also for receiving the fruits of the crime.

Virginia Milanovich received concurrent sentences, ten years upon the conviction for larceny and five years upon the conviction for receiving the stolen money. Though we think the sentence for receiving should be stricken, we appropriately affirm the judgment of commitment which is fully supported by the conviction on the larceny count.

The application of the rule, that one who procures, aids or supports a larceny to such an extent that he is properly convicted as a principal may not also be punished for receiving the loot creates no inconsistency in the verdict. It does not obscure the jury’s finding. Though we now hold, following Heflin, that the statute which makes receipt of the money a Federal crime was intended to reach a class of persons other than those guilty of the larceny, it is only because this defendant stands properly convicted of the larceny that the rule comes into play. Under these circumstances, avoidance of proliferation of the offense of larceny requires the vacation of the sentence for receiving the money; it does not infect the conviction on the larceny count.

Clearly, the jury found that Virginia Milanovich aided and participated in the larceny to such an extent as to warrant her conviction of larceny. The verdict of guilty on the larceny count is abundantly supported by the evidence.

It is suggested that, if properly instructed, the jury might have found her guilty of receiving rather than of larceny. If we accept the facts as found by the jury, as we must, the jury had no such alternative. Only if the jury found that she was innocent of the larceny and that possession of the money was not hers, actually or constructively, from the time of taking, could it have properly-found her guilty on the receiving count. Since, plainly, the jury did find that she was a participant in the larceny, its only-alternative, under the rule of law we now declare, was to convict her of larceny and acquit her on the receiving count.

In light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Heflin, we think the appropriate instruction to the jury should have been to acquit on the receiving count if it should find her guilty on the larceny count. Since the jury’s findings are plain, this conditional direction of an acquittal on the receiving count can be done as well after the verdict as before. This is what the Supreme Court did in Heflin.

The case is within the rule of affirmance of the judgment of commitment if supported by a proper conviction upon one count notwithstanding the fact that a' concurrent sentence was improperly imposed upon another count. Heflin v. United States, 358 U.S. 415, 79 S.Ct. 451, 3 L.Ed.2d 407; Hirabayshi v. United States, 320 U.S. 81, 63 S.Ct. 1375, 87 L.Ed. 1774; Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616, 40 S.Ct. 17, 63 L.Ed. 1173; Claassen v. United States, 142 U.S. 140, 12 S.Ct. 169, 35 L.Ed. 966; Harms v. United States, 4 Cir., 272 F.2d 478.

The sentence on the receiving count will be vacated, but that does not require a reversal of the judgment.

2. Other Assignments of Error

Five other assignments of error are made on behalf of both appellants, but, in our view, none of them warrants extensive discussion. At the beginning of the trial, the court granted the defendants’ motion to exclude the witnesses. However, the trial judge refused the defendants’ further request that the witnesses be instructed not to discuss their testimony. The exclusion of witnesses from the courtroom is discretionary, and it has been further held, in an opinion of Judge Learned Hand, United States v. Chiarella, 2 Cir., 184 F. 2d 903, 907, that: “A fortiori an instruction to them not to discuss the evidence while out of the courtroom is also discretionary.” It does not appear here that the witnesses did communicate concerning their testimony, and no prejudice to the defendants and no abuse of discretion is shown. We wish to indicate our view, however, that ordinarily, when a judge exercises his discretion to exclude witnesses from the courtroom, it would seem proper for him to take the further step of making the exclusion effective to accomplish the desired result of preventing the witnesses from comparing the testimony they are about to give. If witnesses are excluded but not cautioned against communicating during the trial, the benefit of the exclusion may be largely destroyed.

The next asserted error is that the court improperly limited cross-examination of one of the Government’s witnesses. The limits imposed were not improper because the point sought to be developed had already been inquired into at great length. The defense attorney-persisted in cross-examining about the witness’ possession of a key to a certain apartment. The court made it clear that the cross-examiner was free to interrogate fully as to the relationship between the witness and the girl he had been visiting, and the restriction was merely against an indirect attack on the reputation of a person not then on the stand.

It is claimed that the court erred in its refusal to instruct the jury that where the Government relies on circumstantial evidence, such evidence must exclude every reasonable hypothesis except guilt. This instruction was requested in amplification of the judge’s charge. While there are precedents in lower courts for such an instruction, the Supreme Court has deprecated it. Circumstantial evidence has been said by the Court to be intrinsically like direct evidence; both kinds involve danger of error and always the jury must weigh the evidence and the inferences to be drawn. Where the jury has been adequately instructed on the required standards of proof and the law of reasonable doubt, an additional instruction of the type requested on circumstantial evidence is unnecessary and has been called “confusing and incorrect,” Holland v. United States, 348 U.S. 121, 139, 75 S.Ct. 127, 137, 99 L.Ed. 150.

The appellants claim to have been prejudiced by the trial judge’s rebuking a Government witness. The witness did not, when first asked a question by the prosecutor, answer correctly, and then after the correct answer was elicited, the court merely admonished her to tell the truth. The court’s action was entirely proper, and it is difficult to see how it could have been prejudicial to the defendants.

The last alleged error relates to the trial judge’s urging the jury to try to come to an agreement. After the jury had deliberated many hours, the trial judge gave them supplemental instructions on the importance of attempting to reach a verdict. We find in these instructions no undue pressure on any of the jurors to change their views.

Affirmed.

1 . Both were also charged with larceny and receiving stolen goods from a Naval Air Station at Norfolk on May 17, 1958, but the jury acquitted, and we are not hero concerned with these counts.

2 . The authorities appear to be in conflict where one is present at the scene of the crime, aiding in the commission of the larceny, but not taking part in the actual caption of the property; some eases hold that sueb person may be convicted of both larceny and receiving, while others hold that this may not be done. See Annotation 136 A.L.R. 1087, pp. 1101-1103.