United States v. Jerry Prusan and David Vives

967 F.2d 57, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 14013
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJune 12, 1992
Docket1404, Docket 92-1020
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 967 F.2d 57 (United States v. Jerry Prusan and David Vives) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second 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. Jerry Prusan and David Vives, 967 F.2d 57, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 14013 (2d Cir. 1992).

Opinions

MESKILL, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal by the government from a decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Sand, J., 780 F.Supp. 1431, dismissing one count of an indictment against the defendants on the ground that the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment barred prosecution of that count. Because the offense charged in that count is not the same offense with which the defendants previously were charged and to which they pleaded guilty, we reverse the judgment of the district court and remand the matter to the district court.

BACKGROUND

As a result of an investigation into the illegal interstate shipment of firearms, the defendants in this case, Jerry Prusan and David Vives, were indicted both in the District of Puerto Rico and in the Southern District of New York. The Puerto Rico indictment, dated April 10, 1991, alleged in Count One that Prusan and Vives conspired with others to ship firearms, ammunition and silencers in interstate commerce from New York to Puerto Rico in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(1). That count alleged over twenty overt acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracy and included allegations concerning specific firearms. The Puerto Rico indictment also alleged in several counts substantive violations by Prusan and Vives of various firearms statutes, including 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(1)(A), (a)(3) & (a)(5).

On May 31, 1991 Prusan and Vives were indicted in the Southern District of New York. Count One of that indictment, which is the only count with which we are concerned on this appeal, alleged a conspiracy between Prusan, Vives and others to transport firearms purchased or obtained by them outside the state of their residence, New York, into that state in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(3). The indictment alleged three overt acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracy. Two of those acts involved buying firearms in Florida and sending them to New York.

[59]*59Prusan and Vives both pleaded guilty to certain counts of the Puerto Rico indictment, including the conspiracy count and various substantive counts. The government provided Prusan and Vives with Firearms Transaction Records that indicate that several of the firearms that were the subject of the substantive Puerto Rico counts to which both men pleaded guilty were initially purchased in Florida by Vives.

On September 6, 1991, after both men had pled guilty in Puerto Rico, the United States Attorney’s Office filed a superseding indictment in the Southern District of New York. The superseding indictment changed Count One of the original indictment from a conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(3) to a substantive violation of that statute. Count One of the superseding indictment no longer alleged specific acts in violation of section 922(a)(3) but merely alleged that between February 1, 1991 and April 1, 1991 Prusan and Vives willfully transported firearms obtained outside their state of residence into that state.

Prusan and Vives moved to dismiss Count One of the instant indictment on the grounds that it constituted the same offense for which they had been prosecuted and convicted in Puerto Rico and thus could not be maintained consistent with the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The district court applied the double jeopardy analysis set forth by the Supreme Court in Grady v. Corbin, 495 U.S. 508, 521, 110 S.Ct. 2084, 2093, 109 L.Ed.2d 548 (1990). Examining both the overt acts alleged in the Puerto Rico conspiracy count and the substantive firearms offenses to which Prusan and Vives had pled guilty, the district court held that “to establish an essential element of the offense alleged in Count One, the purchase of firearms outside New York, the Government will attempt to prove conduct that constitutes offenses for which the defendants have already been prosecuted.” The district court therefore granted the motion to dismiss that count. The government appeals this decision pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731.

DISCUSSION

The Fifth Amendment provides that no person “shall ... be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” After the district court’s decision but prior to oral argument of this appeal, the Supreme Court announced its decision in United States v. Felix, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1377, 118 L.Ed.2d 25 (1992). That decision altered the way in which some aspects of Grady had been understood in this Circuit. See United States v. Calderone, 917 F.2d 717 (2d Cir.1990), vacated, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1657, 118 L.Ed.2d 381 (1992) (in light of Felix). Although the district court did not have the benefit of the Felix decision, our task is to evaluate, under the current understanding of the Double Jeopardy Clause, the propriety of the proposed prosecution in light of the defendants’ prior guilty pleas in Puerto Rico. See Bradley v. Richmond School Board, 416 U.S. 696, 711, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 2016, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974) (“[A] court is to apply the law in effect at the time it renders its decision, unless doing so would result in manifest injustice or there is statutory direction or legislative history to the contrary.”).

In Felix, the Supreme Court examined the Double Jeopardy Clause in relation to the prosecution of the defendant, Felix, for two crimes arising out of the same type of conduct and for which the government utilized similar evidence at the two trials. Felix was convicted in Missouri federal court on a substantive count of attempting to manufacture methamphetamine in violation of federal law. In order to counter Felix’s assertion that he had no criminal intent with respect to his shipment of precursor chemicals to Missouri, the government introduced evidence at the Missouri trial tending to show that Felix had manufactured and distributed methamphetamine several months earlier in Oklahoma. See 112 S.Ct. at 1380.

After Felix was convicted in Missouri, the government indicted him in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, alleging among other things that Felix and others had conspired [60]*60to manufacture, possess and distribute methamphetamine. Two of the nine overt acts alleged to have been taken by Felix in furtherance of the Oklahoma conspiracy were based on conduct that had been the subject of the Missouri prosecution. See id. None of the substantive counts alleged in the Oklahoma indictment involved conduct prosecuted in the Missouri prosecution.

The Supreme Court held that the Oklahoma prosecution did not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause. See id. at 1381. The Felix Court first held that the mere fact that evidence of the Oklahoma drug activity had been introduced at the Missouri trial to demonstrate intent did not mean that Felix had been prosecuted for that conduct.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
967 F.2d 57, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 14013, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jerry-prusan-and-david-vives-ca2-1992.