United States v. Farr

591 F.3d 1322, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 545, 105 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 432, 2010 WL 60904
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 11, 2010
Docket09-6024
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 591 F.3d 1322 (United States v. Farr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Farr, 591 F.3d 1322, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 545, 105 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 432, 2010 WL 60904 (10th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

SILER, Circuit Judge.

Skoshi Thedford Farr was convicted by a jury of evading taxes in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. We reversed her conviction on appeal because the proof presented at trial and the district court’s jury instructions constructively amended the indictment. She was subsequently indicted for violating the same statute based on the same conduct. The district court denied her motion to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the district court’s decision.

*1324 I. Factual and Procedural Background

From 1984 through 1999, Farr served as the general manager or administrator of her husband’s alternative medicine clinic in Oklahoma City, which he operated from 1978 until his death in December 1998. United States v. Farr, 536 F.3d 1174, 1176-77 (10th Cir.2008). Based on the clinic’s failure to pay certain employment taxes, she was indicted for violating 26 U.S.C. § 7201. Id. at 1177. Rather than seeking only a broad indictment by simply reciting the generic language of § 7201, the government specifically charged:

“[that Farr] willfully attempted] to evade and defeat the payment of the quarterly employment tax for ATHAGenesis Chapter due and owing by her to the United States of America for the quarters 6-99, 9-99, and 12-99 in the amount of $72,076.21 by concealing and attempting to conceal from the Internal Revenue Service the nature and extent of her assets and the location thereof and placing funds and property in the names of nominees ... in violation of Title 26 United States Code, Section 7201.”

Id. (quoting the indictment).

At trial, the government only presented evidence that Farr was personally assessed and failed to pay a “trust fund recovery penalty.” Id. at 1178. Recognizing the indictment did not cover Farr’s failure to pay a trust fund recovery penalty, the district court instructed the jury, as a matter of law, that the “[t]rust [f]und [Recovery [p]enalty assessed against the defendant [wa]s to be treated as equivalent of the quarterly employment tax referred to in ... the indictment.” Id. at 1179 (citing the jury instructions). The jury convicted Farr, who appealed her conviction. Id.

We concluded that the trial proceedings effected a constructive amendment of the indictment. Id. at 1180. We explained that while the indictment charged Farr with failing to pay quarterly employment taxes, the government’s own witnesses indicated that only the employer is liable for quarterly employment taxes and Farr was never the employer. Id. In light of this, the government sought to proceed against Farr for failing to pay the trust fund recovery penalty, and the district court in its jury instruction “effectively allowed the jury to convict Ms. Farr for failing to pay either the clinic’s quarterly employment taxes purportedly ‘due and owing by her’ or the trust fund recovery penalty assessed personally against her.” Id.

We went on to explain that had the government simply charged Farr generically under § 7201 with the willful evasion of a tax it could have proven its case against her using either theory. See id. at 1181. Instead, since it included particulars about the nature of the tax, the particulars of the tax became an essential and delimiting part of the charge itself. Id. Consequently, we reversed and remanded the case for a new trial. Id. at 1188.

Based on this court’s reversal, the district court dismissed the case. The government then issued a new indictment charging Farr with violating § 7201 by failing to pay taxes she owed under the Trust Fund Recovery Act. She moved the district court to dismiss the case on double jeopardy grounds, and it refused. She now appeals the district court’s decision.

II. Discussion

We review the district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss an indictment on double jeopardy grounds de novo, and we review the district court’s factual findings underlying the double jeopardy claim for clear error. United States v. German, 76 F.3d 315, 317-18 (10th Cir.1996).

*1325 A. Judgment of Acquittal

The double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment “guarantees that the State shall not be permitted to make repeated attempts to convict the accused,” which would subject him to embarrassment, expense and ordeal, and compel “ ‘him to live in a continuing state of anxiety and insecurity, as well as enhancing the possibility that even though innocent he may be found guilty.’ ” United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U.S. 564, 569, 97 S.Ct. 1349, 51 L.Ed.2d 642 (1977) (quoting Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 187-88, 78 S.Ct. 221, 2 L.Ed.2d 199 (1957), and citing Downum v. United States, 372 U.S. 734, 736, 83 S.Ct. 1033, 10 L.Ed.2d 100 (1963)). The clause only creates an impediment to subsequent prosecution, however, when there was previously a judgment of acquittal on the charge. See United States v. Scott, 437 U.S. 82, 91-92, 98 S.Ct. 2187, 57 L.Ed.2d 65 (1978).

“The successful appeal of a judgment of conviction, on any ground other than the insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, poses no bar to further prosecution on the same charge,” but “[a] judgment of acquittal, whether based on a jury verdict of not guilty or on a ruling by the court that the evidence is insufficient to convict” does bar future prosecution on the same charge. Id.; see United States v. DiFrancesco, 449 U.S. 117, 132-33, 101 S.Ct. 426, 66 L.Ed.2d 328 (1980) (“It is acquittal that prevents retrial even if legal error was committed at the trial. This is why the law attaches particular significance to an acquittal.” (citations and quotations omitted)). Whether a judgment or reversal constitutes an acquittal is not controlled by the form of the court’s decision. Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U.S. at 571, 97 S.Ct. 1349. “Instead, ‘we must determine whether the ruling of the judge, whatever its label, actually represents a resolution, correct or not, of some or all of the factual elements of the offense charged.’ ” United States v. Hunt, 212 F.3d 539, 543 (10th Cir.2000) (quoting Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U.S. at 571, 97 S.Ct.

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546 F. App'x 730 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
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457 F. App'x 757 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
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Bluebook (online)
591 F.3d 1322, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 545, 105 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 432, 2010 WL 60904, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-farr-ca10-2010.