United States v. Francisco Javier Munoz-Romo

989 F.2d 757, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 7899, 1993 WL 112730
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedApril 14, 1993
Docket89-2345
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 989 F.2d 757 (United States v. Francisco Javier Munoz-Romo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. Francisco Javier Munoz-Romo, 989 F.2d 757, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 7899, 1993 WL 112730 (5th Cir. 1993).

Opinions

ON REMAND FROM THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

Before DAVIS and BARKSDALE, Circuit Judges, and MENTZ, District Judge.1

W. EUGENE DAVIS, Circuit Judge:

We are faced for a second time with whether the subsections of 18 U.S.C. [758]*758§ 922(g) allow separate sentences for the same criminal act. In response to a petition for writ of certiorari from United States v. Munoz-Romo, 947 F.2d 170 (5th Cir.1991), the Solicitor General, taking a position different from that asserted in our court by the government, confessed error as to our upholding two such sentences and urged that the case be remanded for dismissal of one of the two. The Supreme Court granted certiorari, vacated the judgment, and remanded “for further consideration in light of the position asserted by the Solicitor General ..." — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 30, 121 L.Ed.2d 4. On remand we called for a supplemental brief from the United States on this point and provided appellant the opportunity to file one as well, which he did.2 Having reconsidered this issue, we modify our prior judgment.3

I.

For each of two firearms, Francisco Javier Munoz-Romo was sentenced for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and possession of the same firearm by an illegal alien, in violation of § 922(g)(5).4 Applying Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), we held that the two sentences were not multi-plicitous, because “[ejach provision require[d] proof of an additional fact which the other [did] not”; one, that he was a convicted felon, and the other, that he was an illegal alien. Munoz-Romo, 947 F.2d at 176 (quoting Blockburger, 284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. at 182). We now reconsider that holding in light of the government’s changed position.

II.

Both Munoz-Romo and the government rely on United States v. Winchester, 916 F.2d 601 (11th Cir.1990), a case factually on point with the present case, which held that the subdivisions of § 922(g) do not support separate penalties for possession of a single weapon. (Winchester was not cited by either party on the direct appeal to us.) In Winchester, the Eleventh Circuit noted that application of the Blockburger test would yield a different result (the result we later reached), but found in the statute’s structure and legislative history a “plainly expressed contrary view on the part of Congress” that supported the defendant’s interpretation. Id. at 606-07 (quoting Garrett v. United States, 471 U.S. 773, 779, 105 S.Ct. 2407, 2411, 85 L.Ed.2d 764 (1985)).

The Eighth Circuit took a contrary view in United States v. Peterson, 867 F.2d 1110, 1115 (8th Cir.1989). That court, in a straightforward application of Blockbur-ger, upheld against a double jeopardy challenge convictions for possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon and a user of controlled substances, in violation of subsections 922(g)(1) and 922(g)(3).5

The government’s brief on remand summarizes the Solicitor General’s position before the Supreme Court.' The Solicitor General essentially adopted the Eleventh [759]*759Circuit’s position in Winchester and argued that:

We believe that the language and structure of Section 922(g) disclose Congress’s clear intent not to impose cumulative punishments when the same incident violates two subdivisions of subsection (g). The two subdivisions at issue here are found in a single subsection of a statute that prescribes a single penalty for all of those subdivisions. See United States v. Winchester, 916 F.2d 601, 605 (11th Cir.1990) (“Under 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(2), Congress provided criminal penalties for the violation of subsection (g) of section 922, but it did not list separate penalties for the separate subdivisions of subsection (g).”).'4 Moreover, “each subdivision of subsection (g) differs only in its requirement that the offender have a certain ‘status’ under the law.” Ibid. And the statute’s structure indicates that Congress sought “only to bar the possession of firearms by certain types of persons that it considered dangerous,” and not to punish persons “solely for having a certain status under the law.” Id. at 605-606. Indeed, to conclude otherwise would mean that “a convicted felon who is also a fugitive from justice, a drug addict, a ‘mental defective,’ and an illegal alien, could be sentenced to five consecutive terms of imprisonment for the same incident, namely, the possession of a firearm.” Id. at 607.
Accordingly, because the text and structure of Section 922(g) clearly indicate that Congress did not intend to authorize multiple punishments under the various subdivisions of subsection (g), this Court should grant the petition, vacate the judgment, and remand the ease for the court of appeals to direct the vacation of two of the sentences imposed under Section 922(g).

The question presented is whether the language and structure of § 922(g) disclose a clear Congressional intent not to impose cumulative punishments when, because of the offender’s status, possession of a single weapon violates two subdivisions of subsection (g). As indicated above, the parties did not cite either Winchester or Peterson to us in the original appeal. Upon reconsideration and in light of the Solicitor General’s concession, we are persuaded that the Eleventh Circuit reached the correct conclusion.

Section 922(g) makes criminal the possession of a firearm by any one of seven types of offenders who Congress considered dangerous. The list of dangerous offenders includes convicted felons, fugitives, illegal aliens, mental defectives, drug addicts and others. Given this statutory structure, we are not persuaded that Congress in § 922 intended to authorize multiple punishments for a single act of possession of a firearm. Otherwise, as the Eleventh Circuit persuasively asserted, a person fitting into five of the seven listed categories could be subject to five consecutive terms of imprisonment for a single act of possessing a firearm.

Moreover, this is not a case like Block-burger, where Congress criminalized different actions, in different statutes, at different times. Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. at 300, 304, 52 S.Ct. at 180, 182. Rather, Congress created § 922 and its structure in one enactment, the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. Since 1968, Congress has made changes in § 922(g)’s list of dangerous offenders, but has not changed the section’s structure.

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

Related

United States v. Joshua Grant
15 F.4th 452 (Sixth Circuit, 2021)
United States v. Mario Garcia-Balderas
667 F. App'x 486 (Fifth Circuit, 2016)
United States v. James Mavromatis
769 F.3d 1194 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Ocampo
919 F. Supp. 2d 898 (E.D. Michigan, 2013)
United States v. Ayotte
841 F. Supp. 2d 398 (D. Maine, 2012)
United States v. Michael Modena
430 F. App'x 444 (Sixth Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Alberto Esquivel
425 F. App'x 387 (Fifth Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Senegal
371 F. App'x 494 (Fifth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Malachowski
604 F. Supp. 2d 512 (N.D. New York, 2009)
United States v. Medellin-Torres
293 F. App'x 354 (Fifth Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Tab
259 F. App'x 684 (Sixth Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Parker
508 F.3d 434 (Seventh Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Hollis
506 F.3d 415 (Fifth Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Elrawy
448 F.3d 309 (Fifth Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Earnest Richardson
439 F.3d 421 (Eighth Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Richardson
439 F.3d 421 (Eighth Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Ortiz-Gonzalez
115 F. App'x 696 (Fifth Circuit, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
989 F.2d 757, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 7899, 1993 WL 112730, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-francisco-javier-munoz-romo-ca5-1993.