United States v. Drake

934 F. Supp. 953, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8285, 1996 WL 328363
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 6, 1996
Docket95 CR 50054
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 934 F. Supp. 953 (United States v. Drake) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Drake, 934 F. Supp. 953, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8285, 1996 WL 328363 (N.D. Ill. 1996).

Opinion

*958 MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

REINHARD, District Judge.

Defendants, David Duane Drake (“David Drake”) and Jeffrey Lynn Drake (“Jeffrey Drake”), are both charged with two counts of violating 15 U.S.C. § 714m(c) for the unlawful disposition of collateral mortgaged to the Commodity Credit Corporation. Pending before the court are various pretrial motions filed separately by both defendants. All pending motions have been consolidated for purposes of this opinion and will be addressed herein.

I. MOTIONS TO DISMISS THE INDICTMENT

Both defendants move to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that it is barred by the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition against multiple punishments for the same offense. The facts relevant to their respective motions are not in dispute and are as follows. Defendants operated a family farm business and, in the course of that business, participated in an Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (“ASCS”) program. The ASCS operates under the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) and administers price support loan programs for grains and similarly handled commodities. Participating farmers can obtain loans from the Commodity Credit Corporation (“CCC”), an agency of the USDA, and as security for these loans, pledge harvested crops as collateral. The relevant years of defendants’ participation are 1993 and 1994.

To participate in the program, defendants entered into contractual agreements with the CCC. The terms and conditions of these contractual agreements are contained in Form CCC-601, CCC’s standard contract for these loans. Two different versions of Form CCC-601 are involved in this case as defendants’ loans were obtained at different times. One form is dated 4/26/93 and the other form is dated 2/28/91. The rules and regulations governing the CCC and the ASCS’s administration of its program are found in Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 1402 et seq. Some of the key terms and conditions contained in Form CCC-601 are also enumerated in the federal regulations.

In February 1994, the Stephenson County ASCS Committee (“Committee”) conducted a hearing regarding the alleged disposition, removal and conversion of secured crops in 1993 and 1994 by defendants. Both defendants were present and participated at this meeting, during which the committee determined that defendants did not employ good faith in their disposition of the secured crops. Upon making this determination, the Committee called defendants’ loans, imposed liquidated damages to the loan balances in accordance with the terms and conditions of the relevant CCC-601 contracts and suspended both defendants from obtaining any of the same type of loans for a two-year period.

Defendants claim that the penalties imposed do not bear a reasonable relationship to the government’s loss, were punitive in nature and therefore constitute “punishment” for purposes of double jeopardy. Defendants further claim that these penalties were imposed upon them for the same conduct upon which the indictment is based and that the indictment, therefore, must be dismissed. In support of these claims, defendants contend that the imposition of the liquidated damages did not solely serve remedial goals, but also served punitive goals. Jeffrey Drake additionally contends that the imposition of the two-year suspension also served punitive, and not just remedial goals. Defendants contend that the Committee’s sanctions were meant to punish defendants for their lack of good faith in the disposition of the secured crops. In support of these contentions, defendants principally rely upon United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 109 S.Ct. 1892, 104 L.Ed.2d 487 (1989). In response, the government contends that the sanctions imposed were solely remedial and did not constitute “punishment” for purposes of double jeopardy. In addition, the government contends that any claim by defendants that the imposition of liquidated damages constituted punishment is foreclosed by the fact that the damages were contractually agreed to by defendants.

*959 The Double Jeopardy Clause protects against three distinct abuses: (1) a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; (2) a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and (3) multiple punishments for the same offense. Halper, 490 U.S. at 440, 109 S.Ct. at 1897. In Halper, the Court addressed the issue of whether and under what circumstances a civil penalty may constitute punishment for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause. The Court held that a “civil as well as a criminal sanction constitutes punishment when the sanction as applied in the individual case serves the goals of punishment.” Id. at 448, 109 S.Ct. at 1901. In more specific terms, a sanction is punishment if it “cannot fairly be said solely to serve a remedial purpose, but rather can only be explained as also serving either retributive or deterrent purposes.” Id. In Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602, 610, 113 S.Ct. 2801, 2812, 125 L.Ed.2d 488 (1993), the Court reiterated this latter proposition, stating that the sanction will constitute punishment if it serves to deter or punish, notwithstanding the fact that it might also serve some remedial purpose. But see Bae n Shalala, 44 F.3d 489, 493 (7th Cir.1995) (construing statutory sanctions to be remedial despite incidental punitive effects).

While it is the imposition of liquidated damages which forms the primary basis for defendants’ claims,. the court will first address Jeffrey Drake’s contention that the imposition of the two-year suspension was punitive and not solely remedial in nature. At the outset, the court notes that neither Jeffrey Drake nor the government directs the court to the source of the Committee’s authority for imposing the two-year suspension. The court presumes, therefore, that the committee acted pursuant to 7 C.F.R. § 1421.16(g), which permits the denial of future loans for a period of two years after the date the unauthorized removal of secured crops is discovered.

A cursory examination of part 1421.16(g) reveals that the two-year suspension is not punitive in nature, rather, the regulation exists to protect the integrity of the CCC and the price support loan program. Part 1421.16(g) authorizes the imposition of various sanctions, including a two-year suspension from obtaining future loans, “[i]f, for any violation in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section, the County Committee determines that CCC’s interest is not or will not be protected.” The fact that the particular sanction imposed here was both limited in duration and designed to protect the financial integrity of the CCC leads the court to conclude that the sanction serves solely a remedial purpose. In reaching this conclusion, the court finds both Bae v. Shalala, 44 F.3d 489 (7th Cir.1995) and United States v. Furlett, 974 F.2d 839 (7th Cir.1992) analogous.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Murray
696 F. Supp. 2d 1044 (D. Arizona, 2010)
People v. Outlaw
904 N.E.2d 1208 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2009)
People v. Storm
94 Cal. Rptr. 2d 805 (California Court of Appeal, 2000)
State v. Consaul
982 S.W.2d 899 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1998)
United States v. Sojfer
47 M.J. 425 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 1998)
United States v. Steurer
942 F. Supp. 1183 (N.D. Illinois, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
934 F. Supp. 953, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8285, 1996 WL 328363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-drake-ilnd-1996.