# Petition — Larkin v. United States

> Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more.

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Amicro_IA40385006_1929%3A1

## Record

- **Collection:** Supreme Court brief
- **Document type:** Petition
- **Published:** January 1, 1980
- **Citation:** 446 U.S. 939

## Text

IN THE

Supreme Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM, 1979

No.

79-1538

THOMAS A. LARKIN,
Petitioner,

versus

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondent.

PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

JAMES M. RUSS

I. PAUL MANDELKERN
Russ & Mandelkern, P.A.
Tinker Building

18 West Pine Street
Orlando, Florida 32801
Telephone: (305) 849-6050

Attorneys for Petitioner

ERO EAT RET I, TRE RNR ENO LE ERLE TERIA CAEL
THE CASILLAS PRESS, INC.-1717 K Street. N W.—Weshington, 0. C.-223-1220

SS oy. Un x ok cing Sete kh avnken corti 2

ag ET ETE ic oe DR Os 2 |

PMU ME WOME ie hi ch dds dco uectancucn 3-9
REASON FOR GRANTING THE WRIT

IF LIABILITY FOR THE SUBSTANTIVE COUNTS

OF AN INDICTMENT IS PREDICATED SOLELY

UPON A CONSPIRACY CHARGED IN A SEPA-

RATE COUNT, THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY CLAUSE

OF THE FIFTH AMENDMENT BARS RETRIAL

FOR THE CONSPIRACY AFTER JURY VERDICTS

OF NOT GUILTY ON THE SUBSTANTIVE

UNE 5 Ferhat oS Seah ete beeateaae, aqiiiioc a, 9-15

EE as Us aay Gee bates aol ees out ee 15
APPENDIX

1. Opinion of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Thomas
A. Larkin, Case No. 78-2124, dated November
PN ha Fa ha aoe by wee a ae ae la-23a

2. Opinion of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Thomas
A. Larkin, Case No. 78-2124, on petitions for
rehearing, dated wememene G, OUP oe cnc. cncccece. 24a-26a

(ii)

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Page

Cases:
Abney v. United States,

a OS te ee dt biel aya ws 6
Blockburger v. United States,

i NS i i eA dle dais 6,9
Brown v. Ohio,

ees anio eee bowen 6,9, 13
Green v. United States,

Ne oe wi 8, 13
Harris v. Oklahoma,

ee al diy d's Biase bale wade ae 6,9, 11,13
Jeffers v. United States,

Ra IRR DR Perey ee a a 6, 9, 13
Pinkerton v. United States,

a a a ai Sa ae en ee 4
Price v. Georgia,

REIRSON ea Re 8,13
United States v. Bender,

ee ee ee cco wlet ee’ bbe sowes 12
United States v. Buckley,

586 F.2d 498 (Sth Cir. 1978) .............. tip h Sl caalsniea ue wk ats 12
United States v. Michel,

a ee a éehan eeu 14
United States v. Moreno,

EE RROD Spee pr Sn eR 14
United States v. Tilton,

ne re eV eae es 14

(iii)

Whalen v. United States,

SUE TUN POTS Ol a, ON CEP 6 oso hiatae bdo cs oak oven 14
Statutes:
PRE celal’. Poco ank wed engiitk aLeR RLS hy 3
POEMS 5p PEN ond oERERUKG e Dhicelo ee a 3
Fe MEO cis ee pha kG Neuve bet els oy eB 3
FP CES asc nck uC EEK von geda baleen ck 3
PEL ME Gore Vik ty cabin pars Pee deta, scene ee 10
ie ci cise oes, ROE EEE Oe CROC) Geils Pare. ERIE oe 10
Pee TD § EN a Siena eu ks echcbold Cobh 2
Pe EE 55.5 Cag ass ke Phe eh etal ois 3
OR AG Wh 65 oe a ne KS be ea ee ieee eee 3
ly epi oi 5. OT OR OE tO UE RUUD A NAP NT ht in 3
Pe ON OMNI os Chk a Pave a wee Ce riAhy Ka occ eres 3

—— EE

IN THE

Supreme Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM, 1979

No.

THOMAS A. LARKIN,
Petitioner,

versus

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondent.

PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

Petitioner, THOMAS A. LARKIN, respectfully prays
that a writ of certiorari issue to review the judgment of
the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
entered on February 8, 1980, denying a petition for
rehearing directed to that Court’s written opinion dated
November 5, 1979. The initial Fifth Circuit opinion af-
firmed an order entered by a District Judge of the
United States District Court for the Middle District of
Florida in a criminal prosecution denying petitioner’s
motion to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds. The opin-
ion of the United Sates Court of Appeals for the Fifth

4

Circuit held that where criminal liability for the substan-
tive counts of an indictment is based solely upon the
defendant’s membership in a conspiracy charged in a
separate count, the defendant’s double jeopardy right is
not violated by a retrial on the conspiracy count after
acquittal on the substantive counts in the first trial. A
timely petition for rehearing was denied by the Court of
Appeals and judgment was entered. The petitioner now
prays that this Court review the judgment and opinion
of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Cir-
cuit.

OPINIONS BELOW

The November 5, 1979, opinion of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is reported at 605
F.2d 1360. The slip sheet opinion is set out in the ap-
pendix to this petition. (App. 1a-23a).

The opinion of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit denying petitioner’s petition for
rehearing is reported at 611 F.2d 585. The slip sheet opi-
nion is also set out in the appendix to this petition.
(App. 24a-26a).

JURISDICTION

The opinion of the Court of Appeals was entered on
November 5, 1979. The Court of Appeals denied a timely
petition for rehearing on February 8, 1980. On February
26, 1980, Mr. Justice Powell extended the time for filing
this petition to and including March 31, 1980. This Court’s
jurisdiction is invoked under 28 U.S.C. §1254(1).

QUESTION PRESENTED

If criminal liability for the substantive counts of an
indictment is predicated solely upon a conspiracy charged
in a separate count, does retrial on the conspiracy count
after jury verdicts of not guilty on the substantive
counts violate the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth
Amendment to the United States Constitution?

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION INVOLVED
United States Constitution, Fifth Amendment:

No person shall * * * be subject for the same
offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or
limb; * * *,

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Petitioner is the defendant in a criminal prosecution
instituted in the United States District Court for the
Middle District of Florida. Count one of the indictment
charges that the petitioner, an attorney, and a co-
defendant, the president of a labor union local, violated
18 U.S.C. §371 by conspiring to commit five illegal acts
in violation of: 18 U.S.C. §§1503, 1510, 1622, and 29
U.S.C. §§439(c), 501(c) (R. 1-10).*

Counts two, four, and six accuse petitioner and the
co-defendant of embezzling union funds on three sepa-
rate occasions in violation of Section 501(c) (R. 10-13).
Counts three, five, and seven accuse petitioner and his
co-defendant of violating Section 439(c) by making false
entries in the union records required to be kept under 29
U.S.C. §§431(b) and 436 (R. 10-13).

*“R.” refers to the record on appeal in the lower court.

EERSTE se Ney elon ORS EEE ACESS | ee sete eee ee ee

There is a direct correlation between the substantive
offenses charged in counts two through seven and the
overt acts of the conspiracy alleged in count one. In par-
ticular, overt acts 41, 30, and 28 directly relate to the
criminal activity alleged in substantive counts two and
three; six and seven; and four and five respectively. Fur-
ther, all of the substantive offenses were allegedly com-
mitted within the time-frame of the conspiracy charged
in count one.

Since counts two through seven do not allege that
petitioner was an officer or employee of the labor union
in question or that he aided or abetted the union presi-
dent, pretrial defense pleadings were filed attacking the
indictment and questioning the prosecution’s theory of
petitioner’s criminal liability for the substantive counts
(R. 37-44, 181-184). The government’s response (R. 96-
107) made it clear that its position is that petitioner’s
criminal liability for these substantive counts rested sole-
ly upon his membership in the conspiracy charged in
count one. In its written response to petitioner’s motion
to dismiss, the government relied upon the vicarious
liability theory for co-conspirators first enunciated by
this Court in Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640
(1946), which holds that a defendant who is a member
of a continuing conspiracy is criminally responsible for
the reasonably foreseeable substantive offenses commit-
ted by a co-conspirator in furtherance of the conspiracy
(R. 100-102). This vicarious liability theory was
reiterated by the government during oral argument at
the pretrial hearing held on the motion to dismiss (R.
591-592, 597).

