United States v. Patterson

235 F. Supp. 233, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6800
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedOctober 30, 1964
DocketCrim. No. 1462
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 235 F. Supp. 233 (United States v. Patterson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Patterson, 235 F. Supp. 233, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6800 (E.D. La. 1964).

Opinion

WEST, District Judge.

Defendants moved to dismiss Count One of the indictment returned against them claiming that it is insufficient to charge them with violation of Title 18 United States Code § 371 in that it:

“I. Fails to charge an offense against the United States.
“II. Does not allege facts constituting an offense against the United States.
“III. Is general, vague and indefinite and specifically does not contain a concise and definite statement of the essential facts constituting the offense allegedly charged therein in that the accused are not apprised of the crime purportedly charged with such reasonable certainty as will enable them to adequately prepare their defenses.
“IV. Fails to charge all essential facts and elements of the offense allegedly charged therein with sufficient fullness, clarity, and particularity to enable the accused to plead [235]*235the judgment and record of acquittal or conviction in bar to a subsequent prosecution for the same offense for which the defendants stand accused.”

Title 18 United States Code § 371 provides :

“If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
“If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor.”

In attempting to charge these defendants with a violation of Title 18 United States Code § 371, Paragraph 5 of Count One of a multi-count indictment charges as follows:

“5. Beginning on or about the month of November 1959, the exact date being unknown to the Grand Jurors, and within the Eastern District of Louisiana, VICTORIA REINFORCING STEEL ERECTION, INC., and GEORGE T. PATTERSON, JOHN DOUGLAS PATTERSON and MILDRED K. PATTERSON, who were then and there officers and directors of said corporation, hereinafter called defendants, together with Leonard E. Patterson and Charles Patterson, co-conspirators but not named defendants herein, did unlawfully, knowingly, willfully and feloniously combine, conspire, and agree, acting together and with each other, and did enter into a combination, conspiracy and agreement to make and use certain false statements and representations ' as to material facts to an agency of the United States, to-wit, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, concerning matters within the jurisdiction of said agency.”

Then follows Paragraph 6 of Count One which reads as follows:

“6. That in furtherance of the aforesaid unlawful combination, conspiracy, confederation and agreement, the following overt acts were,, committed:” <‘¡5

after which follows detailed enumeration of some twenty-six alleged overt acts which the United States contends were committed by the defendants and which, if true, the United States contends would constitute a violation of Title 18 United States Code § 371.

Obviously, the charges contained in Paragraph 5 of Count One of the indictment, and the overt acts thereafter enumerated, while not specifically so stating, are considered by the United States to be violations of Title 18 United States Code § 1001, which provides as follows:

“Whoever, in any manner within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact, or makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations, or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”

Defendants contend that Count One, as hereinabove set forth, fails to properly charge a conspiracy to commit an offense denounced specifically by Title 18 United States Code § 1001. More specifically, it is the defendants’ contention that in order to properly set forth a charge of violation of Section 1001, sufficient to justify a conspiracy charge under Title 18 United States Code § [236]*236371, the indictment, in this instance, must charge that defendants “knowingly and willfully made or used a false writing or document “knowing the same to contain false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or entries.” Defendants urge that it is not enough to charge, as this indictment does in Paragraph 5 of Count One, that defendants “unlawfully, knowingly, willfully and feloniously” combined, conspired and agreed to make and use certain false statements and representations as to material facts to an agency of the United States Government. Defendants contend that it is also necessary for the indictment to- specifically state that the defendants made or used these statements “knowing them to be false.” The Government, on the other hand, argues that when Paragraph 5 of Count One states that the defendants did “unlawfully, knowingly, willfully and feloniously combine, conspire, and agree, acting together and with each other, and did enter into a combination, conspiracy and agreement to make and use certain false statements and representations as to material facts to an agency of the United States, to-wit, * * * ” the indictment is sufficient to charge the “knowing submission of false statements” without the necessity of redundantly repeating the words “knowing the same to be false,” and that thus, there is, in Paragraph 5 of Count One of the indictment, a sufficient allegation of a conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States to sustain a charge of violation of Title 18 United States Code § 371.

“The purpose of an indictment is to so inform the accused of the offense with which he is charged as to permit him to make his defense and, if subsequently charged with the same offense, to permit him to plead double jeopardy.” Schnautz v. United States, 263 F.2d 525, 529 (CA5 1959). In a charge of criminal conspiracy, the gist of the offense is the agreement between the conspirators to commit an offense, attended by an act of one or more of the conspirators to effect the object of the conspiracy. Thus, when charging a conspiracy, it is not necessary to allege with technical precision all of the elements essential to the commission of the substantive offense vMiich is the object of the conspiracy, nor is it necessary to state such objects with the detail that would be required in an indictment for committing the substantive offense. In charging a conspiracy, all that is necessary is certainty as to a common intent, sufficient to identify the offense which the defendants are alleged to have conspired to commit. Williamson v. United States, 310 F.2d 192 (CA9 1962); Schnautz v. United States, supra.

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Bluebook (online)
235 F. Supp. 233, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6800, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-patterson-laed-1964.