State v. Sharkey

574 N.W.2d 6, 1997 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 354, 1997 WL 800341
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 24, 1997
Docket95-2078
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 574 N.W.2d 6 (State v. Sharkey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Sharkey, 574 N.W.2d 6, 1997 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 354, 1997 WL 800341 (iowa 1997).

Opinion

LARSON, Justice.

Dennis J. Sharkey, Jr. was convicted of unlawful disposal of hazardous waste under Iowa Code section 716B.2 (1995) and unlawful storage of hazardous waste under Iowa Code section 716B.4. He appealed on the grounds of double jeopardy and collateral estoppel because earlier he had been found guilty of contempt and sentenced for violating injunctions relating to his storage activities. We affirm his convictions.

I. The Facts.

Sharkey operated a salvage yard near Du-buque. Three parcels of land are involved, parcels “A,” “B,” and “D.” In September 1980 a district court entered a permanent injunction restraining Sharkey, in part, from causing or allowing open burning on parcels A and B and from operating a junkyard without a special-use permit.

In September 1988 Sharkey was enjoined from filling or excavating without permits on parcel B, conducting salvage operations, and storing materials outside the fenced salvage yard. He was also enjoined from conducting or allowing landfilling on parcel D with solid waste and allowing open burning on any of the property. That decree also required that Sharkey take certain abatement actions, including the removal and disposal of illegal buildings on parcel A, erecting a suitable fence of at least eight feet in height around the salvage yard on parcel B, removing and disposing of junk and vehicles stored outside the salvage area on parcel B, and removing vehicles and junk on parcel D.

In October 1994 the Dubuque County Attorney filed contempt charges against Shar-key for violation of these injunctions. The court found Sharkey guilty of contempt for violating numerous provisions of the court orders. The court fined Sharkey $500 and imposed a jail sentence of six months.

Meanwhile, in October 1994 the State charged Sharkey with five criminal violations relating to his operation of the junkyard and filling activities, four counts of illegal storage and disposal of hazardous waste, and one count of receiving stolen property. Sharkey was found guilty of two counts (illegal storage and disposal of hazardous material), fined $5000, and sentenced to two years imprisonment on each conviction.

II. The Double Jeopardy Argument.

Sharkey contends that his prosecution has subjected him to double jeopardy because of his earlier punishment for contempt. Contempt proceedings are “quasi-criminal,” Phillips v. Iowa Dist. Ct., 380 N.W.2d 706, 708-09 (Iowa 1986), and the State concedes that criminal contempt implicates double jeopardy protections. See United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 696, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 2856, 125 L.Ed.2d 556, 568 (1993); State v. Kraklio, 560 N.W.2d 16, 19 (Iowa 1997). The State contends, however, that Sharkey’s convictions under chapter 716B and the contempt orders involved distinct offenses and double jeopardy is therefore not implicated.

Under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, “[n]o person shall ... be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” See also Iowa Const, art. I, § 12. The Fifth Amendment guarantee against double jeopardy applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969). The Unit *8 ed States Supreme Court has described double jeopardy protections as follows:

[The double jeopardy] guarantee has been said to consist of three separate constitutional protections. It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal. It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction. And it protects against multiple punishments for the same offense.

North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 2076, 23 L.Ed.2d 656, 664-65 (1969) (footnotes omitted) (overruled in part on other grounds by Alabama v. Smith, 490 U.S. 794, 109 S.Ct. 2201, 104 L.Ed.2d 865 (1989)). The Court also noted that, “the Constitution was designed as much to prevent the criminal from being twice punished for the same offence as from being twice tried for it.” Id. at 718, 89 S.Ct. at 2077, 23 L.Ed.2d at 665 (quoting Ex Parte Lange, 85 U.S. 163, 173, 18 Wall. 163, 173, 21 L.Ed. 872, 878 (1873)).

The seminal case for double jeopardy analysis is Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). That case held:

The applicable rule is that, where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.

Blockburger, 284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. at 182, 76 L.Ed. at 309. Sharkey argues that he was convicted on the criminal charges with the same evidence and witnesses used in the contempt proceeding, and the convictions arose from the same events.

In determining whether separate punishment might be imposed, Blockburger requires that courts examine the offenses to ascertain “whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not.” As Blockburger and other decisions applying its principle reveal, the Court’s application of the test focuses on the statutory elements of the offense. If each requires proof of a fact that the other does not, the Blockburger test is satisfied, notwithstanding a substantial overlap in the proof offered to establish the crimes.

Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 785 n. 17, 95 S.Ct. 1284, 1293 n. 17, 43 L.Ed.2d 616, 627 n. 17 (1975) (citations omitted).

The Supreme Court case of Dixon provided additional analysis of the same-elements test and marked a return to the Blockburger test after the Court had used a same-conduct test in Grady v. Corbin, 495 U.S. 508, 110 S.Ct. 2084, 109 L.Ed.2d 548 (1990). A majority in Dixon overruled Grady. Dixon, 509 U.S. at 704, 113 S.Ct. at 2860, 125 L.Ed.2d at 573.

In our Kraklio case, the conduct restrained by an injunction was the collecting of fees under false pretenses.

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Bluebook (online)
574 N.W.2d 6, 1997 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 354, 1997 WL 800341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sharkey-iowa-1997.