Opinion

United States v. Lacy

Court
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Filed
May 5, 2006
Status
Published
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 40.3%

The opinion

Opinions of the United

2006 Decisions States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

5-5-2006

USA v. Lacy

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Precedential

Docket No. 05-1913

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PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

No. 05-1913

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.

MICHAEL LACY,

Appellant

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of Delaware

(D.C. Criminal No. 01-cr-00037)

District Judge: Honorable Joseph J. Farnan, Jr.

Argued March 7, 2006

Before: RENDELL and AMBRO, Circuit Judges,

and SHAPIRO, District Judge*

(Filed May 5, 2006)

* Honorable Norma L Shapiro, Senior District Court Judge

for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting by

designation.

Penny Marshall [ARGUED]

Office of Federal Public Defender

704 King Street

First Federal Plaza, Suite 110

Wilmington, DE 19801

Counsel for Appellant

Shannon T. Hanson [ARGUED]

Office of the U. S. Attorney

1007 Orange Street, Suite 700

Wilmington, DE 19899

Counsel for Appellee

OPINION OF THE COURT

RENDELL, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Michael Lacy was charged with possession

with intent to distribute five grams or more of a substance

containing a detectable amount of cocaine base, or crack

cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) and (b). A jury

acquitted him of the charged offense, but convicted him of two

lesser included offenses, simple possession of more than five

grams of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 844, and

possession with intent to distribute an unspecified amount of

2

cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1).

On appeal, Lacy asks us to vacate his simple possession

conviction, raising several claims to the effect that his

conviction on more than one lesser included offense arising out

of the same charge was improper. We conclude that none of

Lacy’s claims provides a proper basis for reversal.

Accordingly, we will affirm.

I.

Michael Lacy was arrested by the Wilmington, Delaware

Police on June 19, 2001, in a Wilmington apartment. The

police recovered from his pocket a small plastic bag that

contained several individually wrapped small chunks, weighing

1.85 grams, of a white substance that was later determined to be

a mixture containing cocaine base, or crack cocaine. They

seized two more plastic bags from the bathroom of the

apartment. One contained a large chunk of the substance,

weighing 3.24 grams, and the other contained several more

individually wrapped smaller chunks, weighing a total of 1.66

grams. Thus, the police recovered a total of 6.75 grams of crack

cocaine on Lacy’s person and in the bathroom.

Lacy was charged, in an indictment, with possessing with

intent to distribute five grams or more of a mixture or substance

containing cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)

and (b). Before trial, the government asked the District Court

to include three lesser included offenses in the jury charge and

on the verdict form. Lacy objected, contending that drug type

and quantity are not elements of the offense, but are, instead,

3

“sentencing factors” under 21 U.S.C. § 841. The District Court

disagreed with Lacy, and, accordingly, instructed the jury

orally, and in a written verdict form, that if the jury found that

Lacy was not guilty of the indicted offense, it could consider

whether he was guilty of (1) possession with intent to distribute

an unspecified amount of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C.

§ 841(a)(1), and (2) simple possession of more than five grams

of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 844. If the jury

found Lacy not guilty of both of these offenses, it was instructed

to consider whether he was guilty of a third alternative offense,

simple possession of an unspecified amount of cocaine base.

The jury found Lacy not guilty of possession with intent to

distribute five grams of cocaine base, but found him guilty of

both possession with intent to distribute an unspecified amount

of cocaine base and simple possession of more than five grams

of cocaine base.

After trial, Lacy moved for judgment of acquittal

pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29(c), arguing

that the evidence did not support verdicts on both lesser

included offenses, that the jury verdict violated double jeopardy

principles and that simple possession of cocaine base is not a

lesser included offense of a section 841(a) charge for possession

with intent to distribute. The District Court denied the motion.

Lacy now appeals.

II.

Our jurisdiction to consider Lacy’s appeal from the

District Court’s final order of conviction arises under 18 U.S.C.

§ 1291. We exercise plenary review over an appeal from the

4

grant or denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal, applying

the same standard as the district court to the individual claims.