The prosecutor also argued the Pinkerton theory of
vicarious criminal liability to the jury urging petitioner’s
liability for the offenses alleged in counts two through

seven during his opening and closing arguments to the
jury (R. 241-242; 514-515). (Petitioner’s pretrial motion
for a severance from the co-defendant was granted).

The jury then received extensive instructions from the
trial judge on conspiracy; and they were instructed as to
counts two through seven on the Pinkerton theory,
which was based solely upon petitioner’s alleged mem-
bership in the conspiracy charged in count one (R.
346-422; TT. 2268-2319). ** Specifically, the trial judge
instructed the jury that there were four essential
elements of the offenses alleged in counts two, four, and
six (the embezzlement counts) and three essential
elements of the offenses alleged in counts three, five,
and seven (the false record counts) (R. 394-401; TT.
2293-2302). The last element as given in the jury instruc-
tions as to each of the substantive counts was:

* * * that the defendant and [co-defendant]
were members of the conspiracy alleged in
Count One of the indictment and the alleged
[substantive offense] took place during the
course of the conspiracy and was reasonably
foreseeable by the defendant Thomas A. Lar-
kin as a necessary or natural consequence of
conspiracy and * * * was intended by [the co-
defendant] to further the purpose or purposes
of the conspiracy. (R. 396, 401; TT. 2297,
2302) (emphasis added).

Under the terms of the indictment and the jury instruc-
tions given to his jury, petitioner could have been found
guilty of both the conspiracy count and all of the
substantive counts.

**“TT.” refers to the trial transcript which was part of the record
on appeal in the lower court.

Relying upon Brown, Jeffers, and Harris, petitioner

The jury returned verdicts of not guilty as to counts — :
asserted that his retrial on the lesser offense, the count

two through seven (R. 423; TT. 2321-2334, 2343), but

was “hopelessly deadlocked” as to count one and a one conspiracy, would violate the double jeopardy
mistrial was declared as to that count by the trial court clause, because he had already been tried and acquitted

(TT. 2343-2344). of the “greater offenses”, the substantive counts.

After the government informed the trial court and The Fifth Circuit seemed to accept petitioner’s legal
petitioner’s counsel by written communication that it in- argument:
tended to retry petitioner on count one (R. 425), peti-
tioner filed a motion to dismiss count one on the ground
of double jeopardy (R. 429-438). By way of this motion,
petitioner argued that a retrial of the conspiracy alleged
in count one would violate his constitutional right
against double jeopardy because this conspiracy was a
“lesser included offense” of the substantive offenses for
which he had already been tried and acquitted. This mo-
tion to dismiss was denied (R. 644). Thereafter, a timely
interlocutory appeal was taken to the Fifth Circuit under
the authority of Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651

Like the appellant, we find it somewhat dif-
ficult to square Pinkerton with the double
jeopardy cases discussed [Brown, Jeffers, and
Harris]. * * * Just as the intent necessary to
prove felony murder was provided by the rob-
bery with firearms charge in Harris, the intent
to establish Larkin’s liability for the act of his
co-conspirator is supplied by the conspiracy
charge. Just as Harris’ participation in a rob-
bery created his liability for the shot of his
partner, Larkin’s formation of a conspiracy

(1977), and petitioner’s retrial was stayed by an order of
the trial court (R. 646).

Petitioner’s legal argument to the Fifth Circuit was
premised upon the “same offense” test for double jeop-
ardy, enunciated by this Court in Blockburger v.

United States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932), as approved and ap-
plied to “lesser included offenses” by this Court in a trio
of recent cases: Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161 (1977);

Jeffers v. United States, 432 U.S. 137 (1977); and Harris

with [the co-conspirator] established Larkin’s
liability for [the] embezzlement of union funds
and falsification of union records. It would
therefore appear that under Harris, the con-
spiracy charge against Larkin is a lesser includ-
ed offense of the Pinkerton vicarious “ability
offenses, counts two through seven. 605 F.2d
at 1367 (App. 13a-14a) (footnote and citations
omitted).

v. Oklahoma, 433 U.S. 682 (1977). Petitioner’s legal
position was that since the existence of the conspiracy
charged in count one was the sole basis for his criminal
responsibility for the substantive counts, the count one
conspiracy became a “lesser included offense” of the
substantive counts since every element of the former
charge had to be proved to establish the latter offenses.

The Fifth Circuit also recognized that the double
jeopardy clause prohibits reprosecution of a defendant
on a lesser offense after acquittal for the greater of-
fense: ;

[T]he double jeopardy clause not only pro-
hibits the imposition of double punishment for

the same offense, but also prevenis the in-
curable injury caused a defendant who must
run the gauntlet twice for the same offense.
Re-prosecution on a lesser offense in a second
trial after an acquittal on a greater charge in
the first would seem to cause such an injury

* * * 605 F.2d at 1367-1368 n. 20 (App. 14a-
15a) (citations omitted and emphasis added).

However, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the trial court’s
order denying petitioner’s motion to dismiss because of
what it termed “the procedural posture of this case”. 605
F.2d at 1367 (App. 14a). First, the Fifth Circuit dis-
tinguished Brown, Jeffers, and Harris because the
defendants in those cases had been subjected to two in-
dependent proceedings, while the petitioner was sub-
jected to only one trial in which the lesser included of-
fense (the count one conspiracy) and the greater offenses
(the substantive counts) were tried simultaneously. The
Fifth Circuit concluded:

* * * Thus, even assuming the validity of
Larkin’s argument that the conspiracy charge is
a lesser included offense * * * , Larkin’s posi-
tion is indistinguishable from a defendant who
was tried on a murder charge and a manslaugh-
ter count in the alternative. Such simultaneous
jeopardy for greater and lesser included of-
fenses is clearly proper. 605 F.2d at 1367-1368
(App. 14a-15a) (footnote omitted and emphasis
added).

Second, the Fifth Circuit, relying upon Green v.
United States, 355 U.S. 184 (1957), and Price v.
Georgia, 398 U.S. 323 (1970), applied the concept of
“continuing jeopardy” to a lesser included offense and
ruled that an acquittal on a greater offense does not

*

preclude a retrial on a lesser offense to which “continu-
ing jeopardy” has attached due to a mistrial caused by a
deadlocked jury. 605 F.2d at 1368-1369 (App. 16a-17a).

REASON FOR GRANTING THE WRIT

IF LIABILITY FOR THE SUBSTANTIVE COUNTS
OF AN INDICTMENT IS PREDICATED SOLELY
UPON A CONSPIRACY CHARGED IN A
SEPARATE COUNT, THE DO JEOPARDY
CLAUSE OF THE FIFTH AME ENT BARS
RETRIAL FOR THE CONSPIRACY AFTER JURY
VERDICTS OF NOT GUILTY ON THE SUBSTAN-
TIVE COUNTS.

During this Court’s 1976 term, it decided a trilogy of
cases which reiterated and clarified the long-standing
rule that once a person is tried for an offense he cannot
be reprosecuted for a greater or lesser included offense.
Harris v. Oklahoma, 433 U.S. 682 (1977); Brown v.
Ohio, 432 U.S. 161 (1977); Jeffers v. United States, 432
U.S. 137 (1977). The rationale for this rule is that, for
double jeopardy purposes, the lesser included offense is
the “same offense” as the greater offense and vice-versa.

In Brown, a majority of this Court reversed the
defendant’s conviction for auto theft after he had earlier
plead guilty to the charge of joyriding arising from the
illegal taking of the same automobile. This Court ap-
plied the test enunciated in Blockburger v. United
States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932), to determine whether the
two offenses were sufficiently distinguishable to permit
successive prosecutions. Mr. Justice Powell, writing for
the majority, expressed the lesser included offense prin-
ciple of double jeopardy:

As is invariably true of a greater and lesser in-
cluded ofense, the lesser offense — joy-riding

10

— requires no proof beyond that which is re-
quired for conviction of the greater — auto
theft. The greater offense is therefore by
definition the “same” for purposes of double
jeopardy as any lesser offense included in it.
432 U.S. at 168.

