United States v. Thompson

517 F. Supp. 1214, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13510
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedJuly 13, 1981
DocketNo. LR-CR-81-33
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 517 F. Supp. 1214 (United States v. Thompson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Thompson, 517 F. Supp. 1214, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13510 (E.D. Ark. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ROY, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is defendant Robert C. Thompson’s motion to dismiss the ten-count indictment which was filed against him on May 18,1981. In support of this motion it is urged that the June 1,1979, acquittal of the defendant on a previously filed indictment for perjury has collaterally estopped the Government from prosecuting him upon the charges set forth in the present indictment. In order to fully review the issues raised in the motion to dismiss, it is necessary to discuss the proceedings which surrounded the previous indictment. That indictment, filed on April 2, 1979, charged the defendant with one count of perjury (18 U.S.C. § 1623) as follows:

“THE GRAND JURY CHARGES:
“1. That on or about the 8th day of August, 1978, in Little Rock, Pulaski County, in the Eastern District of Arkansas, ROBERT C. THOMPSON, while under oath as a witness in proceedings before the Grand Jury of the United States, duly empaneled and sworn in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, knowingly did make a false and material declaration, that is to say:,
“2. At the time and place aforesaid, the Grand Jury was conducting an investigation to determine whether there had been committed in the Eastern District of Arkansas violations of the laws of the United States, to-wit, the Grand Jury’s investigation was concerned with whether bribes and kickbacks were being paid to various county officials within the Eastern District of Arkansas, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, sections 1952, 1962 and 1341.
“3. It was a matter material to said Grand Jury investigation to determine whether or not ROBERT C. THOMPSON had paid bribes and kickbacks to any county official within the Eastern District of Arkansas.
“4. At the time and place aforesaid, ROBERT C. THOMPSON while under oath, did knowingly declare before said Grand Jury with respect to the aforesaid material matter as follows:
“Q. Could you tell us the Counties you deal with, sir?
“A. Yes, sir. I deal with St. Francis; Cross; Poinsett; Clay; White; Woodruff; Conway; Faulkner; Phillips. I believe that’s it, sir.
# * * * * *
“Q. Oh, that’s pretty well it. In these Counties that you have dealt with, Mr. Thompson, under your oath and subject to the penalty of perjury, have you ever paid to any County Official any monies or made any gifts to them as a result of doing business with the County?
“A. No, sir. No, sir. At Christmastime I have given gifts of grapefruit or oranges. That pretty well constitutes that, sir.
“Q. That’s all you have ever given?
“A. Yes, sir.
sfc * * * * #
“Q. And again, sir, I ask you specifically so that I get a very definite answer out of you you have never paid to any County Official any sum of money whatsoever for having done business with that County?
“A. No, sir.
“5. The aforesaid testimony of ROBERT C. THOMPSON, as set forth in this indictment, was false and known to him to be false when made.
“A violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1623.”

On June 1, 1979, a jury trial1 was held which resulted in a finding that the defendant was not guilty of the charges set forth in the indictment. During the course of the trial, the defendant was asked the same [1216]*1216questions which had been propounded to him during the grand jury proceeding and which were subsequently set forth in the indictment. His responses were the same as those he had given before the grand jury, and he testified that what he had told the grand jury and what he was reiterating at the trial was the truth. Further, when asked whether he had ever given any county judge any money in exchange for having done business with any county, he replied, “Absolutely not.” At the close of the case, the jury deliberated for thirty minutes and returned its verdict of “not guilty.”

The indictment presently under consideration, filed over two years after the filing of the previous one, contains nine substantive counts of bribery (18 U.S.C. § 1952) and one count of perjury (18 U.S.C. § 1623). The bribery counts arise from alleged illegal transactions between the defendant and various county judges over a period between May 1976 and May 1978; the perjury count is based upon the defendant’s testimony at his June 1, 1979, perjury trial to the effect that he had never paid any money to any county judge. A copy of the indictment, in its entirety, is attached to this Opinion (see Appendix).

In setting forth the test to be applied in determining whether the principle of collateral estoppel applies in any given case, the Supreme Court reasoned as follows in its landmark opinion, Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970):

“ ‘Collateral estoppel’ is an awkward phrase, but it stands for an extremely important principle in our adversary system of justice. It means simply that when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.
* # * # * *
“Where a previous judgment of acquittal was based upon a general verdict, as is usually the case, this approach requires a court to ‘examine the record of a prior proceeding, taking into account the pleadings, evidence, charge, and other relevant matter, and conclude whether a rational jury could have grounded its verdict upon an issue other than that which the defendant seeks to foreclose from consideration.’ [Footnote omitted.] The inquiry ‘must be set in a practical frame and viewed with an eye to all the circumstances of the proceedings.’ Sealfon v. United States, 332 U.S. 575, 579, 68 S.Ct. 237, 240 [92 L.Ed. 341].” 397 U.S. at 443, 444, 90 S.Ct. at 1194.

Under the standard set forth above, this Court must analyze all of the circumstances surrounding the previous trial and must determine upon what issue that jury’s verdict of acquittal was based. Both parties herein fully agree that this is the test to be applied, but differ in their conclusions of what the result should be.

The Government urges that collateral es-toppel is not applicable in the instant case. Its argument is threefold:

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

Related

United States v. Robert C. Thompson
664 F.2d 666 (Eighth Circuit, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
517 F. Supp. 1214, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-thompson-ared-1981.