United States v. Brodie, 403 F.3d 123, 133 (3d Cir. 2005).

Thus,

we must view the evidence in the light most

favorable to the verdict, and must presume that

the jury has properly carried out its functions of

evaluating credibility of witnesses, finding the

facts, and drawing justifiable inferences. A

verdict will be overruled only if no reasonable

juror could accept the evidence as sufficient to

support the conclusion of the defendant’s guilt

beyond a reasonable doubt.

United States v. Coleman, 811 F.2d 804, 807 (3d Cir. 1987)

(quoting United States v. Campbell, 702 F.2d 262, 264 (D.C.

Cir. 1983)).

III.

Lacy urges us to overturn his simple possession

conviction, arguing (1) that the Federal Rules of Criminal

Procedure do not permit conviction for more than one lesser

included offense arising out of a single charged offense, (2) that

simple possession is not a lesser included offense of possession

with intent to distribute, (3) that his convictions violate the

Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution and (4) that the

evidence presented was insufficient to support his conviction of

both the simple possession and the possession with intent to

distribute offenses. We address these claims in turn.

5

A. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 31(c)

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 31(c) provides: “A

defendant may be found guilty of . . . an offense necessarily

included in the offense charged.” Lacy argues that, because the

rule is phrased in the singular, it prohibits conviction on more

than one lesser included offense for each offense charged. If

Congress and the Supreme Court had intended to allow multiple

convictions for lesser included offenses under the rule, he

contends, they would have said that a defendant may be found

guilty of “offenses,” not “an offense,” “necessarily included in

the offense charged.”

We disagree that the rule is so limited, for several

reasons. First, the advisory committee notes to Rule 31(c)

indicate that the rule “is a restatement of existing law.”

Specifically, the rule replaced the provision in the Act of June

1, 1872 that stated that “‘in all criminal cases the defendant may

be found guilty of any offence the commission of which is

necessarily included in that with which he is charged in the

indictment.’” Schmuck v. United States, 489 U.S. 705, 719

(1989) (quoting Act of June 1, 1872, ch. 255, § 9, 17 Stat. 198)

(emphasis added). The word “any” suggests that a defendant

may be found guilty of several offenses other than that charged

in the indictment, so long as all such offenses are “necessarily

included” in the charged offense. Thus, the idea that a

defendant may be convicted of multiple lesser included offenses

arising out of a single charge in an indictment is rooted in the

history of the rule; the change in the text from “any offence” to

“an offense” does not appear to reflect a change in its meaning.

6

Second, Lacy has not advanced, and we cannot fathom,

any principle that would prevent us from applying the rule

according to this tradition. We are satisfied that defendants’

rights are adequately protected by existing limitations on the

application of the rule. The Supreme Court has adopted a test

for determining when an offense is “necessarily included in the

offense charged” under Rule 31(c):

[O]ne offense is not “necessarily included” in

another unless the elements of the lesser offense

are a subset of the elements of the charged

offense. Where the lesser offense requires an

element not required for the greater offense, no

instruction is to be given under Rule 31(c).

Id. at 716. This test protects defendants’ rights by ensuring that

they have “constitutionally sufficient notice” that they face

conviction on all lesser included offenses. See id. at 717-18.

Further, the common law rule “bar[ring] conviction for both an

offense and a lesser included offense arising from the same

conduct,” Paul H. Robinson et al., 1 Crim. L. Defs. § 68(d)(2)

(1984 & 2005 Supp.), neutralizes any potential prejudice to the

defendant by prohibiting multiple lesser included offense

convictions for the same acts. As long as these rules are

satisfied, as they are here, see section III.B below, we see no

reason not to allow multiple convictions for lesser included

offenses on the same charged offense under Rule 31(c).