The rationale of the Brown decision was reaffirmed
by this Court in Jeffers. Two separate indictments were
returned against Jeffers. The first chargea him with
committing a conspiracy in violation of 21 U.S.C. §846
and the second charged him with conducting a continu-
ing criminal enterprise to violate the drug laws in viola-
tion of 21 U.S.C. §848 during the same time period
specified in the conspiracy indictment. He successfully
opposed the prosecution’s motion to try both cases
together and was tried and convicted on the conspiracy
charge. Subsequently, in a separate trial, he was found
guilty of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.
Jeffers received the maximum sentence for each convic-
tion, the second sentence to run consecutive with the
first sentence.

A plurality of this Court, after assuming that Section
848 requires proof of an agreement among the persons
involved in the continuing criminal enterprise, found
that Section 846 was a lesser included offense of Section
848. Nevertheless, the plurality held that Jeffers’ consti-
tutional right against double jeopardy had not been
violated by his successive prosecutions for a greater and
lesser included offense because he had waived this right
by opposing the prosecutor’s joinder motion. The
plurality did hold that, since the two offenses were the
same for double jeopardy purposes, the Fifth Amend-
ment barred consecutive sentences. 432 U.S. at 154-158.
The four dissenting Justices argued that a waiver had

1]

not taken place, and the double jeopardy clause had
been violated by two successive “same offense” prosecu-
tions. These Justices also agreed that cumulative punish-
ment was impermissible. 432 U.S. at 158-160.

In the third decision in this trilogy, Harris v.
Oklahoma, the defendant was first convicted of a
murder committed by his accomplice in the course of a
robbery under the felony-murder rule. He was subse-
quently tried and convicted on a separate information
charging the robbery. Relying on a state court finding
that, in a felony-murder case, the proof of the underly-
ing felony (robbery) is needed to prove the intent
necessary for a felony-murder conviction, this Court
held that the second prosecution violated the prohibition
against double jeopardy:

When, as here, convictiv.: for a greater
crime, murder, cannot be had without convic-
tion for the lesser crime, robbery with firearms,
the Double Jeopardy Clause bars prosecution
for the lesser crime after conviction for the
greater one. 433 U.S. at 682-683 (per curiam)
(footnote omitted).

When Brown, Jeffers, and Harris are read in conjunc-
tion it is clear that all nine Justices of this Court agree
on the fundamental principle that double jeopardy bars
a prosecution for a lesser included offense after trial for
the greater offense.

Whatever the sequence may be, the Fifth
Amendment forbids successive prosecution

* * * for a greater and lesser included offense.
Brown v. Ohio, supra at 169 (footnote
omitted).

1?

_

Rather than basing the petitioner’s liability for the
substantive offenses upon a distinct conspiracy, the
government chose to allege one massive conspiracy with
multiple objectives in count one and then use the same
conspiracy to enlarge the petitioner’s liability under
Pinkerton. The government alleged and consistently
argued that a single conspiracy existed. The trial court
held that the count one conspiracy was the same con-
spiracy upon which the petitioner’s liability for the
substantive offenses was based, and instructed the jury
that the proof required to convict the petitioner of the
substantive offenses included proof of his membership
in “the conspiracy alleged in Count One” (R. 396, 401:
TT. 2297, 2302).

Therefore, in proving the substantive offenses, the
Government necessarily was required to prove the count
one conspiracy. Applying the Blockburger test, the
count one conspiracy and the substantive offenses are
the “same offense” for double jeopardy purposes be-
cause each offense did not require proof of an addi-
tional fact which the other did not. Following the
teachings of this Court in Brown, Jeffers, and Harris,
the petitioner’s acquittals for the greater offenses charg-
ed in cofints two through seven bar his retrial on the
lesser included count one conspiracy.

The Fifth Circuit, instead of correctly applying this
Court’s lesser included double jeopardy trilogy, created
an erroneous artificial exception because the petitioner

had not been subjected to two independent prosecutions.

605 F.2d at 1367 (App. 14a-i5a). This distinction is
meaningless because the Brown-Jeffers-Harris principle
applies where greater and lesser included offenses are

charged in a single indictment. United States v. Bender,
606 F.2d 897 (9th Cir. 1979); United States v. Buckley,

13

586 F.2d 498 (Sth Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 982
(1979). Furthermore, like the defendants in Brown, Jef-
Jers and Harris, the petitioner was subject to guilty con-
victions for all seven offenses — the lesser included
count one conspiracy and the greater substantive of-
fenses charged in counts two through seven. The peti-
tioner’s legal position was therefore distinguishable from
a defendant “who was tried on a murder charge and a
manslaughter count in the alternative.” 605 F.2d at 1368
(App. 15a). The decision of the Fifth Circuit thus
necessarily conflicts with the decisions of this Court in
Brown v. Ohio, Jeffers v. United States, and Harris v.
Oklahoma and with the decisions of the lower federal
courts cited above.

The Fifth Circuit has also misinterpreted this Court’s
opinions in Price v. Georgia, 398 U.S. 323 (1970), and
Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184 (1957). In each of
those cases, this Court ruled that when a defendant is
acquitted of a greater offense but convicted on a lesser
offense and successfully appeals that conviction, he may
be retried for the lesser offense but not the greater.
“(T]his Court has consistently refused to rule that
jeopardy for an offense continues after an acquittal * *
* when the jury was given a full opportunity to return a
verdict on the greater charge.” Price v. Georgia, supra
at 329 (footnote omitted).

Likewise, once the petitioner was acquitted of the
greater offenses his jeopardy for the lesser included of-
fense terminated. The Fifth Circuit’s contention that the
petitioner “stands in a position identical to the defen-
dant in Price”, 605 F.2d at 1368 (App. 17a), turns that
decision on its head and ignores the Brown-Jeffers-
Harris lesser included double jeopardy principle.

14

In view of the failure of the Fifth Circuit to correctly
apply the Brown-Jeffers-Harris doctrine, it is necessary
for this Court to grant certiorari in this case so as to
reexamine the Pinkerton theory of vicarious criminal
liability in the light of these cases and to resolve the
double jeopardy issues presented here. A significant
number of federal prosecutions involve vicarious liability
based upon the Pinkerton theory. See, e.g., United
States v. Tilton, 610 F.2d 302, 309 (5th Cir. 1980);
United States v. Michel, 588 F.2d 986, 999 (Sth Cir.
1979), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___., 100 S.Ct. 47 (1979);
United States v. Moreno, 588 F.2d 490, 493 (Sth Cir.
1979), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 936 (1979).

Under the Pinkerton theory, criminal liability radiates
out from the focal point or apex of the conspiracy like a
cone. The legal question of double jeopardy requires a
mirror-image or reverse consideration of Pinkerton: as
criminal liability radiates out from the conspiracy,
jeopardy focuses back to the conspiracy focal point or
apex. Fairness and logic dictate that the accused, having
been tried and acquitted on the substantive offense, can-
not be retried for the conspiracy which is the focal point
of the liability cone. An analogous legal question is
presently pending before this Court in Whalen v. United
States, Case No. 78-5471. In that case, this Court is faced
with the question of whether imposition of consecutive
sentences for a felony-murder and for the underlying
felony, following a single trial, violates double jeopardy.
The same considerations which warranted granting cer-
tiorari in that case militate in favor of granting cer-
tiorari in this case.

The Fifth Circuit’s decision here forces the petitioner
to “run the gauntlet twice” for the same offense.

15

Therefore, this Court must grant certiorari in this case
and, after further briefing and oral argument, reverse
the decision of the lower court so as to resolve any

doubt that when liability for the substantive counts of

an indictment is predicated solely upon a conspiracy

charged in a separate count, double jeopardy prohibits
retrial for the conspiracy after acquittal on the substan-
tive counts.

CONCLUSION

In view of the vital importance of the question
presented and the considerations set forth above, this
Court must grant this petition for writ of certiorari.

