U.S. v. Jones

• Decision Date: 19 December 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-8597,82-8597
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John Robert JONES, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 632

722 F.2d 632

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John Robert JONES, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 82-8597.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Dec. 19, 1983.

Fletcher Farrington, Savannah, Ga., for defendant-appellant.

Joseph D. Newman, Asst. U.S. Atty., Savannah, Ga., Marshall Tamor Golding, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

Before HILL, KRAVITCH and HENDERSON, Circuit Judges.

KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge:

Appellant was convicted of converting pledged property in violation of 15 U.S.C. Sec. 714m(c). Although originally sentenced to four years imprisonment, with all but an indeterminate six months suspended, and five years probation, appellant was resentenced to a straight four-year term after the district court realized that it had misapprehended certain factual matters, through no fault of appellant. This case presents a single issue: whether the resentencing violated the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy. Concluding that it did, we reverse.

I.

John Robert Jones was a farmer in Candler County, Georgia. Drought conditions in Georgia caused disastrous crop yields in 1977, 1978 and 1979. Finding himself in narrow financial straits, in 1979 Jones turned to the federal government for relief. Under one federal loan program, farmers may pledge their future crop yield as collateral for operating capital. Jones took advantage of the program, pledging his soybean crop. In 1980, the Commodity Credit Corporation granted Jones permission to sell his 1979 soybean crop on the condition that the crop receipts be used to repay the loan. Instead Jones used the proceeds to finance the 1980 planting. Due to another poor crop yield he was unable to repay the loan, and this prosecution ensued. Though still in need of funds following the 1981 crop year, Jones was unable to obtain financing from the government or his bank. He therefore incorporated his farm and placed all of the shares in his wife's name. She in turn pledged the shares for a bank loan to finance the 1982 planting. ¹

Jones agreed to plead guilty to the charge against him and cooperated fully with investigating authorities, detailing all aspects of the crop transactions. In return, the government agreed that it would bring Jones' cooperation to the court's attention and make no recommendation at sentencing. After Jones' plea was accepted, the Probation Office conducted a full investigation of Jones' affairs. In the course of this investigation, Jones divulged the details of the farm incorporation. This information evidently was never included in the presentence report, nor was it otherwise transmitted to the district judge.

On August 26, 1982, Jones appeared for sentencing. At that time, the Probation Office recommended a straight sentence of four years imprisonment. The district court, however, imposed a fine of $10,000.00 and a split sentence of four years imprisonment with all but six months suspended, and five years probation. The six months was not to be served immediately; for the interim suspended portion of the sentence, the court imposed a number of additional conditions: (1) that Jones continue with an alcohol abuse program and report to any physician specified by his Probation Officer, (2) that he consent to the appointment of a receiver to administer and sell his property, including crops, and (3) that he make restitution to the government. Because Jones could not assist with the soybean harvest from prison, the sentence was to commence with the suspended portion, and the six months incarceration was to be served at a later date.

The district judge explained his reasons for the sentence imposed. He felt that Jones had a poor background: he had shown constant disregard for society's rules and had been afflicted with alcoholism. Consequently, the court's primary concern in sentencing was not rehabilitation; rather, the court sought to strike the correct balance between the government's interest in recouping its "enormous" loss and the necessity of making an example of Jones for other farmers. After learning that the government had no means of harvesting Jones' crop, the court decided upon the split sentence. ²

Later that week the district court realized that it had concluded erroneously that Jones could make restitution with relative ease. Now aware that the bank was holding a lien on the soybean crop, Mrs. Jones having pledged her shares for a loan, the court concluded that there was "not a realistic possibility for the very near future" that Jones' finances would be unraveled sufficiently to permit restitution. Accordingly, the court held another hearing on September 9, 1982, and resentenced Jones to a straight four-year term. At that time, the court made it clear that the mistake of fact resulted from its own error.