Third, a finding that Rule 31(c) supports only a single

lesser included offense conviction would require us, in cases

where more than one lesser included offense satisfies the

7

Schmuck elements test, to develop some mechanism for

selecting which offense should be charged. Lacy has not

explained what criteria should guide this choice, and, because

this issue has not been addressed in the case law, we would be

arbitrarily creating such a test. We think the sounder practice is

to conclude, consistent with the history of Rule 31(c), that all

lesser included offenses that satisfy the test established by the

Supreme Court may be charged simultaneously, and may

support separate convictions, as long as the various lesser

included offenses relate to different conduct, i.e., are not lesser

included offenses of one another.

B. Lacy’s Lesser Included Offense Claim

Lacy argues that simple possession of five or more grams

of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 844, is not

“necessarily included in” the offense with which he was

charged, possession with intent to distribute five or more grams

of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b).

We do not agree and, in fact, find that his convictions of both

lesser included offenses fit well within the parameters described

above.

As noted above, an offense “necessarily included in the

offense charged” under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure

31(c) “is one that does not require proof of any additional

element beyond those required by the greater offense.” Gov’t of

the Virgin Islands v. Joseph, 765 F.2d 394, 396 (3d Cir. 1985)

(emphasis omitted). To resolve Lacy’s claim, then, we must

compare the elements of the charged offense with those of the

convicted offense.

8

We have addressed this question once before. In 1992,

we noted, without further explanation, that “[t]he crime of

simple possession under 21 U.S.C. § 844 is a lesser offense

included within the offense of possession with intent to

distribute under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a).” United States v. Frorup,

963 F.2d 41, 42 (3d Cir. 1992) (citing United States v. Garcia-

Duarte, 718 F.2d 42, 47 (2d Cir. 1982)).1 However, changes in

the law regarding what constitutes an “element” of an offense,

as a result of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Apprendi v. New

Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), require that we examine this issue

anew.

After Apprendi, “[o]ther than the fact of a prior

conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime

beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to

a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. at 490. Such

facts are the “functional equivalent[s]” of “elements” of an

aggravated offense that carries a higher statutory maximum

penalty. Id. at 494 n.19. See also United States v. Barbosa, 271

F.3d 438, 452-53 (3d Cir. 2001) (explaining Apprendi). Thus,

we held, in United States v. Barbosa, 271 F.3d at 457, and

United States v. Vazquez, 271 F.3d 93, 98 (3d Cir. 2001) (en

banc), that drug identity and quantity must be treated as

elements of a section 841 possession with intent to distribute

offense when taking either factor into account increases the

1

Other courts of appeals disagreed, concluding that simple

possession required proof of drug amount and type, while

possession with intent to distribute did not. See United States v.

Stone, 139 F.3d 822, 828-34, 836 (11th Cir. 1998) (collecting

cases).

9

applicable statutory maximum. Although we have not

previously discussed this issue in the context of a section 844

simple possession offense, we conclude that applying Apprendi

to that statute yields the same result that we reached with respect

to section 841: drug identity and quantity should be considered

the functional equivalents of elements of a simple possession

offense when they increase a defendant’s maximum statutory

sentence exposure.

Lacy was charged with “knowingly possess[ing] with

intent to distribute 5 grams or more of a mixture or substance

containing a detectable amount of cocaine base, a Schedule II

narcotic controlled substance, in violation of Title 21, United

States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and (b).” The statutory

provision under which Lacy was charged in the indictment, 21

U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), provides “it shall be unlawful for any person

knowingly or intentionally–to manufacture, distribute, or

dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or

dispense, a controlled substance.” Thus, the elements of the

base offense are (1) knowing or intentional (2) possession (3)

with intent to distribute (4) a controlled substance.