Respectfully submitted,

JAMES M. RUSS

Il. PAUL MANDELKERN
Russ & Mandelkern, P.A.
Tinker Building

18 West Pine Street
Orlando, Florida 32801
Telephone: (305) 849-6050

la

APPENDIX A

UNITED STATES of America,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

Vv.

Thomas 4. LARKIN,
Defendant-Appellant

No. 78-2124.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit.

Nov. 5, 1979.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Flerida.

Before THORNBERRY, GOLDBERG and GEE,
Circuit Judges.

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

This case involving the arcane principles of double
jeopardy and collateral estoppel is not susceptible of
bright-letter law or black-letter law; the areas are most
often gray, and dimly to be seen. Needless to say, one
entering this field must do so with trepidation.

As a result, the battles in these areas are pockmarked
by assaults, retreats, and advances. In both fields we
look for terrain that has been fought over, and cast our
eyes about for tactical maneuvers in order to discover
some grand design which really and in fact can fit the
particular case before us for judgment and disposition.
But we find no classic to compare to the Clausewitz of
military fame. We too are thus hesitant to enter the

2a

field, but we shall do so bravely. And, at analysis’ end,
we are confident that contemporary jurisprudence jus-
tifies our conclusion.

This action arose out of the bombing of a trucking
firm by members of a teamsters’ local which was engag-
ed in a labor dispute with the company. Appellant
Larkin was tried under an indictment which charged, in
essence, that Larkin and his co-conspirator, Parker, who
was president of the local, conspired to cover up
Parker’s involvement in the bombing.

The indictment consisted of thirteen counts, seven of
which are relevant to this appeal. Count one alleged that
Larkin and Parker violated 18 U.S.C.A. § 371' by con-
spiring to commit five illegal acts.? It charged that the
co-conspirators agreed to obstruct a criminal investiga-

'18 U.S.C.A. § 371 (West 1966), in pertinent part, provides the
following:

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any of-
fense against the United States, or to defraud the United
States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any
purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to ef-
fect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined not
ae — $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years,
or Doth.

?Count one of the indictment is less than artfully drawn. It seems to
charge the formation of a conspiracy with three objects and allege the
commission of two crimes by the members of that conspiracy.
However, the parties have consistently treated the indictment as one
alleging a conspiracy with five objects. Moreover, our examination of
the record indicates that the trial court concurred in this interpreta-
tion. In light of this conduct by the court and the parties, and in the
absence of any claim by the defendant of prejudice created by the am-

biguity, we treat the indictment as alleging a conspiracy with five ob-
jects.

3a

tion in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1510,3 to obstruct the
due administration of justice in violation of 18
U.S.C.A. § 1503,4 to suborn perjury in violation of 18

318 U.S.C.A. § 1510 (West Supp.1979) provides the following:

(a) Whoever willfully endeavors by means of bribergy,
misrepresentation, intimidation, or force or threats therof
to obstruct, delay, or prevent the communication of infor-
mation relating to a violation of any criminal statute of the
United States by any person to a criminal investigator; or

Whoever injures any person in his person or property on
account of the giving by such person or by any other per-
son of any such information to any criminal investigator —

Shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not
more than five years, or both.

(b) As used in this section, the term “criminal in-
vestigator” means any individual duly authorized by a
department, agency, or armed force of the United States to
conduct or engage in investigations of or prosecutions for
violations of the criminal laws of the United States.

*18 U.S.C.A. § 1503 (West 1966) provides the following:

Whoever corruptly, or by threats of force, or by any
threatening letter or communication, endeavors to in-
- fluence, intimidate, or impede any witness, in any court of
the United States or before any United States commis-
sioner or other committing magistrate, or any grand or
petit juror, or officer in or of any court of the United
States, or officer who may be serving at any examination
or other proceeding before any United States commis-
sioner or other committing magistrate, in the discharge of
his duty, or injures any party or witness in his person or
property on account of his attending or having attended
such court or examination before such officer, commis-
sioner, or other committing magistrate, or on account of
his testifying or having testified to any matter pending
therein, or injures any such grand or petit juror in his per-
son or property on account of any verdict or indictment
assented to by him, or on account of his being or having
been such juror, or injures any such officer, commissioner,
or other committing magistrate in his person or property
on account of the performance of his official duties, or

da

U.S.C.A. § 1622,5 to embezzle funds of a labor
organization in violation of 29 U.S.C.A. § 501(c),® and
to falsify the records of a labor organization in violation
of 29 U.S.C.A. § 439(c).? Counts two through seven
alleged that Larkin and Parker committed the substan-
tive crimes of embezzling union funds and falsifying
union records. Larkin’s criminal responsibility under
these counts, however, was not based upon any actual
participation in the commission of the crimes, but was
instead premised upon the vicarious liability theory of
Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180,
90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946).8

corruptly or by threats or force, or by any threatening let-
ter or communication, influences, obstructs, or impedes,
or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due ad-
ministration of justice, shall be fined not more than $5,000
or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

°18U.S.C.A. § 1622 (West 1966) provides that “[W]hoever procures
another to commit any perjury is guilty of subornation of perjury, and
shall be fined no more than $2,000 or imprisoned not more than five
years, or both.”

°18 U.S.C.A. § 501(c) (West 1975) provides the following:

(c) Any person who embezzles, steals, or unlawfully and
willfully abstracts or converts to his own use, or the use of
another, any of the moneys, funds, securities, property, or
other assets of a labor organization of which he is an of-
ficer, or by which he is employed, directly or indirectly,
shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not

‘more than five years, or both.

729 U.S.C.A. § 439(c) (West 1975) provides that “[aJny person who
willfully makes a false entry in or willfully conceals, withholds, or
destroys any books, records, reports, or statements required to be
kept by any provision of this subchapter shall be fined not more than
$10,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.”

*The indictment on its face does not indicate that Larkin’s liability
under counts two through seven is vicarious. However, the Govern-
ment concedes that these charges are based on Pinkerton v. United
States, supra, which held that a conspirator is liable for the criminal

Sa

From the Government’s standpoint, the trial was less
than successful. Larkin was acquitted by the jury on
counts two through seven. As to Larkin’s culpability
under count one, the jury was “hopelessly deadlocked”
and, as a result, the trial court sua sponte declared a
mistrial as to this count without objection by either
party.

Subsequently, the Government notified the court
and Larkin that it intended to retry the defendants
under count one. In response to this notice, Larkin fil-
ed a motion to dismiss, claiming that a retrial on the
conspiracy charge would constitute double jeopardy in
light of his acquittal on ccounts two through seven, the
Pinkerton vicarious liability counts. From the trial
court’s denial of this motion, Larkin appeals. '°

In support of his double jeopardy claim, the appellant
presses two contentions. First, he contends that the con-
spiracy charged in count one is a lesser included offense
of counts two through seven, the counts predicated
upon vicarious liability. Accordingly, he argues, his ac-

acts Of his co-conspirator it those acts are committed during the
course of, and in furtherance of the conspiracy, and are reasonably
foreseeable as a necessary or natural consequence of the conspiracy.
Moreover, it is evident from the record that the district court tried
these counts under this theory. Accordingly, we treat them as Pinker-
ton, vicarious liability charges.

*Three other counts of the indictment charged Larkin with liability
as a principal under 18 U.S.C.A. § 2 for the crimes of embezzlement
of union funds and falsification of union records. The jury was also
deadlocked as to these counts. Although the Government intends to
retry Larkin under these charges also, they are not pertinent to this ap-
peal, for Larkin does not raise any double jeopardy claim with respect
to them.

'°We have jurisdiction under Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651,
97 S.Ct. 2034, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977), which allows an interlocutory

appeal from a trial court order denying a defendant’s double jeopardy
claim.

6a

quittal on the greater charges precludes his retrial on the
lesser charge. Second, Larkin argues that the collateral
estoppel principles engrafted upon the double jeopardy
clause by Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct.
1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970), prevents the retrial of the
conspiracy count because, in acquitting him of the
Pinkerton vicarious liability charges, the jury must have
found that the defendant was not a member of a con-
spiracy with Parker. We address each contention in
turn.