The district judge stated several times that on August 26th it had "imposed" sentence. He further noted that Jones had reported to the Marshal and "perhaps reported to the Probation Officer...." He stated, however, that it was his understanding that he was free to resentence so long as Jones had not yet begun to serve the original sentence. Although he had reported to the Marshal and Probation Officer, "Jones has not begun to serve any sentence until I order him to report [for incarceration], which I have not yet done." The court concluded:

I note that the judgment and commitment order which I had prepared has not been signed and purposely so and I am inclined at this time, notwithstanding the objections previously noted, to impose another entirely different sentence on Mr. Jones and in his case.

Tr. 4:27. Whereupon, Jones was sentenced to four years incarceration.

II.

The government offers two main arguments on appeal. First, it asserts that a sentence is not final, and therefore may be enhanced, at any time prior to the trial judge's signing the sentencing order. Second, the government cites United States v. DiFrancesco, 449 U.S. 117, 101 S.Ct. 426, 66 L.Ed.2d 328 (1980), as support for the proposition that the Double Jeopardy Clause has no application to the revision of a sentence.

Appellant asserts that the relevant question is not whether the sentence is final, as determined by affixing a signature to a commitment order, but whether the defendant has begun to serve the sentence. According to appellant, once service of the sentence commences, the Double Jeopardy Clause bars the district court from recalling the defendant and enhancing his sentence. Appellant maintains that he had begun to serve his sentence by reporting to the Marshal and Probation Officer and by following the numerous conditions set out by the district court.

The district court's assertion to the contrary notwithstanding, we agree that at the time of the resentencing, Jones had begun to serve his sentence. We base our conclusion on the language used by the district court at the two sentencing proceedings as well as the concessions made by the government at oral argument.

The transcript of the August 26th proceeding is replete with language indicating that except for the date of commitment, which remained to be set, the conditions of the sentence were effective immediately. See, e.g., Tr. 3:27 ("the mandate of the court's sentence and judgment that I am going to enter today will be very strictly applied and very well enforced"); Tr. 3:28 (court will inform Jones "in another written order" of date for reporting to prison); Tr. 3:33 (court will confer with counsel within three weeks to set reporting date "and see how things are going"); Tr. 3:33 (court requests Jones' assurance that if not incarcerated immediately Jones will remain in jurisdiction and report for incarceration when ordered). The order scheduling the September 9th proceeding states that matters came to the attention of the court "[s]ubsequent to imposition of sentence," and therefore "resentencing" was necessary. Order of September 3, 1982. Furthermore, at the September 9th proceeding the district court referred several times to the sentence initially "imposed." See, e.g., Tr. 4:2 ("[t]he sentence imposed from the bench last week"); Tr. 4:15 ("original orally stated sentence"). Finally, government counsel, while arguing that sentence was not final until written and signed, conceded at oral argument that Jones was not free to violate the conditions of the sentence in the period between August 26th and September 9th.

Based on the record and arguments, we have no doubt that after the sentencing on August 26th, Jones was subject to the restraining conditions of, and was serving, his sentence. In light of the reality of the situation, we reject the government's argument that the sentence was not "final" until signed, at least insofar as "finality" may relate to our determination under the Double Jeopardy Clause. That, however, is the beginning, not the end, of our analysis.

III.

Our inquiry continues with United States v. DiFrancesco, 449 U.S. 117, 101 S.Ct. 426, 66 L.Ed.2d 328 (1980), the Supreme Court's pronouncement on double jeopardy rights as they pertain to sentencing. In DiFrancesco, the defendant was convicted under the federal racketeering laws and sentenced as a dangerous special offender to two ten-year prison terms to be served concurrently with each other and concurrently with a nine-year sentence imposed in unrelated federal proceedings. In other words, the district court imposed the equivalent of only one additional year's incarceration under the dangerous special offender statute. The government appealed the sentence on the ground that the district court abused its discretion by imposing only one additional year. Believing it could not enhance a sentence on an appeal by the government, the court of appeals dismissed the appeal on double jeopardy grounds. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and reversed.

Although the Court in DiFrancesco...