Lacy’s indictment did not just charge the base offense,

however; it specified a particular drug type and amount. We

apply the tests from Barbosa and Vazquez to determine whether

those facts act as “elements,” or their equivalents, of the charged

offense. Subsection 841(b), which is labeled “Penalties,” sets

forth statutory sentencing ranges based on the type and amount

of drug involved. The “default” or “catchall” sentence for a

violation of 841(a)(1) is a term of imprisonment of not more

than one year, as set forth in 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(3). See

10

Barbosa, 271 F.3d at 457. By contrast, the maximum penalty

for possession with intent to distribute an unspecified quantity

of a mixture or substance containing cocaine base is 20 years,

see 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C),2 and the maximum penalty for

possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of a

mixture or substance that contains cocaine base is 40 years, 21

U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(iii). Thus, in this case, both the drug type

and amount serve to increase the maximum statutory penalty,

and must be treated as “elements” of the offense. Effectively,

then, the elements of the charged offense are (1) knowing or

intentional (2) possession (3) with intent to distribute (4) five

grams or more (5) of a mixture or substance containing cocaine

base.

Lacy was convicted of “possession of more than five (5)

grams of cocaine base.” The basic elements of a simple

possession offense are (1) knowing or intentional (2) possession

(3) of a controlled substance. See 21 U.S.C. § 844 (“It shall be

unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to possess

a controlled substance . . . .”). Like section 841, however,

section 844 provides a schedule of escalating penalties that

depend on the drug type and amount. The basic penalty, as

under section 841, is “a term of imprisonment of not more than

one year.” Id. The penalty for conviction of possession of more

than five grams of a mixture or substance that contains cocaine

base, however, is imprisonment for up to 20 years. As under

section 841, the drug amount and quantity increase the statutory

maximum penalty applicable to a simple possession conviction.

2

Cocaine and its derivatives are schedule II controlled

substances. See 21 U.S.C. § 812, sched. II (a)(4).

11

Thus, the functional elements of the simple possession offense

for which Lacy was convicted are (1) knowing or intentional (2)

possession (3) of more than five grams (4) of a mixture or

substance containing cocaine base.

Comparing the elements of the two offenses, it is clear

that the simple possession offense of which Lacy was convicted

is a lesser included offense of the charged possession with intent

to distribute offense. The only difference between the two

offenses is that the section 841 offense requires proof of intent

to distribute the drugs. The District Court therefore properly

charged simple possession of more than five grams of cocaine

base as a lesser included offense of possession with intent to

distribute five grams or more of cocaine base.

It is also clear that the second offense of which Lacy was

convicted–which he does not challenge on appeal–is a lesser

included offense of the charged offense. Possession with intent

to distribute an unspecified quantity of cocaine base requires

proof of a “subset” of the facts that must be proved to sustain a

conviction for possession with intent to distribute five grams or

more of cocaine base–everything except for the drug amount.

Finally, although Lacy has not raised this as an issue, we

note that the two offenses of which he was convicted are not

lesser included offenses of each other, because each requires

proof of a fact that the other does not. The simple possession

conviction requires proof of the specific drug amount, while the

possession with intent conviction requires proof of intent to

distribute. Lacy was not convicted twice for the same conduct.

12

Thus, the District Court properly charged Lacy with, and

the jury properly convicted him of, two separate lesser included

offenses.

C. Double Jeopardy

The Double Jeopardy Clause provides that no person

shall “be subject for the same offence to be twice put in

jeopardy of life or limb.” U.S. Const. amend. V. The Supreme

Court, in North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711 (1968)

explained that the “constitutional guarantee against double

jeopardy” consists of “three separate constitutional protections”:

It protects against a second prosecution for the

same offense after acquittal. It protects against a

second prosecution for the same offense after

conviction. And it protects against multiple

punishments for the same offense.

Id. at 717.

The District Court analyzed and rejected Lacy’s

challenge under the third category of protections, concluding

that he was not being punished twice for the same offense. On

appeal, Lacy repeatedly stresses that he is not pursuing a

“separate offense” or “multiplicity” challenge because “he does

not assert that the two convictions returned by the jury establish

one violation,” Appellant’s Br. at 31; Appellant’s Reply Br. at

18. Furthermore, he acknowledges that “possession with intent

to distribute a controlled substance under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) and

possession of five grams or more of cocaine base under 21

13

U.S.C. § 844 constitute wholly separate proscriptions.”

Appellant’s Br. at 31.