I

Larkin argues that the conspiracy charged in count
one of the indictment is a lesser included offense of the
offenses charged in counts two through seven, the
Pinkerton vicarious liability counts. As a result of his
acquittal on the greater charges, the Pinkerton counts,
Larking contends that he may not be retried on the con-
spiracy count, the lesser included offense. To establish
the validity of this argument, Larkin asks us to compare
a trio of recent Supreme Court double jeopardy cases —
Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53
L.Ed.2d 187 (1977); Jeffers v. United States, 432 U.S.
137, 97 S.Ct. 2207, 53 L.Ed.2d 168 (1977); and Harris
v. Oklahoma, 433 U.S. 682, 97 S.Ct. 2912, 53 L.Ed.2d
1054 (1977) — with Pinkerton v. United States, 328
U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946), the case
which established the purported relationship between the
conspiracy and vicarious liability counts. Accordingly,
we now turn to an examination of this precedent.

In Brown, supra, the defendant’s double. jeopardy
claim derived from the fact that he was twice prosecuted
for stealing a car from a parking lot in East Cleveland,
Ohio. In the first prosecution, the defendant pleaded

~

/a

guilty to the crime of joyriding,'' and was sentenced to
thirty days in jail and fined one hundred dollars. Subse-
quently, the defendant was prosecuted and convicted of
auto theft.'? The Supreme Court was confronted with
the defendant’s claim that this second prosecution
violated the fifth amendment prohibition against double
jeopardy.

The Court’s disposition of this double jeopardy con-
tention depended upon the answer to the threshold ques-
tion whether Brown’s separate trials, arising out of the
single auto theft, constituted successive proceedings
against him “for the same offense” within the meaning
of the double jeopardy clause.'? To determine whether
the two offenses, joyriding and auto theft, were suffi-
ciently distinguishable to permit successive prosecutions,
the Court applied the Blockburger test: '4

''The crime of joyriding was established by Ohio Rev.Code Ann. §
4549.04(D) (1973) which provided that “[nJo person shall purposely
take, operate, or keep any motor vehicle without the consent of its
owner.” Brown, supra, 432 U.S. at 162 n. 1, 97 S.Ct. at 2223 n. l.

'?This prosecution was conducted under Ohio Rev.Code Ann. §
4549.04(A) (1973) which provided that “[nJo person shall steal any
motor vehicle.” Brown, supra, 432 U.S. at 163, n. 2, 97 S.Ct. at
2224 n. 2.

''The double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment provides that
no person shall “be subject for the same offence to be twice put in
jeopardy of life or limb.” It is applicable to the states through the
fourteenth amendment. Benton y. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S.Ct.
2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969).

'*The Blockburger test derives from Blockburger v. United States,
284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), a case in which a
potential double jeopardy violation was created by the imposition of
cumulative punishments for one criminal occurrence. The Court in
Brown made it clear that the Block burger test is applicable also to suc-
cessive prosecutions:

If two offenses are the same under this test for purposes
of barring consecutive sentences at a single trial, they

8a

“The applicable rule is that where the same act
or transaction constitutes a violation of two
distinct statutory provisions, the test to be ap-
plied to determine whether there are two of-
fenses or only one, is whether each provision
requires proof of a fact which the other does
we 6c:

Brown, supra, 432 U.S. at 166, 97 S.Ct. at 2225,
quoting Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299,
304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). Examining the
elements of the two crimes, the Court concluded that
joyriding and auto theft were the’“same offence” for the
purposes of the double jeopardy clause:

As is invariably true of a greater and lesser in-
cluded offense, the lesser offense — joyriding
— requires no proof beyond that which is re-
quired for conviction of the greater — auto
theft. The greater offense is therefore by
definition the “same” for purposes of double
jeopardy as any lesser offense included in it.

Id. at 168, 97 S.Ct. at 2226. Since the crimes constituted
a single offense for double jeopardy analysis, the defen-

dant’s second prosecution and conviction were pro-
hibited. '5

necessarily will be the same for purposes of barring suc-
cessive prosecutions. . . . Where the judge is forbidden to
impose cumulative punishment for two crimes at the end
of a single proceeding, the prosecutor is forbidden to strive
for the same result in successive proceedings.

Brown, supra, 432 U.S. at 166, 97 S.Ct. at 2225-26.

'SThe Court considered it to be of no import that the defendant had
been convicted of the lesser offense: “Whatever the sequence may be,
the Fifth Amendment forbids successive prosecution and cumulative
punishment for a greater and lesser included offense.” Brown, supra,
432 U.S. at 169, 97 S.Ct. at 2227 (footnote omitted); see Jeffers,
supra, 432 U.S. at 151, 97 S.Ct. 2207 (plurality opinion).

9a

The applicability of the Blockburger test to multiple
prosecutions was reaffirmed by the Court’s analysis in
Jeffers, supra. The two proceedings in Jeffers arose
from the defendant’s leadership of a massive narcotics
distribution network in Gary, Indiana. The first indict-
ment returned against the defendant charged a con-
spiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine in violation of
21 U.S.C.A. § 846.'* In a second and separate indict-
ment, the defendant was charged with conducting a con-
tinuing criminal enterprise to violate the drug laws in
violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 848.'7 Prior to trial, the
Government sought joinder of the charges under

‘621 U.S.C.A. § 846 (West 1972) provides that “[aJny person who
attempts or conspires to commit any offense defined in this sub-
chapter is punishable by imprisonment or fine or both which may not

exceed the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense, the com-
mission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy.”

'721 U.S.C.A. § 848 (West 1972) provides, in pertinent part, the
following:

(a)(1) Any person who engages in a continuing criminal
enterprise shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment
which may not be less than 10 years and which may be up
to life imprisonment, to a fine of not more than $100,000,
and to the forfeiture prescribed in paragraph (2).

(b) For purposes of subsection (a) of this section, a per-
son is engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise if—.

(1) he violates any provision of this subchapter of sub-
chapter II of this chapter the punishment for which is a
felony, and,

(2) such violation is a part of a continuing series of viola-
tions of this subchapter of subchapter II of this chapter —

(A) which are undertaken by such person in concert with
five or more other persons with respect to whom such per-
son occupies a position of organizer, a supervisory posi-
tion, or any other position of management, and,

(B) from which such person obtains substantial income
or resources.

10a

Fed.R.Crim.P. 8. Because the defendant successfully op-
posed this joinder, the two indictments were tried in dif-
ferent proceedings. At the first trial, the defendant was
found guilty on the section 846 charge, and at the sec-
ond trial, he was convicted of the section 848 offense.
Contending that the section 846 conspiracy was a lesser
included offense of section 848, the defendant asserted
that this second prosecution violated the doubie jeopar-
dy clause.

In analyzing this claim, the Court assumed, “arguen-
do, that § 848 does require proof of an agreement
among the persons involved in the continuing criminal
enterprise.” Jeffers, supra, 432 U.S. at 149-50, 97 S.Ct.
at 2216 (footnote omitted (plurality opinion). The Court
then applied the Blockburger test and found that section
846 was a lesser included offense of section 848 because
of the requirement in section 848(b)(2)(A) of action in
concert: “So construed, § 846 is a lesser included offense
of § 848, because § 848 requires proof of every fact
necessary to show a violation under § 846 as well as
proof of several additional elements.” /d. at 150, 97
S.Ct. at 2216 (plurality opinion). Despite this finding,
however, the Court refused to reverse the defendant’s se-
cond conviction. Instead, it held that the defendant’s op-
position to the Government’s joinder motion constituted
a waiver of his normal entitlement “to have charges on a
greater and a lesser offense resolved in one proceeding .
.. +” dd. at 152, 97 S.Ct. at 2217 (plurality opinion).

Harris, supra, presented a factual pattern similar to
those of Brown and Jeffers. During a robbery, the
defendant’s co-felon shot and killed a grocery store
clerk. Subsequent to the defendant’s conviction of
felony-murder for his participation in the robbery and

lla

the resulting slaying, the defendant was convicted of
robbery with firearms. Relying on a state court finding
that “ ‘{iJn a felony murder case, the proof of the
uhderlying felony [here robbery with firearms] is needed
to prove the intent necessary for a felony murder con-
viction,’ ” id., 433 U.S. at 682, 97 S.Ct. at 2912 (per
curiam), the Court held that the second prosecution
violated the prohibition against double jeopardy: “When
as here, conviction of a greater crime, murder, cannot
be had without conviction of the lesser crime, robbery
with firearms, the Double Jeopardy Clause bars pro-
secution for the lesser crime after conviction of the
greater one.” /d. (footnote omitted) (per curiam).

