UNITED STATES v. RODRIGUEZ-MORENO
| Decision Date | 30 March 1999 |
| Citation | 526 U.S. 275 |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
UNITED STATES v. RODRIGUEZ-MORENO
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
No. 97-1139. Argued December 7, 1998-Decided March 30,1999
A drug distributor hired respondent and others to find a New York drug dealer who stole cocaine from him during a Texas drug transaction and to hold captive the middleman in the transaction, Ephrain Avendano, during the search. The group drove from Texas to New Jersey to New York to Maryland, taking Avendano with them. Respondent took possession of a revolver in Maryland and threatened to kill Avendano. Avendano eventually escaped and called police, who arrested respondent and the others. Respondent was charged in a New Jersey District Court with, inter alia, using and carrying a firearm in relation to Avendano's kidnaping, in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 924(c)(I). He moved to dismiss that count, arguing that venue was proper only in Maryland, the only place where the Government had proved he had actually used a gun. The court denied the motion, and respondent was convicted of the § 924(c)(I) offense. The Third Circuit reversed. Mter applying what it called the "verb test," it determined that venue was proper only in the district where a defendant actually uses or carries a firearm.
Held: Venue in a prosecution for using or carrying a firearm "during and in relation to any crime of violence" in violation of § 924(c)(I) is proper in any district where the crime of violence was committed. Under the locus delicti test, a court must initially identify the conduct constituting the offense (the nature of the offense) and then discern where the criminal acts occurred. See United States v. Cabrales, 524 U. S. 1,6-7. Although the Third Circuit relied on the statute's verbs to determine the nature of the offense, this Court has never held that verbs are the sole consideration, to the exclusion of other relevant statutory language. A defendant's violent acts are essential conduct elements of the § 924(c)(I) offense despite being embedded in the prepositional phrase, "during and in relation to any crime of violence." Thus, the statute contains two distinct conduct elements-as is relevant to this case, using and carrying a gun and committing a kidnaping. Where a crime consists of distinct parts which have different localities, venue is proper for the whole charge where any part can be proved to have been committed. See United States v. Lombardo, 241 U. S. 73. Respondent's argument that § 924(c)(I) is a "point-in-time" offense that only is committed in the place where the kidnaping and use of a gun coincide is unpersuasive. Kidnap-
276
ing is a unitary crime, which, once begun, does not end until the victim is free. It does not matter that respondent used the gun only in Maryland because he did so "during and in relation to" a kidnaping that began in Texas and continued in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. The kidnaping, to which the § 924(c)(1) offense is attached, was committed in all of the places that any part of it took place, and venue for the kidnaping charge was appropriate in any of them. Where venue is appropriate for the underlying crime of violence, so too it is for the § 924(c)(1) offense. pp. 278-282.
121 F. 3d 841, reversed.
Paul R. Q. Wolfson argued the cause for the United States. With him on the briefs were Solicitor General Waxman, Assistant Attorney General Robinson, Deputy Solicitor General Dreeben, and Daniel S. Goodman.
John P. McDonald, by appointment of the Court, 525 U. S. 806, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Jeffrey T. Green and Robert C. Nissen. *
This case presents the question whether venue in a prosecution for using or carrying a firearm "during and in relation to any crime of violence," in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 924(c)(1), is proper in any district where the crime of violence was committed, even if the firearm was used or carried only in a single district.
During a drug transaction that took place in Houston, Texas, a New York drug dealer stole 30 kilograms of a Texas drug distributor's cocaine. The distributor hired respondent, Jacinto Rodriguez-Moreno, and others to find the dealer and to hold captive the middleman in the transaction,
* Steven Wisotsky and Lisa Kemler filed a brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as amicus curiae urging affirmance.
Ephrain Avendano, during the search. In pursuit of the dealer, the distributor and his henchmen drove from Texas to New Jersey with Avendano in tow. The group used Avendano's New Jersey apartment as a base for their operations for a few days. They soon moved to a house in New York and then to a house in Maryland, taking Avendano with them.