Instead, Lacy appears to be raising two separate but

related double jeopardy challenges. First, he argues that his

convictions were improper because the jury effectively

convicted him of the two lesser included offenses after it had

acquitted him of the charged offense. Second, he claims that, by

requesting the District Court to charge the jury on the two lesser

included offenses, the prosecution improperly “‘divide[d] up a

continuing crime into bits and prosecute[d] him separately for

each.’” Appellant’s Br. at 25 (quoting United States v. Chagra,

653 F.2d 26, 29 (1st Cir. 1981)). We can find no support for

either of these claims.

Lacy bases his first double jeopardy claim on Sanabria

v. United States, 437 U.S. 54 (1978). The question in that case

was whether, after the defendant had been acquitted of an

offense, the prosecution could subject the defendant to a

subsequent trial on the same facts, under a slightly different

legal theory. Id. at 69-73. The Supreme Court held that it could

not. Id. at 74. Citing Sanabria, Lacy claims that his acquittal on

the charged offense immunized him from “subsequent” charges

on the lesser included offenses. See Appellant’s Br. at 26-27.

The holding of Sanabria does not apply here. Lacy

glosses over a crucial distinction, namely that, unlike the

defendant in Sanabria, Lacy was convicted of the lesser

included offenses in the same trial in which the jury acquitted

him of the charged offense. None of the cases that Lacy cites,

or that we could find, supports his view that Sanabria’s

14

subsequent prosecution theory of double jeopardy applies in

cases involving convictions for lesser included offenses in the

same proceedings.

In fact, the Supreme Court has repeatedly noted that

double jeopardy does not bar prosecution of related charges in

the same proceeding. In Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U.S. 359

(1983), for example, the Court concluded that, “[w]here . . . a

legislature specifically authorizes cumulative punishment under

two statutes, regardless of whether those two statutes proscribe

the ‘same’ conduct . . . the prosecutor may seek and the trial

court or jury may impose cumulative punishment under such

statutes in a single trial.” Id. at 368-69 (emphasis added). In

Sanabria, the Court clearly acknowledged that, although

prosecutors could not bring a new trial against the defendant on

different theories related to the same conduct, acquittal on one

theory might not have barred conviction on the other if the

theories had been charged in separate counts of a single

indictment. 437 U.S. at 72-73. Finally, in Ohio v. Johnson, 467

U.S. 493 (1984), the Court noted that the prosecution could not

bring new charges where a defendant has already been acquitted

or convicted on a lesser included offense, see id. at 501 (citing

Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161 (1977)), but held that the Double

Jeopardy Clause did not bar a State from continuing a

prosecution on greater offenses in the same proceeding in which

the defendant had pleaded guilty to lesser included offenses

charged in a single indictment. Id. at 502.

Following the Supreme Court’s lead, we decline to hold

that “trial proceedings, like amoebae, are capable of being

infinitely subdivided, so that a determination of guilt and

15

punishment on one count . . . immediately raises a double

jeopardy bar to continued prosecution on any remaining counts

that are greater or lesser included offenses of the charge just

concluded.” Id. at 501. Thus, the District Court did not violate

Lacy’s rights under the Double Jeopardy Clause by allowing the

jury to convict him of two lesser included offenses in the same

trial in which the jury acquitted him of the charged offense.

Lacy also contends that his conviction on separate

offenses amounted to improperly dividing up a single “unit of

prosecution” into pieces and convicting him separately of each

piece. We disagree, and find his challenge ill-suited to the facts

of this case. The central inquiry in a “unit of prosecution”

challenge is whether the defendant has been charged, convicted

and punished more than once for the same conduct. See United

States v. Pollen, 978 F.2d 78, 85 (3d Cir. 1992) (quoting

Sanabria, 437 U.S. at 70) (question in “unit of prosecution” case

is whether “‘a particular course of conduct involves one or more

distinct offenses’”). As Lacy notes in his brief, “[i]t has long

been the law that a prosecutor cannot divide a continuing crime

into bits and prosecute separately for each.” United States v.