Against this background of double jeopardy prece-
dent, the appellant asks us to examine the relationship
between a conspiracy charge and an accompany-
ingPinkerton vicarious liability charge. We thus turn our
attention to Pinkerton v, United States, 328 U.S. 640,
66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946).

Walter and Daniel Pinkerton, brothers and co-con-
spirators in crime, were indicted for violations of the In-
ternal Revenue Code. The indictment consisted of one
conspiracy and ten substantive counts. Each brother was
convicted under the conspiracy count and some of the
substantive counts.

On appeal the defendants argued that these dual con-
victions constituted double jeopardy because some of
the overt acts alleged in the conspiracy count were the
substantive crimes of which they had been convicted.
The defendants therefore contended that the substantive
counts became merged in the conspiracy count. Rejec-
ting this contention, the Court stated that “[i]t has been
long and consistently recognized by the Court that the

12a

commission of the substantive offense and a conspiracy
to commit are separate distinct offense.” Pinkerton,
supra, 328 U.S. at 643, 66 S.Ct. at 1182. Thus, “[a] con-
viction for the conspiracy may be had though the
substantive offense was completed. . . . And the plea of
double jeopardy is no defense to a conviction for both
offenses.” /d. The Court further observed that “{i]t is
not material that overt acts charged in the conspiracy
counts were also charged and proved as substantive of-
fenses. . . The agreement to do an unlawful act is even
then distinct from the doing of the act.” /d. at 644, 66
S.Ct. at 1182 (footnote omitted).

Daniel Pinkerton also contended that he could not be
convicted of the substantive crimes since those acts were
committed by Walter only.'* The Court rejected this
claim too:

The criminal intent to do the act is established
by the formation of the conspiracy. Each con-
spirator instigated the commission of the crime.
The unlawful agreement contemplated precisely
what was done. It was formed for the purpose.
The act done was in execution of the enter-
prise.

Id. at 647, 66 S.Ct. at 1184. Thus, Daniel was held to
be vicariously liable for the acts of his brother, Walter.

Appellant Larkin examines the relationship between a
conspiracy count and a Pinkerton vicarious liability
count in terms of the Blockburger test as approved and
applied in Brown, Jeffers, and Harris. He notes that the
existence of the conspiracy between him and Parker is a
sine qua non to a finding of liability under the vicarious
liability counts. From this fact, he argues that the count

'$Daniel was in prison at the time of Walter’s commission of the
crimes. Pinkerton, supra, 328 U.S. at 648, 66 S.Ct. 1180 (dissenting
opinion).

13a

One conspiracy offense is a lesser included offense of the
substantive counts since every element of the former
charge must be proved to establish the latter offense.
Given this relationship between the counts, he argues
that a retrial on the lesser offense, the conspiracy
charge, would violate the double jeopardy clause,
because he has already been tried and acquitted of the
greater offense, the Pinkerton vicarious liability counts.

Like the appellant, we find it somewhat difficult to
square Pinkerton with the double jeopardy cases discuss-
ed supra.'® The most difficult task of reconciling these

'9There are three facets of Pinkerton which might bear double
jeopardy analysis. First, there is the proposition that a conspiracy to
commit an act and the commission of that illegal act are distinct
crimes, and, as a result, cumulative punishment imposed on the con-
spirator who committed the act is not improper under the double
jeopardy clause. The argument that the double jeopardy holding of
Pinkerton related solely to this Proposition is supported by much of
the opinion’s language, see Slip op. pp. 912-913, pp. :
supra, and by the Supreme Court’s characterization of the Pinkerton
double jeopardy holding in Jannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 95
S.Ct. 1284, 43 L.Ed.2d 616 (1975):

[t]he conspiracy to commit an offense and the subsequent
commission of that crime normally do not merge into a
single punishable act. Pinkerton v.:United States, supra,
328 U.S., at 643, 66 S.Ct., at 1181. Thus, it is well
recognized that in most cases separate sentences can be im-
posed for the conspiracy to do an act and for the subse-
quent accomplishment of that end.

Id. at 777-78, 95 S.Ct. at 1290; see id. at 781-82, 95 S.Ct. 1284.

Second, there is the principle that a conspirator’s agreement to com-
mit a crime renders him liable for his co-conspirator’s commission of
that crime. Third, there is the rule that a conspirator who agrees to
commit crime X may sometimes be held liable for crime Y committed
by his co-conspirator. It is unclear to what extent the double jeopardy
language in Pinkerton applies to these two vicarious liability situa-
tions. Moreover, Harris, supra, may necessitate a reexamination of
Pinkerton’s double jeopardy reasoning. In view of our disposition of
this case, see infra, we need not examine the scope of Pinkerton’s
holding, or the extent, if any, to which Pinkerton has been modified
by Harris.

c

ee ESE SEE nS OT SS A ee ee eee eee

14a

cases is presented by Harris, supra, for the relationship
between its felony murder count and the underlying
charge, robbery with firearms, seems to be quite
analogous to the connection between a Pinkerton
vicarious liability count and the underlying conspiracv
charge. Just as the intent necessary to prove felony
murder was provided by the robbery with firearms
charge in Harris, see 433 U.S. at 682, 97 S.Ct. 2912, the
intent to establish Larkin’s liability for the acts of his
co-conspirator is supplied by the conspiracy charge. See
Pinkerton, supra, 328 U.S. at 647, 66 S.Ct. 1180. Just
as Harris’s participation in a robbery created his liability
for the shot of his partner, Larkin’s formation of a con-
spiracy with Parker established Larkin’s liability for
Parker’s embezzlement of union funds and falsification
of union records. It would therefore appear that under
Harris, the conspiracy charged against Larkin is a lesser
included offense of the Pinkerton vicarious liability of-
fenses, counts two through seven.

However, because of the procedural posture of
this case, we need not make such a determination. Even
if we assume that the conspiracy charge is contained in
the vicarious liability counts, Larkin’s double jeopardy
right will not be violated by the retrial of the conspiracy
count.

In Brown, Jeffers, and Harris, the defendants had
been subjected to two independent proceedings. In each
cases, trial on either the greater or the lesser charge was
followed by a prosecution of the other offense in a
separate proceeding. In contrast, Larkin was subjected
to only one trial in which the conspiracy and vicarious
liability counts were tried simultaneously.2° Thus, even

20The Government argues that Brown, Jeffers, and Harris are
distinguishable from the instant case because in each of those cases a
retrial on either the greeter or the lesser offense followed a conviction

15a

assuming the validity of Larkin’s argument that the con-
spiracy charge is a lesser included offense of the Pinker-
ton vicarious liability counts, Larkin’s position is in-
distinguishable from a defendant who was tried on a
murder charge and a manslaughter count in the alter-
native. Such simultaneous jeopardy for greater and
lesser included offenses is clearly proper.?' See Jeffers,
supra, 432 U.S. at 152 & n. 20, 97 S.Ct. at 2217 & n. 20
(“a defendant is normally entitled to have charges on a
greater and a lesser offense resolved in one proceeding”)
(plurality opinion).

on the other charge, whereas in this case there was a judgment of ac-
quittal on the purported greater offense.

