United States v. Puhac

268 F. 392
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 15, 1920
DocketNo. 1
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 268 F. 392 (United States v. Puhac) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Puhac, 268 F. 392 (W.D. Pa. 1920).

Opinion

QRR, District Judge.

In this case the indictment was drawn in the same form as the indictments hereinafter referred to; a true bill was found, and the defendant pleaded guilty. The amount of whisky manufactured by the defendant was five gallons. The court imposed a sentence of $100. Thereupon the United States attorney moved the court to reconsider its judgment in imposing such sentence, upon the ground that said sentence was improvidently and illegally imposed, because the acts of Congress under which the indictment was drawn fixed a minimum penalty of both fine and imprisonment.

Since the passage of the National Prohibition Act (41 Stat. 305), many indictments have been drawn under certain sections of the Revised Statutes, which were passed by Congress for the purpose of securing to the United States internal revenue. True bills have been found upon such indictments, and defendants have been before the court for sentence. A grave doubt arose in the minds of the judges as to whether or not, since the passage of the National Prohibition Act, the revenue laws should be invoked for the punishment of such offenders. In other words, the court has been extremely doubtful as to the propriety of imposing the punishment provided for the violation of such revenue laws, where the indictments disclose, not only violations of the revenue law, but also violations of the National Prohibition Law. This involves the question whether the revenue laws, under which the indictments were drawn, have been repealed by the National Prohibition Law, either in whole or in part. Usually the counts in such indictments are four in number — the first charging an attempt to defraud the United States of the internal revenue tax upon spirits distilled by the defendant; the second charging the possession of a still, set up without registering said still with the collector of internal revenue; the third charging the making and fermenting of mash, wort, and wash fit for distillation on premises other than an authorized distillery; and the fourth charging the separation of distilled spirits from the fermented mash, wort, and wash.

The first count is usually drawn under section 3257 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 5993), which imposes a penalty of forfeiture of the distillery and distilling apparatus, distilled spirits, and all raw materials for the production thereof, found on the premises, and for a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000, and an imprisonment of not less than 6 months nor more than 3 years. The second count is usually drawn under section 3258 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 5994), which provides for a penalty of $500 and that the offender be fined not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 and imprisoned for not less than 1 month nor more than 2 years. The third and fourth counts are usually drawn under section 3282 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 6022), which imposes a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000 and imprisonment for not less than 6 months nor more than 2 years.

In association with the sections of the Revised Statutes heretofore referred to are many others, which provide many details with respect to manufacturing, and especially with respect to government supervision, all for the purpose of securing to the government its lawful rev[394]*394enue from what. in many states was the lawful manufacture of a lawful product. For example, section 3252 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 5987), which imposes a penalty upon one who adds any substance to distilled spirits before the tax is paid thereon, for the purpose of creating a fictitious proof; section 3260 (Comp. St. §' 5997), which provides that every person intending to commence the business of distilling, shall execute a bond to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, conditioned that he shall faithfully comply with all the provisions of law, under penalty of both fine and imprisonment; section 3263 (Comp. St. § 6001), which provides that a plan of the distillery shall be transmitted to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with a verification of its accuracy.

Turning, now, to the National Prohibition Act, we first observe that its title is:

“To prohibit intoxicating beverages, and to regulate the manufacture, production, use and sale of high-proof spirits for other than beverage purposes, and to insure an ample supply of alcohol and promote its use in scientific research and in the development of fuel, dye, and other lawful industries.”

As indicated by the title, we should expect the provisions of the act to be broad and comprehensive, and thus we find them. •

Title 2, section 3, of the act provides:

“No person shall, on or after the date when the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States goes into effect, manufaeure, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized in this act.”

Congress apparently intended that whatever authorization there should be for the manufacture of liquor was to be found in the National Prohibition Act, and not in any other act. The act is full of prop visions with respect to the authorization of the manufacture and sale of liquor for nonbeverage purposes and wine for sacremental purposes.

[3] Title 2, section 25, of the act provides:

“It shall be unlawful to have or possess any liquor or property designed for the manufacture of liquor intended for use in violating this title, or which has been so used, and no property rights shall exist in any such liquor or property.”

Then follows the provision for the issue of search warrants and seizure in pursuance of the warrants, with the provision that liquor or property so unlawfully held or possessed, or that had been so unlawfully used, and all property designed for the manufacture of liquor, shall be destroyed, unless the court shall otherwise order. The words “property designed for the manufacture of liquor,” in this section, are broad enough to include a still and distilling apparatus, whether set up or not, and broad enough to include mash, wort, and wash.

Referring, now, to the complaint usually embodied in the first count of the indictments under considération, how can it be said that a defendant attempted to defraud the United States of the internal revenue tax on spirits distilled by him, when he probably was willing to pay the tax, provided he could continue his distillation. But manufacture by him for beverage purposes was wholly forbidden by the National Pro-[395]*395hibhion Act. If lie complied with all the provisions of the Revised Statutes passed to secure revenue to the United States, he could not manufacture whisky, because of the prohibition of the National Prohibition Act, unless he was authorized to do so by the very terms of that act.

It seems to me that the indictments under consideration should not have been based upon violations of the Revised Statutes, but upon violations of the terms of the National Prohibition Act. This is.confirmed when we see the penalties in the latter act for offenses which clearly embrace the denunciations of the revenue laws. We have already observed the provision for the forfeiture of liquor and property designed for the manufacture of liquor. There are other provisions for forfeiture, as, for instance, of the vehicle in which liquor may be transported.

Title 2, section 29, of the act provides that—

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Bluebook (online)
268 F. 392, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-puhac-pawd-1920.