Chagra, 653 F.2d 26, 29 (1st Cir. 1981), quoted in Appellant’s

Br. at 25. Thus, a baker that baked four loaves of bread on a

Sunday could only be convicted once under a statute that

prohibited working on a Sunday, id. (citing Crepps v. Durden,

(1777) 98 Eng. Rep. 1283 (K.B.)), and the government could

prosecute a man “only once for cohabiting for three years

straight with more than one woman as his wife; it could not

prosecute him three times, once for each year,” id. at 30 (citing

In re Snow, 120 U.S. 274 (1887)).

16

To determine whether a defendant was properly charged,

convicted and punished separately for the same offense, we

examine

whether proof of one offense charged requires an

additional fact that proof of the other offense does

not necessitate. . . . Also of central importance is

whether the legislature intended to make

separately punishable the different types of

conduct referred to in the various counts.

Pollen, 978 F.2d at 85 (quoting United States v. Stanfa, 685 F.2d

85, 87 (3d Cir. 1982)).

The facts of this case do not raise “unit of prosecution”

concerns. As noted above, each of the offenses of which Lacy

was ultimately convicted required proof of a fact that the other

did not. And Lacy himself acknowledges that he was not

convicted of multiple counts of the same offense, but rather of

single counts of each of two “wholly separate proscriptions.”

Appellant’s Br. at 31. His two convictions do not dissect an

otherwise continuing crime, but, rather, reflect two different

types of conduct: simple possession of more than five grams of

cocaine base, and possession with intent to distribute the

remaining drugs. We will not disturb his convictions on this

basis.

D. Sufficiency of the Evidence

17

As described above, the evidence presented at trial

established Lacy’s possession of three bags of crack cocaine,

with a total drug weight of 6.75 grams. Two of the bags

contained individually wrapped chunks; the one found in the

bathroom contained a total of 1.66 grams, and the one found in

Lacy’s pocket contained 1.85 grams. The third bag, also found

in the bathroom, contained a larger single chunk of crack

cocaine that weighed 3.24 grams. Based on the verdict, we

know that the jury concluded that Lacy did not intend to

distribute five grams or more of the drugs. We also know that

the jury believed that he possessed five grams or more of

cocaine base, and that he possessed some unknown quantity

with intent to distribute.

Lacy argues, quite simply, that there aren’t enough drugs

in evidence to support both of his convictions. In his view,

“[t]here are only two logical manners in which a reasonable jury

might divide” the evidence. Appellant’s Br. at 18. The first

logical way to divide the evidence, he contends, would be to

assume that the drugs found on Lacy’s person were intended for

distribution, while those found in the bathroom were not. Under

this scenario, Lacy would have possessed 1.85 grams for

distribution and 4.9 grams for some purpose other than

distribution. Alternatively, he argues, the jury could have

assumed that Lacy intended to distribute the drugs that were

wrapped up into smaller pieces. In that case, 3.51 grams of the

drugs would support the possession with intent to distribute

conviction, but only 3.24 grams would remain for the simple

possession conviction. But under neither scenario could the jury

simultaneously conclude that he intended to distribute a discrete

quantity of drugs and that he possessed five grams or more of

18

drugs for some purpose other than distribution.

We disagree, and decline Lacy’s invitation to guess

which drugs the jury assigned to which conviction. The

sufficiency of the evidence standard requires us to uphold

convictions as long as “a reasonable jury believing the

government’s evidence could find beyond a reasonable doubt

that the government proved all the elements of the offenses.”

United States v. Salmon, 944 F.2d 1106, 1113 (3d Cir. 1991).

In this case, the government presented evidence that Lacy

possessed 6.75 grams of cocaine base, more than enough drugs

to support both convictions. We are satisfied that a reasonable

jury could simultaneously have concluded that Lacy possessed

five or more grams for some purpose other than distribution and

that he possessed the residual amount with intent to distribute.

The jury’s verdict was accordingly supported by sufficient

evidence.

IV.

For the foregoing reasons, we reject Lacy’s claims and

will affirm his convictions.

19

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