We have serious doubts about the validity of the Government’s con-
clusion. In Brown and Jeffers the Court stated that the order of the
two trials on the greater and lesser offenses was irrelevant for double
jeopardy purposes. See n. 15 supra. In reaching this conclusion, the
Court placed great stress on the fact that the double jeopardy clause
not only prohibits the imposition of double punishment for the same
offense, but also prevents the incurable injury caused a defendant who
must run the gauntlet twice for the same offense. See Jeffers, supra,
432 U.S. 150-51 & nn. 17 & 18, 97 S.Ct. 2207; Brown, supra, 432 U.S.
at 165-66, 97 S.Ct. 2221. Reprosecution on a lesser offense in a second
trial after an acquittal on the greater charge in the first would seem to
cause such an injury because “[t]he risk of conviction on the greater
means nothing more than a risk of conviction upon proof of all the
elements of the lesser plus proof of the additional elements needed for
the greater.” Jeffers, supra, 432 U.S. at 151 n. 17, 97 S.Ct. at 2216 n.
17; accord, United States v. Tsanas, 572 F.2d 340, 345 n. 6 (2d Cir.),
cert. denied, 435 U.S. 995, 98 S.Ct. 1647, 56 L.Ed.2d 84 (1978). In
any event, due to our disposition of this case, we leave consideration
of this issue to another day.

2\If Larkin had been convicted of the conspiracy count and the
vicarious liability charges, and cumulative sentences had been impos-
ed, or if he had requested, and had been denied, a jury instruction on
lesser included offenses, we would be forced to reach the question
whether the conspiracy charge was a lesser included offense of the
Pinkerton vicarious liability offenses. See Jeffers, supra, 432 U.S. at
153-55, 97 S.Ct. 2207. Since neither event occurred, however, the issue
is not properly before us.

l6a

Furthermore, the fact that the jury in Larkin’s trial
acquitted him of the Pinkerton counts and hung on the
conspiracy charge, thereby causing a mistrial as to the
latter count and allowing the Government to retry the
conspiracy charge, does not dictate a different result. It
is of course axiomatic that Larkin may not be retried on
the charges of which he was acquitted. See Price y.
Georgia, 398 U.S. 323, 90 S.Ct. 1757, 26 L.Ed.2d 300
(1970); Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 78 S.Ct.
221, 2 L.Ed.2d 199 (1957). However, it is equally well
settled that a defendant may be retried on a lesser of-
fense, of which he was convicted at an initial trial, after
that conviction was reversed on appeal; and that that
result obtains even though the first trial also resulted in
a verdict of acquittal on a greater offense. ‘See Price,
supra, 398 U.S. at 326-27, 90 S.Ct. 1757. In Price the
defendant had been tried simultaneously on murder and
manslaughter charges and had been convicted of the
lesser offense. The defendant successfully appealed that
conviction, and the judgment was reversed. In reversing
a murder conviction obtained in a second trial, on the
ground that the acquittal on that charge in the first trial
barred its reprosecution, the Court made it clear that a
retrial on the manslaughter charge was proper:

[A] concept of continuing jeopardy . . . has ap-
plication where criminal proceedings against an
accused have not run their full course. . .

The continuing jeopardy principle necessarily
is applicabie to this case. Petitioner sought and
obtained the reversal of his initial conviction
for voluntary manslaughter by taking an ap-
peal. Accordingly, no aspect of the bar on dou-
ble jeopardy prevented his retrial for. that
crime.

OO rt

17a

Larkin stands in a position identical to the de-
fendant in Price. tt is clear that the concept of contin-
uing jeopardy normally applies to a mistrial caused by
a deadlocked jury.?? See, e.g., United States v. Sanford,
429 U.S. 514, 97 S.Ct. 20, 50 L.Ed.2d 17 (per curiam);
Downum yv. United States, 372 U.S. 734, 736, 83 S.Ct.
1033, 10 L.Ed.2d 100 (1963); Green, supra, 355 U.S. at
188, 78 S.Ct. 221. Furthermore, an acquittal on a
greater offense does not preclude a retrial on a lesser of-
fense to which continuing jeopardy has attached, and
this result obtains whether the applicability of continu-
ing jeopardy results from an appellate reversal of a con-
viction as in Price or from a mistrial caused by a
deadlocked jury. Accord, United States v. Scott, 150
U.S.App.D.C. 323, 464 F.2d 832 (D.C.Cir.1972);
Forsberg v. United States, 351 F.2d 242 (9th Cir. 1965),
cert. denied, 383 U.S. 950, 86 S.Ct. 1209, 16 L.Ed.2d
212 (1966). Therefore, Larkin may be retried on the
conspiracy charge unless the principles of collateral
estoppel dictate a different result, an issue to which we
now turn our attention. 23

?2The appellant does not contend that prosecutorial abuse created
the mistrial. Nor does he argue that the mistrial was declared by the
trial court under an aberrant procedure. Therefore, cases such as
United States v. Jorn, 400 U.S. 470, 91 S.Ct. 547, 27 L.Ed.2d 543
(1971); Downum v. United States, 372 U.S. 734, 83 S.Ct. 1033, 10
L.Ed.2d 100 (1963); United States v. Gordy, 526 F.2d 631 (Sth Cir.
1976); and Webb v. Court, 516 F.2d 1034 (3d Cir. 1975), are inap-
posite.

?3The protection afforded a defendant by the collateral estoppel
principles of Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25
L.Ed.2d 469 (1970) is additional to that accorded by the Blockburger
test. See Brown, supra, 432 U.S. at 166 n. 6, 97 S.Ct. 2221.

18a

Il

Collateral estoppel does not have the surgical pre-
cision found in double jeopardy, for its basics are
founded in equity and therefore command some flex-
ibility. Collateral estoppel need not be composite or
synoptic in application, but instead can apply to a single
element of a trial.

Since collateral estoppel can apply to a phase, an issue
of fact, or congeries of fact with respect to a second
trial, to determine its applicability to this multi-count,
multi-issued criminal trial, we must examine the many
parts, while we keep in view the whole. The intelligent
application of collateral estoppel requires that we
atomize the charges; we must examine the various
counts, the testimony, the jury’s verdict. Each requires a
parsing in comparison with the other in order to come
to a conclusion whether or not collateral estoppel is ap-
plicable to one or more of the issues which are to be
covered in the second trial.

The complicating factors here are the multicount in-
dictment in the first trial, the inability of the jury to
agree, and the findings by the jury of not guilty with
respect to some aspects of the charges. But these com-
plicating elements and components do not relieve us of
our judicial duty to determine whether collateral estop-
pel is applicable to one or more of the components in-
volved. While we do not test ourselves as three more
jurors in the case, we are compelled to determine as best
we can what makes the jury’s verdict cohere. The
geodetics required of us is not an easy one; we must ex-
amine the record with great care.

Larkin contends that the collateral estoppel principles
enunciated in Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct.

On A CN Os Tt i te

REESE eee ee SE ERS REN ETON TRE NG OMEN See or rep mee me eT

19a

1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970), prevent the retrial of the
count one conspiracy charge. He argues that the jury’s
judgment of acquittal on counts two through seven, the
Pinkerton vicarious liability counts, necessarily rested on
its finding that Larkin was not the member of a con-
spiracy with Parker. Since that fact has been determined
adversely to the Government, he argues, the prosecution
may not retry count one. We agree with him only to the
extent that count one charges a conspiracy to embezzle
union funds and falsify union records.

In Ashe, supra, the Supreme Court held that the
double jeopardy clause embodies principles of collateral
estoppel, and, as a result, the Government may not
relitigate issues of fact that had been decided in the
defendant’s favor in a previous prosecution. The Court
stated that the double jeopardy clause mandates the
following inquiry:

Where a previous judgment of acquittal was
based on a general verdict as is usually the case,
this approach requires a court “to examine the
record of a prior proceeding, taking into ac-
count 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 defen-
dant seeks to foreclose from consideration.”
The inquiry “must be set in a practical frame
and viewed with an eye to all the circumstances
of the proceedings.”

Id. at 444, 90 S.Ct. at 1194 (footnote Omitted).

Larkin wishes to foreclose from consideration in a se-
cond trial the issue whether he was a member of a con-

20a

spiracy with Parker.?* We need not engage in an exten-
sive search to determine whether the jury’s verdict of ac-
quittal on the vicarious liability counts necessarily rested
on its conclusion that Larkin was not the member of a
conspiracy with Parker, for the jury that rendered this
judgment also hung on count one, the conspiracy count.
No rational jury could have absolved Larkin of liability
for Parker’s crimes because of the absence of a con-
spiracy between the two, while it simultaneously failed
to acquit Larkin on the conspiracy charge itself. The
jury’s verdict must have rested elsewhere.?5 Accord,
United States v. Scott, 150 U.S.App.D.C. 323, 464 F.2d
832 (D.C.Cir.1972) (jury’s deadlock on robbery count
indicates that judgment of acquittal on armed robbery
count was not based on finding that defendant was not
a robber).

