United States v. Barash

266 F. Supp. 126, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9563
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided December 7, 1966·No. No. 65 Cr. 243·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

BRYAN, District Judge:

Defendant Barash, an accountant and lawyer, was originally convicted on 26 counts of a 32 count indictment charging various violations of law with respect to payments to internal revenue agents in connection with their office audit examinations of income tax returns of his clients. The Court of Appeals unanimously reversed the conviction for a variety of errors committed at the trial and remanded for a new trial. United States v. Barash, 365 F.2d 395 (2 Cir. 1966).

Barash now moves (1) to dismiss either Counts 1-6, 8-12,14 and 16, charging violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 201 and 201(b),1 or Counts 16, 21-26, and 28-32, charging violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 201(b) and 26 U.S.C. § 7214(a) (2), or, in the alternative, to require the United States to elect between the two groups of counts; and (2) to sever Counts 16 and 20.

Counts 1-6, 8-12, H and Counts 21-26, 28-32.

Barash’s primary claim is that he may not be tried simultaneously on Counts 1-6, 8-12 and 14, on the one hand, and Counts 21-26 and 28-32, on the other. Counts 1-6, 8-12 and 14 charge violations of 18 U.S.C. § 201 (or 201(b) depending upon the time of the alleged offense) and allege in substance that Barash knowingly gave money to Internal Revenue employees “with intent to influence their decisions and actions on questions * * * then pending * * * [128] before them in their official capacities.” 2 These counts will be referred to as the bribery counts.

Counts 21-26 and 28-32, which relate to the same payments referred to in the bribery counts, charge that Barash aided and abetted the same Internal Revenue employees in receiving illegal fees for the performance of their duties in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2, and 26 U.S.C. § 7214(a) (2).3 These counts will be referred to as the aiding and abetting counts.

Barash claims in essence that under Milanovich v. United States, 365 U.S. 551, 81 S.Ct. 728, 5 L.Ed.2d 773 (1961) and Heflin v. United States, 358 U.S. 415, 79 S.Ct. 451, 3 L.Ed.2d 407 (1959), the Government cannot proceed against him on both the bribery counts and the aiding and abetting counts. Barash maintains that he has been “charged in one indictment with the crime of bribing Internal Revenue Agents and in separate counts with the crime of receiving those bribes from himself.”4 Under these circumstances, it is said, Congress could not have intended to “pyramid penalties” for essentially the same criminal acts. 358 U.S. at 419, 79 S.Ct. 451.

On the merits Barash’s claims appear to be foreclosed by recent decisions of the Court of Appeals of this Circuit. It is settled that a payor of a bribe can be charged and convicted of aiding and abetting violations of 26 U.S. C. § 7214(a) (2). United States v. Kenner, 354 F.2d 780 (2 Cir. 1965), cert. den., 383 U.S. 958, 86 S.Ct. 1223, 16 L.Ed.2d 301 (1966). Furthermore, in United States v. Umans, 368 F.2d 725 (2 Cir. 1966), cert. granted, 386 U.S. 940, 87 S.Ct. 975, 17 L.Ed.2d 872 (1967), the Court of Appeals affirmed a conviction of the payor of a bribe to Internal Revenue employees both for bribery as a principal under 18 U.S.C. § 201 and as an aider and abettor of the employees’ violations under 26 U.S.C. § 7214(a) (2). As appears from the indictment, the same nine illegal payments formed the basis for nine bribery counts and nine aiding and abetting counts. Though the Court in Umans did not specifically refer to Milanovich, it reversed convictions on three other' counts charging violations of 18 U.S.C. § 201(f) — making it a crime to pay a public official “for or because of any official act”5 — because defendant had also been convicted on three § 201(b) bribery counts for the same criminal acts. Reversal was thought to be necessary on these counts because:

“the correct relationship between § 201 (b) and § 201(f) is that § 201(f) is a lesser included offense of § 201(b). There is no reason to believe that Congress intended that there should bt concurrent convictions and sentences under both sections, and we should not allow multiple convictions based on the same transactions even where the sentences are concurrent. The sentences on the § 201(f) counts therefore are vacated.” 368 F.2d at 730.

However, since the court affirmed the convictions on the other counts evidently [129] it was of the view that the defendant could be tried simultaneously for the same criminal acts for bribery under § 201 and for aiding and abetting under § 7214(a) (2). Contrast Model Penal Code § 1.07 (Proposed Official Draft, 1962).

But it is unnecessary finally to resolve that question on this motion. Even assuming that Barash’s contentions have merit, they cannot be disposed of by motion to dismiss. In Milanovich the Supreme Court held that a defendant could not be convicted of both stealing and receiving the same goods he has stolen. However, the Court did not require dismissal of one of the counts or election between them prior to trial. It held, rather, “that the trial judge erred in not charging that the jury could convict of either larceny or receiving, but not of both.” 365 U.S. at 555, 81 S.Ct. at 730.

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United States v. Barash, 266 F. Supp. 126, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9563 (S.D.N.Y. 1966).

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