Shortly after respondent and the others arrived at the Maryland house, the owner of the home passed around a .357 magnum revolver and respondent took possession of the pistol. As it became clear that efforts to find the New York drug dealer would not bear fruit, respondent told his employer that he thought they should kill the middleman and end their search for the dealer. He put the gun to the back of Avendano's neck but, at the urging of his cohorts, did not shoot. Avendano eventually escaped through the back door and ran to a neighboring house. The neighbors called the Maryland police, who arrested respondent along with the rest of the kidnapers. The police also seized the .357 magnum, on which they later found respondent's fingerprint.
Rodriguez-Moreno and his codefendants were tried jointly in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Respondent was charged with, inter alia, conspiring to kidnap Avendano, kidnaping Avendano, and using and carrying a firearm in relation to the kidnaping of Avendano, in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 924(c)(1). At the conclusion of the Government's case, respondent moved to dismiss the § 924(c)(1) count for lack of venue. He argued that venue was proper only in Maryland, the only place where the Government had proved he had actually used a gun. The District Court denied the motion, App. 54, and the jury found respondent guilty on the kidnaping counts and on the § 924(c)(1) charge as well. He was sentenced to 87 months' imprisonment on the kidnaping charges, and was given a mandatory consecutive term of 60 months' imprisonment for committing the § 924(c)(1) offense.
On a 2-to-l vote, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed respondent's § 924(c)(1) conviction. United States v. Palma-Ruedas, 121 F. 3d 841 (1997). A majority of the Third Circuit panel applied what it called the "verb test" to § 924(c)(1), and determined that a violation of the statute is committed only in the district where a defendant "uses" or "carries" a firearm. Id., at 849. Accordingly, it concluded that venue for the § 924(c)(1) count was improper in New Jersey even though venue was proper there for the kidnaping of Avendano. The dissenting judge thought that the majority's test relied too much "on grammatical arcana," id., at 865, and argued that the proper approach was to "look at the substance of the statutes in question," ibid. In his view, the crime of violence is an essential element of the course of conduct that Congress sought to criminalize in enacting § 924(c)(1), and therefore, "venue for a prosecution under [that] statute lies in any district in which the defendant committed the underlying crime of violence." Id., at 863. The Government petitioned for review on the ground that the Third Circuit's holding was in conflict with a decision of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, United States v. Pomranz, 43 F. 3d 156 (1995). We granted certiorari, 524 U. S. 915 (1998), and now reverse.
Article III of the Constitution requires that "[t]he Trial of all Crimes ... shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed." Art. III, § 2, cl. 3. Its command is reinforced by the Sixth Amendment's requirement that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed," and is echoed by Rule 18 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure ().
As we confirmed just last Term, the" 'locus delicti [of the charged offense] must be determined from the nature of the crime alleged and the location of the act or acts constituting it.'" United States v. Cabrales, 524 U. S. 1,6-7 (1998) (quoting United States v. Anderson, 328 U. S. 699, 703 (1946)).1 In performing this inquiry, a court must initially identify the conduct constituting the offense (the nature of the crime) and then discern the location of the commission of the criminal acts.2 See Cabrales, supra, at 6-7; Travis v. United States, 364 U. S. 631, 635-637 (1961); United States v. Cores, 356 U. S. 405, 408-409 (1958); Anderson, supra, at 703-706.
At the time respondent committed the offense and was
tried, 18 U. S. C. § 924(c)(1) provided:
"Whoever, during and in relation to any crime of violence ... for which he may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or carries a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence ... be sentenced to imprisonment for five years ... "3
The Third Circuit, as explained above, looked to the verbs of the statute to determine the nature of the substantive of-
1 When we first announced this test in United States v. Anderson, 328 U. S., at 703, we were comparing § 11 of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, 54 Stat. 894, in which Congress did "not indicate where [it] considered the place of committing...
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