U.S. v. Williams

• Citation: 121 F.3d 615
• Decision Date: 08 September 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-3099,96-3099
• Parties: 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 465 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Daniel WILLIAMS, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit)

Page 615

121 F.3d 615

11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 465

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Daniel WILLIAMS, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 96-3099.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Sept. 8, 1997.

Rosemary T. Cakmis, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Orlando, FL, for Defendant-Appellant.

Charles R. Wilson, U.S. Atty., Wanda Heard, Tamra Phipps, Asst. U.S. Attys., Tampa, FL, for Defendant-Appellant.

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

Before CARNES, Circuit Judge, and HENDERSON and GIBSON ^*, Senior Circuit Judges.

GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge:

Appellant challenges his conviction on one count of willfully failing to pay child support in violation of the Child Support Recovery Act (CSRA), 18 U.S.C. § 228 (1994). We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Appellant and his wife were married in May 1979. One son (Jason) was born in September 1980. The couple adopted a second son (Joshua), who was born in March 1988. Sadly, the Appellant and his wife separated in October 1989; evidence at trial demonstrates that Appellant's change in religious beliefs represented a substantial contribution to the couple's difficulties. At the time, the couple lived in Melbourne, Brevard County, Florida. Appellant had graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and was board certified in anatomic pathology, clinical pathology and blood banking; he was employed as a pathologist at Space Coast Pathology and served as the Associate Medical Examiner for Brevard County.

Formal separation proceedings were commenced in State Court. On December 16, 1989, ¹ the State Court ordered Appellant to pay child support in the amount of $750 per month. He did not comply with this Order. He stated repeatedly, both to his wife and in open court, that he did not plan to pay any child support and believed that the custodial parent (in this case, his wife) should be entirely responsible for the support of the children. He also threatened to quit his job and go live in a monastery in order to insure that none of his earnings were used to pay child support. These threats resulted in an April 3, 1990 Order from the State Court directing that Appellant "stay employed as a physician."

Appellant abided by the State Court's Order to remain employed as a doctor--for approximately three weeks. On April 25, the State Court issued an Income Deduction Order that garnished Plaintiff's wages to pay the past-due child support. On the same day the Income Deduction Order was issued, Appellant voluntarily quit his job and took a job as a traffic counter. A final divorce decree was issued on June 12, 1990; in it, the State Court noted Appellant's threats and his present employment situation but found that Appellant had "demonstrated the ability to earn in excess of $7,000.00 per month" and calculated Appellant's child support obligations accordingly.

In July 1990 Appellant moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and initially earned a living by doing domestic chores at the abbey where he lived. He supplemented his income by working as a substitute teacher and a telephone surveyor. That same month, the State Court imposed a trust on Appellant's pension plan and required the proceeds be applied towards the past-due child support. At that time, Appellant's total arrearage exceeded $9,000, $3,000 of which represented past-due child support. In its Order, the State Court noted that Appellant "testified that he intends to allow his medical license to lapse in spite of the need to make the Court ordered child support payments and that he does not intend [to] pursue any employment in medicine. He does not believe that he will be able to make the payments 'leading [sic] life as a monk.' "

In March 1991 the State Court held a contempt hearing. Appellant participated in the hearing by telephone; prior to the hearing ² Appellant sent a letter to the State Court in which he stated that he was no longer living in the monastery. He also declared that he was unable to pay the "excessive" child support "in light of the fact I shall never again practice pathology." The State Court found Appellant to be in contempt for failing to pay child support.

In May 1991 Appellant left the jobs he had held and began working at the YMCA where he lived. His wages were garnished for five months at the end of 1992 and the beginning of 1993, netting monthly payments of $14 per month towards Appellant's child support obligation.

