United States v. Collins

756 F. Supp. 1253, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2119, 1991 WL 19264
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedJanuary 30, 1991
DocketNo. 89-00083-01/03-CR-W-H-M
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 756 F. Supp. 1253 (United States v. Collins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Collins, 756 F. Supp. 1253, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2119, 1991 WL 19264 (W.D. Mo. 1991).

Opinion

ORDER

SCOTT O. WRIGHT, Chief Judge.

This case is on appeal to the District Court from a jury trial before Magistrate John T. Maughmer. Defendants were convicted on three counts of misdemeanor violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 842(j), 844(b), and 2(a). Defendants on appeal allege six errors requiring either an order of acquittal, dismissal of the indictment or a new trial. For the following reasons, this Court affirms defendants’ convictions.

FACTS

Norman Collins is owner, president and CEO of Mountain Plains Construction, Inc. (“Mountain Plains”). Mountain Plains is incorporated in Texas and registered as a foreign corporation in Missouri, Kansas and several other states. James McRey-nolds was the Project Foreman at Mountain Plains’ mid-town freeway job site. The mid-town freeway job site was a blasting site located at 87th Street and 71 Highway in South Kansas City, Missouri.

Early on November 29, 1988, a fire was started at this location. Firemen arrived at the scene. Soon afterwards, a trailer exploded, killing several of the firemen. Sometime later, a second trailer exploded.

ATF agents later arrived at the site of the explosion. During their inspection they discovered that the two trailers had contained explosives and that there were two other explosives magazines on the site which had not been damaged.

During the November 29, 1988, investigation and on several other days during the next two weeks, ATF agents discovered that Mountain Plains had an ATF explosives user permit and had been storing explosives on the site. They also found that Mountain Plains had not notified ATF of the acquisition of explosives magazines and that explosives magazines were placed too close to a highway and to an inhabited building.

On January 30, 1989, ATF agents interviewed defendants Collins and McReynolds [1255]*1255regarding the suspected arson and the storage violations. During this interview, both Collins and McReynolds admitted that they jointly decided where the trailers would be placed and that in making these decisions, they had not used the Table of Distances as required by the regulations.

McReynolds said that he had told the truck drivers where to place the trailers upon delivery. Collins admitted he was aware of the applicable regulations and that he remembered a Compliance Inspector (Revalee) going over the requirements with him in June of 1987. Collins also said that it was an oversight on his part that he had not notified ATF upon acquisition of the magazines.

On June 14, 1989, the defendants were charged in a four-count information with violations of the above-mentioned statutes.

The defendants, in defense of the charges issued, attempted to persuade the jury that they did not know they were violating the regulations, that the regulations did not apply to them, and that they were not responsible for the explosives.

The jury found defendants Collins and Mountain Plains guilty on Counts I, II and III. Defendant McReynolds was found guilty on Counts II and III.

DISCUSSION

Each of the defendants’ allegations of error will be discussed separately below.

I. “Knowingly” as an Essential Element

Defendants contend that the trial court erred in determining that “knowingly,” as an element of the offenses charged, related only to the issue of whether defendants knew they were handling explosives. Defendants argue that “knowingly” is an essential element with reference to the statutes and regulations allegedly violated such that defendants could not be found guilty unless they had the specific intent to violate the law.

While this Court has located no decision on the issue of “knowingly” as applied to 18 U.S.C. § 842(j), Supreme Court decisions concerning analogous statutes are instructive. In United States v. Freed, the Supreme Court found that the government need not prove specific intent to violate the law or knowledge that hand grenades were unregistered in violation of the National Firearms Act. 401 U.S. 601, 697, 91 S.Ct. 1112, 1117, 28 L.Ed.2d 356 (1971). “[T]he only knowledge required to be proved was knowledge that the instrument possessed was a firearm.” Freed, 401 U.S. at 607, 91 S.Ct. at 1117 (citing Sipes v. United States, 321 F.2d 174, 179 (8th Cir.1963)).

In coming to this conclusion, the Court noted the growing number of exceptions to a mens rea requirement in regulatory areas involving activities affecting public health, safety and welfare. Id. The act in question, the Court concluded, “is a regulatory measure in the interest of the public safety, which may well be premised on the theory that one would hardly be surprised to learn that possession of hand grenades is not an innocent act.” Freed, 401 U.S. at 609, 91 S.Ct. at 1118.

In Liparota v. United States, a case relied on by defendants, the Court explicitly distinguished the food stamp statute before it from the firearms statute at issue. 471 U.S. 419, 433, 105 S.Ct. 2084, 2092, 85 L.Ed.2d 434 (1985). Possession of food stamps in a manner unauthorized by statute or regulation, the Court held, is far different from instances where “Congress has rendered criminal a type of conduct that a reasonable person should know is subject to stringent public regulation and may seriously threaten the community’s health or safety.” Liparota, 471 U.S. at 433, 105 S.Ct. at 2092. In distinguishing these lines of cases, the Court found that “[a] food stamp can hardly be compared to a hand grenade, see Freed, nor can the unauthorized acquisition or possession of food stamps be compared to the selling of adulterated drugs, see [United States v.] Dotterweich [320 U.S. 277, 64 S.Ct. 134, 88 L.Ed. 48 (1943)].” Id.

Applying this rationale to the instant case, this Court concludes that the trial court properly found explosive materials to be more analogous to hand grenades than [1256]*1256to food stamps. Proper storage of explosives is a “type of conduct that a reasonable person should know is subject to stringent public regulation....” Id. The trial court did not err on this point.

II.Traffic Count Evidence

Defendants assign error to the trial court’s admission into evidence of a traffic count of vehicles compiled by the Missouri Department of Highways and Transportation and introduced through the testimony of John Rankin, an employee of this department.

Defendants’ argument is without merit. The record shows that the evidence was introduced after proper foundation had been presented. All of the alleged shortcomings of the evidence were brought out by defendants’ counsel in cross-examination.

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756 F. Supp. 1253, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2119, 1991 WL 19264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-collins-mowd-1991.