United States v. Dembowski

252 F. 894, 1918 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 971
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedSeptember 19, 1918
DocketNo. 6220
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 252 F. 894 (United States v. Dembowski) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Dembowski, 252 F. 894, 1918 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 971 (E.D. Mich. 1918).

Opinion

TUTTLE, District Judge.

This matter comes before the court on demurrer and motion to quash an indictment charging the defendant with violation of section 3 of the Espionage Act. The indictment, which is in one count, alleges that the defendant, at a time and place specified therein, did — -

[896]*896“willfully and knowingly make and convey false reports and false statements against the United States army and the United States navy, with intent to then and there interfere with the operations and success of the military and naval forces of the United States, and with, the intent to then and there promote the success of the enemies of the United States, and did then and there and thereby cause and attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, and refusal of duty in the said military and naval forces of the United States by the members of such service, respectively, * * * and did then and there willfully obstruct the recruiting and enlistment service of the United States to the injury of the said United States, said false reports and false statements having been then and there made, to wit, No. 105 Martin street, in said city of Detroit, and in a certain saloon at said address, in the presence of certain persons, to wit, one John Hencel, one John Chierpik, one Anna Londka, and one Felix Jorowski, said Felix Jorowski being then and there a member of the military forces of the United States and of the national army thereof, and said false reports and false statements so made being then and there in substance and to the effect that he, the said Felix Jorowski, was crazy to go and fight for the United States, and that he, the said Joseph Dembowski, would like to see the Kaiser come to this country and he would be the first one to help him out; that said Felix Jorowski could do nothing to a German, and that the Kaiser could lick England and France, and would soon come to the United States, and then all jura men (meaning above named persons) would have to kiss the Kaiser’s hands and feet, and that he, said Joseph Dembowski, would never go into the army of the United States.”

The objections to the indictment are that it does not allege any offense against the United States, and that it is bad for duplicity in charging in one count several distinct offenses, to wit:

(a) The offense of making and conveying false reports with intention to interfere with an operation of the military and naval forces of the United States.
(b) The offense of obstructing the enlistment and recruiting services of the United States.
(c) The offense of causing insubordination, disloyalty, and mutiny in the military and naval forces of the United States.
(d) The offense of attempting to cause insubordination, disloyalty, and mutiny in the military and naval forces of the United States.

Section 3 of title 1 of the Espionage Act, being the act of June 15, 1917, c. 30 (40 Stat. 219), is as follows :

“Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies, and whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct the. recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or of the United States, shall be punished by a fine of not more than §10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both.”

[ 1 ] I think that there can be no doubt that the making of the statements set forth in the indictment might obstruct the enlistment and recruiting service of the United States, and might also constitute an attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, and mutiny in the military and naval forces of the United States. This seems to me so plain that I do not deem it necessary to discuss tire subject further. The objec-[897]*897tiou based on the contention that the indictment does not allege any. offense against, the United States must be overruled.

Does the indictment charge more than one offense in the same count ? If so, it is bad for duplicity. United States v. American Naval Stores Co. (C. C.) 186 Fed. 592; Ammerman v. United States, 216 Fed. 326, 132 C C. A. 470; Lewellen v. United States, 223 Fed. 18, 138 C. C. A. 432.

[2] As was said in the case first cited, “it is elementary that two separate offenses cannot be included in one count of an indictment.”

[3] It is, of course, well settled that where a statute creates a single offense, but specifies, in the alternative, a number of different acts, any one of which will constitute the offense thus created, these various acts not being in themselves separate crimes, but only different means of committing the offense against which the statute is directed, an indictment may charge the commission of such offense by all of the means mentioned in the statute, using the conjunction “and” wherever the statute uses the word “or,” and such an indiclment will not be duplicitous; and proof of the doing of any one of the acts whereby the offense may be so committed will warrant a conviction of the offense in question.

[4] Does section 3 of the .Espionage Act, then, create only one offense, which may be committed in any one of several modes specified, or does it contemplate and create several and distinct offenses? An examination of the language of the section makes it, in my opinion, clear that Congress had in mind several distinct evils, and that in order to guard against all of such evils, and the different dangers consequent upon each, prohibited three different kinds of acts, viz. the willful making of false statements with intent to interfere with the success of our military or naval forces; the willful causing or attempting to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in such forces, and the willful obstructing of our recruiting or enlistment service, to the injury of such service or of the United States. It seems plain that each of the ads thus prohibited is separate and distinct in its nature and object, and that the commission of each of such acts constitutes a distinct and separate offense. In my opinion, therefore, they cannot be joined in one count of an indictment, but, if alleged therein, must be set forth in different counts.

[5] A careful examination of the present indictment shows that it does not charge one transaction as a single offense committed by different acts. It will be noted that it charges the defendant, in the language of the statute, with having done all of the things forbidden by this section of the Espionage Act. It then proceeds to allege that “said false reports and false statements” were made at a time and place specified, and that they consisted of certain language quoted in the indictment. The only false reports or false statements previously mentioned in the indictment were those charged to have been made with intent to interfere with the operation and success of the military and naval forces of the United States.

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Bluebook (online)
252 F. 894, 1918 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-dembowski-mied-1918.