The State Court conducted contempt proceedings again in May 1993. Prior to the hearing (which Appellant did not attend), Appellant sent a letter to his ex-wife proposing a settlement of all outstanding issues. He proposed that he be absolved of his obligation to pay past and future child support and maintenance and for recision of an arrest warrant (arising from the March 1991 contempt proceedings), shared residential custody of the children, and that the children be encouraged to correspond with him. With respect to the support of the children, he proposed that his "only financial support for the children shall be incurred when [the children] are actually living with me. That is, when the boys live with you, you are financially responsible for their well being. Similarly, when they live with me I shall be financially responsible for their welfare." Appellant also sent a letter expressing similar sentiments to the State Court. The State Court found Appellant to be in contempt of Court; at the time, Appellant's past-due support obligation exceeded $39,000.

The record contains numerous other letters written by Appellant. These letters generally reiterate his intention to never return to the medical field, emphasize his relatively meager earnings, and request reconsideration of prior State Court orders. They also contain quotes from the Bible and other religious sentiments; a common theme appears to be Appellant's belief that his ex-wife violated their marriage vows and religious principles by obtaining the divorce. Appellant's letters also express his belief that she has already received more money than she is entitled to. Appellant has made good on his promise to stay out of the medical field; he has not even attempted to reenter the profession and has not taken any other job that earns much beyond minimum wage.

In December 1994, Appellant was charged with one count of willfully failing to pay a past due support obligation. Appellant consented to trial before a magistrate judge. ³ Evidence at trial demonstrated that Plaintiff had never voluntarily paid any money toward his support obligation; all money credited towards that obligation had been the result of court orders, garnishments, and interceptions of his federal income tax refunds. He testified that he had insufficient means to pay his support obligations, and barely earned enough to survive. Recognizing that the crux of the case hinged on his decision not to work in the medical field, Appellant testified as to his reasons for leaving that profession. He explained that he left the medical field because "[a]t that time, it seemed very unlikely that I could come to a compromise with my wife on salvaging the marriage and I chose to do something else with my life. If the divorce was not to be contested successfully, that I would choose another career." R:2-154. He also testified that he had wanted to leave the medical field on several occasions, but had never done so because it "wasn't a good time to leave." At the time of trial, Appellant's past-due child support obligations totaled in excess of $75,000.

The Magistrate Judge concluded Appellant was guilty of the crime charged, and Appellant appealed this decision to a District Judge. ⁴ In addition to challenging the Magistrate Judge's conclusion that he had acted willfully, Appellant challenged (for the first time) the CSRA's constitutionality under both the Commerce Clause and the Tenth Amendment. Appellant's conviction was affirmed, and he then initiated the instant appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Constitutionality of the Child Support Enforcement Act

28 U.S.C. § 228(a) declares that "[w]hoever willfully fails to pay a past due support obligation with respect to a child who resides in another State shall be punished" as set forth elsewhere in the statute. A "past due support obligation" is any sum ordered pursuant to a state law requiring payment for the support and maintenance of a child (or a child and parent living together) that is either greater than $5,000 or has been unpaid for more than one year. 28 U.S.C. § 228(b). Appellant contends that Congress exceeded its authority under both the Commerce Clause and the Tenth Amendment. We address these arguments in turn, mindful that Appellant's failure to raise these issues at trial reduces our review to a search for plain error; however, there is "no plainer error than to allow a conviction to stand under a statute which Congress was without power to enact. In essence, the statute was void ab initio, and consequently, the district court below lacked subject matter jurisdiction with respect to that charge." United States v. Walker, 59 F.3d 1196, 1198 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 547, 133 L.Ed.2d 450 (1995).

1. Commerce Clause

The Commerce Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, empowers Congress to "regulate Commerce ... among the several States ...." Relying principally on United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995), Appellant contends the CSRA exceeds Congress' authority. To the contrary, we believe that the CSRA easily falls within the bounds of permissible legislation described by Lopez.

Lopez involved a challenge to the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, which forbade "any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone." 514 U.S. at 550, 115 S.Ct. at 1626. The Supreme Court confirmed that there are three broad areas that fall within the...