United States v. Clark

844 F. Supp. 1143, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2621, 1994 WL 65683
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedFebruary 4, 1994
DocketNo. 4:93-CR-130-Y
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 844 F. Supp. 1143 (United States v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Clark, 844 F. Supp. 1143, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2621, 1994 WL 65683 (N.D. Tex. 1994).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS

MEANS, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is defendant REUBEN F. CLARK’s (“Clark”) motion to dismiss, filed December 7, 1993. After careful consideration of said motion, response, and the applicable law, the Court is of the opinion that the motion should be DENIED.

On November 4, 1993, Clark was indicted for conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C. §§ 2312 & 2313, and for 23 violations of those statutes. Section 2312 makes it a crime to transport “in interstate or foreign commerce a motor vehicle ... knowing the same to have been stolen....” Section 2313 makes it a crime to receive, possess, conceal, store, barter, sell or dispose of any motor vehicle which has crossed a state or United States boundary after being stolen, knowing the vehicle to have been stolen. Clark was indicted along with two other defendants, who have since plead guilty.

When considering Defendant’s motion to dismiss, the Court accepts as true the allegations contained in the indictment. 1 Charles A. Wright, Federal Practice & Procedure § 194 (1982). The indictment in this case charges that Clark and others transported numerous vehicles, which they knew to be stolen, from Texas to Oklahoma and disposed of them in that state. Thus, accepting those allegations as true, the government has presented a valid case against the defendant. Nevertheless, Defendant contends that even when accepting the government’s allegations as true, the indictment should be dismissed based upon three grounds: (1) federal jurisdiction was “manufactured” by government agents, (2) the actions of the government constitute outrageous conduct in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, (3) the indictment violates the principle [1145]*1145of federalism set forth in the Tenth Amendment.

I. MANUFACTURING FEDERAL JURISDICTION

Defendant argues that he “finds himself in federal court solely at the bidding of the law enforcement’s undercover operation which required the defendants to deliver the stolen vehicles ... just across the Texas/Oklahoma border near Thackerville, Oklahoma.” (Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss at 2.) Thus, Defendant contends, because no federal crime would have taken place but for the government’s request that the vehicles be delivered out of state, federal jurisdiction does not exist. Courts that have considered similar arguments have generally rejected them.

The seminal case considering a claim of artificially created jurisdiction is United States v. Archer, 486 F.2d 670 (2d Cir.1973). The case involved a complex scheme by government agents to ferret out corruption in New York City’s justice system. The Court found that federal jurisdiction had been improperly manufactured where federal agents feigned an arrest and tried to make payments to local officials to avoid conviction. One agent, after realizing the investigation had discovered only state crimes, crossed state lines to telephone one of the subjects, thereby using a facility in interstate commerce and creating a nexus for federal jurisdiction. The Archer case is often cited by defendants to support the proposition that the government cannot “manufacture” federal jurisdiction. However, courts considering such claims virtually always distinguish Archer. In fact, as noted by the Fifth Circuit, the Archer court on reconsideration emphasized that the decision “went no further than to hold that when the federal element in a prosecution under the Travel Act is furnished solely by undercover agents, a stricter standard is applicable than when the interstate or foreign activities are those of the defendants themselves.... ” Id. at 685-86 (cited in United States v. Perrin, 580 F.2d 730, 736 (5th Cir.1978), aff'd on other grounds, 444 U.S. 37, 100 S.Ct. 311, 62 L.Ed.2d 199 (1979)).

Courts considering claims of manufactured federal jurisdiction have generally focused on two factors: (1) as suggested by the above Archer quote, whether it was the defendants themselves or government agents who committed the act that made the crime federal, which is invariably an act with an interstate element, and (2) whether the act providing the interstate nexus, which is presumably directed by the government to some extent, has significance in the case other than providing federal jurisdiction.

A. Who Committed the Act Upon Which Federal Jurisdiction is Based?

In Archer, the government asserted federal jurisdiction based upon defendants’ receipt of interstate telephone calls.1 As one court has noted, “the defendant in Archer neither agreed to do nor did anything with interstate consequences; the federal officials did it all.” United States v. Podolsky, 625 F.Supp. 188, 194 (N.D.Ill.1985), aff'd, 798 F.2d 177 (7th Cir.1986).

Courts considering cases similar to the one at bar, where the defendants themselves carried out the acts with interstate significance, have consistently held that federal jurisdiction is properly invoked. See id.; United States v. Peters, 952 F.2d 960 (7th Cir.) (discussed infra at 5-6), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1277, 117 L.Ed.2d 503 (1992); United States v. Lau Tung Lam, 714 F.2d 209 (2d Cir.) (discussed infra at 6-7), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 942, 104 S.Ct. 359, 78 L.Ed.2d 322 (1983); Perrin, 580 F.2d at 736 (interstate nexus alleged was supplied by phone call made by defendant, not government agent); United States v. Marcello, 537 F.Supp. 1364, 1374-75 (E.D.La.1982) (defendants mailed insurance contract in furtherance of bribery scheme at direction of the government), aff'd, 703 F.2d 805 (5th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 935, 104 S.Ct. 341, 78 L.Ed.2d 309 (1983). In fact, several [1146]*1146courts have rejected the manufactured jurisdiction argument even where government agents have themselves performed the interstate act, provided the defendant encouraged or was aware of the interstate element. See United States v. Smith, 749 F.2d 1568, 1569 (11th Cir.) (fact that interstate element of federal crime satisfied by travel'of government agent does not bar conviction where defendant caused undercover FBI agent to travel in interstate commerce to execute scheme), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1137, 105 S.Ct. 2680, 86 L.Ed.2d 698 (1985); United States v. Bagnariol, 665 F.2d 877, 899 (9th Cir.1981) (Travel Act conviction upheld where defendant caused government agent to place interstate telephone call), cert.

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Related

United States v. Reuben F. Clark
62 F.3d 110 (Fifth Circuit, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
844 F. Supp. 1143, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2621, 1994 WL 65683, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-clark-txnd-1994.