United States v. Stansell

847 F.2d 609
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 27, 1988
DocketNos. 87-3101, 87-3102
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 847 F.2d 609 (United States v. Stansell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Stansell, 847 F.2d 609 (9th Cir. 1988).

Opinion

BEEZER, Circuit Judge:

Defendants John Stansell and others (collectively, defendants) appeal their convictions based on violations of 40 U.S.C. §§ 318a, 318c and 41 C.F.R. § 101-20.304 (1986). We affirm.

FACTS

On August 15, 1986, defendants participated in a protest demonstration at the Jackson Federal Building in Seattle. As part of the demonstration, some of the demonstrators attempted to chain shut the doors at the Second Avenue entrance. After Federal Protective Service (FPS) officials cut and removed the chains, the demonstrators sat in front of the doorway, preventing federal employees from entering.

FPS officials announced that the protesters had to move clear of the doorways, and that if they failed to move, they would be arrested. Defendants refused to move. After FPS officials advised defendants individually to move and were again refused, the officials arrested defendants. The remaining protesters moved away from the doors and continued the demonstration.

Defendants were charged with violating 40 U.S.C. §§ 318a, 318c, and 41 C.F.R. § 101-20.304 (1986). Before trial, the Magistrate denied defendants' motions for a jury trial and to dismiss on grounds of overbreadth and vagueness. At a bench trial, the Magistrate convicted six of the seven defendants, acquitting defendant Sip-troth, sentencing defendants Stansell and Donahue to serve ten-day jail terms, and sentencing the remaining defendants to pay fines of fifty dollars each.

The district court affirmed the convictions, reasoning that (1) the motion for jury trial was properly denied and (2) 41 C.F.R. § 101-20.304 (1986) was not unconstitution[611]*611ally vague or overbroad. Defendants timely appeal.

ANALYSIS

A. Motion for Jury Trial

The denial of defendants’ motion for jury trial is a question of law reviewed de novo. Rife v. Godbehere, 814 F.2d 563, 564, amended, 825 F.2d 185 (9th Cir.1987). Defendants contend that they were unconstitutionally denied their right to jury trial. Moreover, they maintain that when a criminal prosecution raises substantial first amendment issues, a jury trial must be allowed even for petty offenses.

The sixth amendment right to jury trial does not extend to all criminal cases. District of Columbia v. Clawans, 300 U.S. 617, 624, 57 S.Ct. 660, 661-62, 81 L.Ed.2d 843 (1937); Rife, 814 F.2d at 564. This constitutional right to a jury attaches only to “serious” offenses, and not to “petty” offenses. Frank v. United States, 395 U.S. 147, 148-49, 89 S.Ct. 1503, 1504-05, 23 L.Ed.2d 162 (1969); Rife, 814 F.2d at 564; United States v. Jenkins, 734 F.2d 1322, 1326 (9th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1217, 105 S.Ct. 1198, 84 L.Ed.2d 342 (1985). The question before us is thus whether violation of section 101-20.304 is a serious or petty offense.

The Supreme Court has generally used the severity of the maximum authorized penalty as the most relevant criteria in determining whether an offense is petty or serious. See Baldwin v. New York, 399 U.S. 66, 68, 90 S.Ct. 1886, 1887-88, 26 L.Ed.2d 437 (1970) (plurality opinion); Frank, 395 U.S. at 148, 89 S.Ct. at 1504-05; Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 159, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 1452-53, 20 L.Ed.2d 491 (1968). The Baldwin plurality concluded that “no offense can be declared ‘petty’ for purposes of the right to trial by jury when imprisonment for more than six months is authorized.” 399 U.S. at 69, 90 S.Ct. at 1888. The general rule has become that an offense is petty if the maximum penalty provided does not exceed six months imprisonment, a $500 fine, or both. See Jenkins, 734 F.2d at 1326; see also 18 U.S.C. § 1(3) (defining a petty offense).1

The maximum authorized penalty at the time of the defendants’ conviction for a violation of 41 C.F.R. subpart 101-20.3 was “a fine of not more than $50 or imprisonment of not more than 30 days, or both.” 41 C.F.R. § 101-20.315 (1986); see also 40 U.S.C. § 318c.2 Because the maximum [612]*612punishment faced by the defendants here falls far below the standards for a serious offense, the offense is properly deemed petty. Accordingly, defendants are not entitled to a jury trial.3

B. Overbreadth and Vagueness

We review de novo defendants’ constitutional challenge that 41 C.F.R. § 101-20.304 (1986) is both overbroad and vague on its face. United States v. Westbrook, 817 F.2d 529, 531 (9th Cir.1987); United States v. Gilbert, 813 F.2d 1523, 1526 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 108 S.Ct. 173, 98 L.Ed.2d 127 (1987). The regulation at issue provides:

§ 101-20.304 — Conformity with signs and directions. Persons in and on property shall at all times comply with official signs of a prohibitory, regulatory, or directory nature and with the direction of Federal protective officers and other authorized individuals.

41 C.F.R. § 101-20.304 (1986).4

1. Overbreadth

Defendants contend that section 101-20.-304 is unconstitutionally overbroad on its face because there are no easily identifiable acts of any kind that it prohibits. They also maintain that there are no reasonable limiting constructions that would make the regulation constitutional.

Under the overbreadth doctrine in first amendment cases, a litigant is “permitted to challenge a statute not because their own rights of free expression are violated, but because of a judicial prediction or assumption that the statute’s very existence may cause others not before the court to refrain from constitutionally protected speech or expression.” Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 612, 93 S.Ct. 2908, [613]*6132916, 37 L.Ed.2d 830 (1972). Attacks are allowed on regulations that “delegate[] standardless discretionary power to local functionaries, resulting in virtually unre-viewable prior restraints on First Amendment rights.” Id. at 613, 93 S.Ct. at 2916. The Supreme Court warned, however, that “[application of the overbreadth doctrine in this manner is, manifestly, strong medicine.

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847 F.2d 609, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-stansell-ca9-1988.