This obvious interpretation of the jury’s verdicts
on the various counts does not end our task, however,
for the Government wishes to retry Larkin on count one
which still charges him with conspiring to embezzle
union funds and falsify union records. The Government
proposes this reprosecution despite the first jury’s
refusal to find that Larkin was vicariously liable for the
commission of those crimes. We must determine

24Larkin contends that count one in toto cannot be retried, and thus
we discuss here the foreclosure of retrial on that count insofar as it
alleges any conspiracy with Parker — one entered into to accomplish
any of the five purposes listed in count one. The fact that the con-
spiracy count charges a conspiracy specifically to embezzle union
funds and falsify union records deserves distinctive treatment, and we
therefore focus particularly on those objects infra.

25We note that the record is almost totally devoid of evidence link-
ing Larkin in any way to the embezzlement and subsequent coverup in
the union’s records and that, most likely, the acquittal occurred
because of this insufficiency of evidence.

ee AUR ree RD ates one

IAT ee BEE CE IOP RES TOL ce lo mt I owe

2la

whether the jury’s not guilty verdict on counts two
through seven precludes Larkin’s retrial on the theory
that he conspired to commit these crimes.?°

Our first task under Ashe, supra, is to pinpoint the
issues which the jury deliberated in judging Larkin’s
culpability under counts two through seven. Then we
must determine the issue or issues upon which the jury
could rationally have rested its verdict of acquittal.

Our examination of the record, with particular
reliance upon the indictment and the charge to the jury,
leads us to discern four potential bases for the jury’s
conclusion. The jury might have found that Larkin did
not conspire with Parker; that Parker did not commit
the crimes of embezzlement or ecord falsification during
the existence of the conspiracy; that Parker did not
commit those crimes in furtherance of the alleged con-
spiracy with Larkin; or that Larkin did not foresee that
Parker would commit those crimes as a necessary or
natural result of the conspiracy between the two.

We have shown supra that the jury did not acquit on
the vicarious liability charges because of a finding that
Larkin and Parker did not conspire.?’? Furthermore, the
fact that Parker committed the crimes during the course
of the alleged conspiracy was amply established by ex-

26Collateral estoppel may be applied to one count of a multi-count
indictment, or to one part of a single count. See United States v.
Mespoulede, 597 F.2d 329, 334-35, 336-37 (2d Cir. 1979); cf.
Blackburn v. Cross, 510 F.2d 1014 (5th Cir. 1975) (application of col-
lateral estoppel to evidentiary fact of prior convictions); Wingate v.
Wainwright, 464 F.2d 209, 212-15 (Sth Cir. 1972) (same).

27We observe again that here we are discussing the existence of a
conspiracy vel non, entered into for any of the five purposes listed in
count one, as distinguished from a conspiracy with the particular ob-
jects of embezzlement and falsifying union records.

22a

tensive direct testimony and documentary evidence none
of which was controverted by the appellant. No rational
jury could have reached a verdict of acquittal on this
basis either. See Ashe, supra, 397 U.S. at 438, 444-45 &
n. 9, 90 S.Ct. 1189.28 Accordingly, the jury must have
believed either that Parker did not commit the crimes of
embezzlement and record falsification in furtherance of
a conspiracy with Larkin, or that Larkin did not foresee
that Parker would embezzle and falsify records.

Under either of these alternative grounds for the
jury’s verdict of acquittal on counts two through seven,
retrial of a conspiracy to embezzle funds or falsify
union records is foreclosed. At the proposed second
trial, the Government would have to show that Larkin
and Parker agreed to embezzle union funds and to
falsify union records. If Larkin and Parker agreed to
commit those acts, it must necessarily be true both that
the commission of those crimes would b e foreseeable to
Larkin and that the crimes were committed by Parker in
furtherance of a conspiracy between him and Larkin.
However, the first jury’s acquittal necessarily means that
at least one of those factual propositions has been de-
cided adversely to the Government. Accordingly, Larkin

28The Court approvingly quoted the following statement:

“If a later court is permitted to state that the jury may have
disbelieved substantial and uncontradicted evidence of the
prosecution on a point the defendant did not contest, the
possible multiplicity of prosecutions is staggering. * * * In
fact, such a restrictive definition of ‘determined’ amounts
simply to a rejection of collateral estoppel, since it is im-
possible to imagine a statutory offense in which the gov-
ernment has to prove only one element or issue to sustain a
conviction.”
Ashe, supra, 397 U.S. at 444 n. 9, 90 S.Ct. at 1194-95 n. 9, quoting
Mayers & Yarborough, Bis Vexari: New Trials and Successive Pro-
secutions, 74 Harv.L.Rev. 1, 38-39 (1960).

ee ee

23a

may not be retried for conspiring to embezzle union
funds or to falsify union records. The district court is
directed to strike from the indictment that portion of
count one which charges Larkin with conspiring to at-
tain those purposes.

AFFIRMED in PART: REVERSED in PART.

24a
APPENDIX B

UNITED STATES of America,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

Thomas A. LARKIN,
Defendant-Appellant.

No. 78-2124.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit.

Feb. 8, 1980.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
AND PETITION FOR REHEARING
EN BANC

(Opinion November 5, 1979, 5 Cir.,
1979, 605 F.2d 1360).

_ Before THORNBERRY, GOLDBERG and GEE,
Circuit Judges.

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge.

The appellant’s petition for rehearing is denied. The
appellee’s petition for rehearing is granted.

In our initial opinion, reported at 605 F.2d 1360, we
held that Larkin could not be retried under count one
for conspiring to embezzle union funds and falsify
union records because his acquittal under counts two

25a

through seven precluded such a retrial. Rather belatedly,
the Government has designed to inform the court that
Larkin’s potential criminal liability for conspiring to
embezzle union funds and falsify union records rests not
only on the acts that form the premise of counts two
through seven, but also on the acts that constitute the
basis for counts eight through ten. After again carefully
reviewing the massive record of this case, we conclude
that the Government’s argument is sound.

f

In counts two through seven the Government charged
that Parker paid union funds to two union members,
Johnson and Wright, for work not actually performed.
Larkin was charged, and acquitted, of vicarious liability
for the payment and hiding of these monies. In contrast,
in counts eight through ten Larkin was charged with
responsibility for the issuance of checks drawn against
union funds for legal services not performed. Because
the jury failed to reach a verdict on these counts, Larkin
can be retried under them. As our initial opinion
discussed, the jury’s acquittal on counts two through ,
seven precludes retrial of Larkin for conspiring to
embezzle union funds and falsify union records in the
manner alleged in counts two through seven. However,
the jury’s deadlock on counts eight through ten does not
preclude retrial of Larkin for conspiring to embezzle
union funds and falsify union records in the manner
alleged in counts eight through ten. Accordingly, we
withdraw the last two sentences of our opinion and
substitute the following:

“Accordingly, Larkin may not be retried for conspiring
to embezzle union funds or to falsify union records by
means of the scheme which forms the basis for counts
two through seven. The district court is directed to
strike from the indictment that portion of count one

26a

which charges Larkin with conspiring to attain those
purposes. Specifically, the district court is directed to
strike overt acts 28, 29, 30, 31, and 41 from count one
of the complaint. The district court is further directed
to determine whether any of the other overt acts alleged
in count one relate to the actions forming the basis for
counts two through seven. The district court should
focus particularly, but not exclusively, on overt acts 16,
17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27. Any overt
acts which relate to counts two through seven are also to
be stricken from the complaint.”

No member of this panel nor Judge in regular active
service on the Court having requested that the Court be
polled on rehearing-en banc, (Rule 35 Federal Rules of
Appellate Procedure; Local Fifth Circuit Rule 12) the
Petition for Rehearing En Banc is DENIED.

AFFIRMED in PART, REVERSED in PART.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Amicro_IA40385006_1929%3A1. Public record. Not legal advice.
