State v. Allard

• Decision Date: 27 December 1973
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Theodore Max ALLARD.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 439

313 A.2d 439

STATE of Maine v. Theodore Max ALLARD.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Dec. 27, 1973.

John Mitchell, County Atty., Machias, Charles K. Leadbetter Asst. Attt. Gen., Augusta, for plaintiff.

Brown, Tibbetts & Fletcher by Robert E. Tibbetts, Calais, for defendant.

Before DUFRESNE, C. J., and WEATHERBEE, POMEROY, WERNICK, ARCHIBALD and DELAHANTY, JJ.

WEATHERBEE, Justice.

Just before midnight on July 24, 1972 the Defendant and three companions drove across the International Bridge into the United States Customs area, a federal enclave at Calais. Feeling suspicious of the travelers' appearances a Customs official at this border crossing asked the four occupants to get out of their car and requested that the Defendant empty his pockets. ¹ One of the objects taken from a pocket was a small aspirin tin. The officer picked up the tin, opened it, and discovered two aspirin tablets plus four small blue tablets, pieces of brown tablets and a razor blade. The officer took a small portion of one blue tablet and performed a field test on it to determine if the tablet contained D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). The test was positive.

Following the test, the officer called a superior who directed the officer to call the local police, which he did. Next, the officer and a fellow Customs employee searched the vehicle and the other occupants. About an hour after the call was placed, an officer of the Calais Police arrived at the scene. The Customs officer explained the situation to the policeman, who then talked with the Defendant. Shortly thereafter, the policeman arrested the Defendant without a warrant, properly giving the Miranda warnings. The Customs officer turned over the tin and tablets to the policeman. The Defendant was charged with a violation of 22 M.R.S.A. § 2212-B, ² illegal possession of LSD.

An indictment was returned by the grand jury of Washington County against the Defendant on the above charge. The Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, a supplemental motion to dismiss the indictment, and a motion to suppress illegally seized evidence. Hearings were held on these motions, all of which were denied by the Superior Court Justice. Because of the important questions involved, the Justice ordered an interlocutory report to the Law Court and stay of further proceedings under M.R.Crim.P., Rule 37A(b).

The questions of law justifying the report of this case to the Law Court are framed as follows:

'(1) Is the border station enclave manned by United States Customs agents at Calais under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Government?

(2) Did the Calais Police have authority to arrest Defendant on said enclave?

(3) If not, does this preclude prosecution by the State of Maine for the offense for which Defendant was arrested?

(4) Did the United States Customs officials have the right to turn over to the Calais Police property which they had seized from Defendant within the enclave for a Customs violation to be used as evidence in the instant criminal prosecution by the State of Maine?

(5) If not, may said property be used as evidence in a state trial for the offense charged in the indictment?

(6) Does the State of Maine have jurisdiction to prosecute an alleged crime (Possession of LSD-25) which took place wholly within the Federal enclave at the Calais Border Station?'

A preliminary issue incident to the above questions was raised by the Defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment. This issue is that of possible pre-emption of the drug field by federal legislation, which would deny Maine the jurisdiction to prosecute for the offense charged under 22 M.R.S.A. § 2212-B. The Justice below denied the motion, relying on 21 U.S.C.A. § 903, enacted as part of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, which states:

'No provision of this subchapter shall be construed as indicating an intent on the part of the Congress to occupy the field in which that provision operates, including criminal penalties, to the exclusion of any State law on the same subject matter which would otherwise be within the authority of the State, unless there is a positive conflict between that provision of this subchapter and that State law so that the two cannot consistently stand together.'

The asserted conflict between state and federal statutes arises from the aforementioned 22 M.R.S.A. § 2212-B and 21 U.S.C.A. § 337, part of the scheme of federal drug legislation, which reads in part:

'All such proceedings for the enforcement, or to restrain violations, of this chapter shall be by and in the name of the United States.'

