United States v. Peña

918 F. Supp. 1431, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3659, 1996 WL 138024
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedMarch 22, 1996
DocketCivil Action No. 95-20051-03
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 918 F. Supp. 1431 (United States v. Peña) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Peña, 918 F. Supp. 1431, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3659, 1996 WL 138024 (D. Kan. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

EARL E. O’CONNOR, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on defendant Raphael Pefia’s motion to dismiss the indictment based on double jeopardy grounds (Doc. # 187). Defendant maintains that his criminal prosecution in federal court, follow-' ing civil forfeitures of property in state court, constitutes a successive effort to impose punishment for the same offense, in violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The indictment charges defendant with narcotics offenses arising from the same conduct that gave rise to the forfeiture proceedings.

The government contends that the “dual sovereignty doctrine” applies, and thus a subsequent federal prosecution does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause. Under the “dual sovereignty doctrine,” successive prosecutions based upon the same conduct’ are permissible if brought by separate sovereigns. In response, defendant asserts that the facts and circumstances surrounding the federal prosecution indicate that it was actually an otherwise impermissible second state prosecution, and thus falls within the Bart-kus exception to the dual sovereignty doctrine.

In Bartkus v. Illinois, 359 U.S. 121, 79 S.Ct. 676, 3 L.Ed.2d 684 (1959), the Supreme Court noted that successive state and federal prosecutions are constitutionally permissible because every citizen of the federal government is also a citizen of a state, and both sovereigns have authority to punish individuals for infractions of the law. Id at 131-32, 79 S.Ct. at 682-83. The court observed that the successive prosecutions before it did “not sustain a conclusion that the state prosecution was a sham and a cover for a federal prosecution, and thereby in essential fact another federal prosecution.” Id at 124, 79 S.Ct. at 678.

A number of courts since the Bartkus decision have inferred from that case that collusion between federal and state authorities could bar the second prosecution. See United States v. Moore, 822 F.2d 35, 38 (8th Cir.1987); United States v. Aboumoussallem, 726 F.2d 906, 910 (2d Cir.1984); United States v. Aleman, 609 F.2d 298, 309 (7th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 946, 100 S.Ct. 1345, 63 L.Ed.2d 780 (1980); United States v. Liddy, 542 F.2d 76, 79 (D.C.Cir.1976). But see United States v. Brocksmith, 991 F.2d 1363, 1366 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 569, 126 L.Ed.2d 468 (1993) (questioning whether such an exception exists); United States v. Patterson, 809 F.2d 244, 247 n. 2 (5th Cir.1987) (same). “When a defendant claims that federal and state officials are not acting as dual sovereigns, he has a substantial burden of proving one sovereign is so dominated by the actions of the other that the former is not acting of its own volition.” United States v. Raymer, 941 F.2d 1031 (10th Cir.1991) (citing United States v. Liddy, 542 F.2d 76, 79 (D.C.Cir.1976)).

The Tenth Circuit alluded to the existence of the Bartkus exception in United States v. Raymer, 941 F.2d 1031 (10th Cir.1991), wherein the court stated: “A possible exception to the dual sovereignty rule might exist where a federal or state prosecution was merely a tool manipulated by the other sovereign to revive a prosecution barred on federal constitutional grounds.” Id. at 1037 (citing Bartkus, 359 U.S. at 123-24, 79 S.Ct. at 678-79). In United States v. Fuentes, 978 F.2d 1268, 1992 WL 314097 (10th Cir.1992), cert. denied 507 U.S. 965, 113 S.Ct. 1398, 122 L.Ed.2d 771 (1993), the Tenth Circuit more explicitly recognized the Bartkus exception in the following language: “To avoid application of the dual sovereignty doctrine, a defendant must prove that one sovereign so dominated the actions of the other that the latter was not acting independently.” Id at *2 (citing Raymer, 941 F.2d at 1037).

On December 21, 1995, we issued an opinion wherein we granted defendant’s request for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the facts surrounding defen[1434]*1434dant’s prosecution justified application of the Bartkus exception. United States v. Peña, 910 F.Supp. 535 (1995). On January 18, 1996, an evidentiary hearing was held. The court allowed defendant to present evidence on the limited issue of whether the federal government was operating as a tool of the state, or was engaged in a sham prosecution for the state. In our decision, we enumerated the “specifically-tailored areas of inquiry,” or “factors,” which courts have deemed relevant in evaluating the extent of federal involvement:

In resolving the applicability of the Bartkus exception, other courts have allowed fact-finding on specifically-tailored areas of inquiry. For example, in United States v. All Assets of G.P.S., 66 F.3d [483] at 496, [ (2d Cir.1995) ] the court held that additional fact-finding was necessary on the following:
Specifically, we do not think we can resolve the applicability of the Bartkus exception without additional fact-finding concerning the expected proceeds of the forfeiture, the extent, cost, and value of the labor and services provided by state officials in the federal action, and the bargain between federal and state authorities as to the split of the proceeds.
Once the District Court has found these facts, it should in their light, reconsider the other factors, e.g., who initiated the forfeiture action and what was the role of the deputized state prosecutor — that it properly held did not by themselves implicate the Bartkus exception. It must then conclude whether, taken all together, these factors amount to appropriate cooperation or to inappropriate use of one sovereign by another. The Tenth Circuit, in United States v.

Raymer, 941 F.2d at 1039, indicated that the following factors could be considered in evaluating the extent of independent federal involvement: (1) whether the federal prosecution involved substantial investigation separate and apart from the state charges;, (2) whether the federal designation of a state prosecutor was appropriate to vindicate the substantial federal interest implicated by the scope of the alleged criminal activity; (3) whether the federal government paid for the cost of prosecution; (4) whether lawyers from the Justice Department and the local U.S. Attorney’s office worked on the case; and (5) whether any witnesses were unique to the federal prosecution.

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Bluebook (online)
918 F. Supp. 1431, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3659, 1996 WL 138024, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-pena-ksd-1996.