Of course, due to the supremacy clause ³ of the United States Constitution and our system of federalism, a state statute which conflicts in a certain field with an act of Congress must yield to the federal act. E. g., Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1824). However, the exercise by Congress of its granted powers does not necessarily pre-empt a similar state exercise of power in the same sphere. The United States Supreme Court has held that in deciding if there is conflict, a court must first construe the statutes and then decide if the state enactment is an obstacle to the fulfillment of the objectives expressed by Congress. See Perez v. Campbell, 402 U.S. 637, 91 S.Ct. 1704, 19 L.Ed.2d 233 (1971); Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 61 S.Ct. 399, 85 L.Ed. 581 (1941).

22 M.R.S.A. § 2212-B is undeniably intended solely to punish criminally those persons in possession of certain hallucinogenic drugs within the State. The state has obviously decided that those who possess certain drugs deemed to be dangerous may use and/or sell them to the detriment of themselves, the state and its citizens.

21 U.S.C.A. § 337 refers to other sections of the statutory chapter which encompasses the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. This act protects unwary consumers from misbranded and adulterated products and misleading claims through Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce. See, e. g., 62 Cases, More or Less, Each Containing Six Jars of Jam v. United States, 340 U.S. 593, 71 S.Ct. 515, 95 L.Ed. 566 (1951); United States v. Dotterweich, 320 U.S. 277, 64 S.Ct. 134, 88 L.Ed. 48 (1943). 21 U.S.C.A. § 337 applies solely to violations under this act, chapter nine of 21 U.S.C.A. This section in no way affects statutes concerning drug abuse which are elsewhere in the federal code, including that which makes possession of LSD a federal crime under 21 U.S.C.A. § 844. ⁴

Furthermore, the federal code contains the aforementioned 21 U.S.C.A. § 903, in express reservation of state control over relevant aspects of the drug abuse field unless there is a positive conflict between state and federal statutes. Here there is no such conflict which makes concurrent viability of both statutes impossible. Congress evidently intended that both federal and state governments should regulate the drug traffic which has become so prevalent. For the above reasons, the Defendant's claim of pre-emption must fail and his motion was correctly denied.

Next, we must determine if the State of Maine has jurisdiction to arrest and prosecute alleged violators of state statutes on the federal enclave at Calais. In other words, has exclusive jurisdiction over the Customs border crossing area been vested in the United States, nullifying any state authority to enforce its criminal statutes on that enclave? This issue is properly raised by the Justice's denial of the Defendant's supplemental motion to dismiss the indictment.

An examination of the title of the land in question takes one back about forty years. The land, containing 17,687 square feet, was the subject of a petition for condemnation brought by the United States attorney in June, 1934. In December of that year, the federal district court ordered that the land be condemned and title vested in the United States. A jury empaneled in June, 1935 valued the property taken, and the court decreed this damage award in July, 1935. The federal government paid the owners of the land in full, and a final confirmation of these proceedings by the court occurred in January, 1936. ⁵ Thus, title to the land has existed in the federal government since December, 1934.

Though the land in question is located within the boundaries of the State of Maine and the City of Calais, ⁶ it may nevertheless be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government. This jurisdiction is most commonly derived from art. 1, § 8, cl. 17 (hereinafter clause 17) of the United States Constitution, which decrees that the Congress shall have power to

'exercise exclusive Legislation ⁷ in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings . . ..'

(Footnote added.)

The instant case concerns the jurisdictional status of land used as a Customs station at the border between Maine and New Brunswick. We have no doubts that a Customs station is included as a needful public building under clause 17 and may become subject to exclusive federal jurisdiction. See Kohl v. United States, 91 U.S. 367, 23 L.Ed. 449 (1875); State v. DeBerry, 224 N.C. 834, 32 S.E.2d 617 (1945). Certainly, the need for Customs stations is no less evident than the necessity for forts, magazines, arsenals, and dockyards in the efficient running of our modern federal government.

Furthermore, the obtaining of exclusive jurisdiction by the United States under clause 17 in this case requires that the Congress purchase the needful land with the consent of the State of Maine. Here the land now forming a customs station...