United States v. Carpenter, 8300.
| Decision Date | 26 May 1944 |
| Docket Number | No. 8300.,8300. |
| Citation | 143 F.2d 47 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. CARPENTER. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Attorney Lewis L. Levin was appointed by this court to represent Carpenter on this appeal.
Appellant is now serving in the Army, having been paroled for such service.
Lewis L. Levin, of Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Howard L. Doyle and Marks Alexander, U. S. Atty., both of Springfield, Ill., for appellee.
Before EVANS, SPARKS and MAJOR, Circuit Judges.
Appellant argues that a proper interpretation of the grammatical and structural composition of the statute (18 U.S.C.A. § 409) necessitates the conclusion that Congress meant to impose penalties for any of three separate classes or categories of crimes. It did not, however, mean to make a separate crime of every act described in each of the several classes or categories. In support of such theory, counsel points out that each category begins with the identical word "whoever" and is set off by semi-colons, whereas the several condemned acts within the respective categories are not so stated, merely being joined with the disjunctive "or" and separated by commas.
The statute reads (we add the numerals which appellant uses to designate his categories):
"(1) Whoever shall unlawfully break the seal of any railroad car * * * or shall enter any such car with intent in either case to commit larceny therein; (2) or whoever shall steal or unlawfully take, carry away, or conceal, or by fraud or deception obtain from any railroad car, * * * with intent to convert to his own use any goods or chattels * * *, or shall buy or receive or have in his possession any such goods or chattels, knowing the same to have been stolen; (3) or whoever shall steal or shall unlawfully take, carry away, or by fraud or deception obtain with intent to convert * * * any baggage, * * * or shall break into, steal, take, carry away, or conceal any of the contents of such baggage, or shall buy, receive, or have in his possession any such baggage * * * shall in each case be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both * * *."
It is counsel's urge that the second and third counts, namely, for stealing and for receiving, are for but a single crime in that they are both covered by the one category, i. e., class (2), and therefore appellant has suffered two five year sentences for but one crime.
Appellant also stresses the phrase "in each case" as being indicative of Congressional intent to impose a sentence only upon each of the classes of acts outlined.
A second contention, which was the one involved in the habeas corpus proceedings, is that the charge of stealing and possessing does not define two crimes because only one criminal intent was involved. In other words, in all cases where there is a stealing, there is, per se, a possessing.
Counsel stresses the fact that the bill of exceptions, which was not consulted on the prior appeal because not duly filed, disclosed that appellant was not even at the site of...
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Nassif v. United States
...each substantive offense listed in § 659 constitutes a separate crime: "steal, take away, carry away and conceal". See United States v. Carpenter, 7 Cir., 143 F.2d 47. The Supreme Court has held, however, under similar statutes that a double punishment cannot be served arising out of the sa......
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Torres v. United States
...United States v. Dunbar, 7 Cir., 1945, 149 F.2d 151, certiorari denied, 325 U.S. 889, 65 S.Ct. 1577, 89 L.Ed. 2002; United States v. Carpenter, 7 Cir., 1944, 143 F.2d 47. Essentially the argument of appellant on this point is that there exists a legal inconsistency in his being acquitted of......
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Prince v. United States
...results in too severe judgments, the accused may secure relief through executive clemency, as well as by parole." United States v. Carpenter, 7 Cir., 143 F.2d 47, 48. We reach the same conclusion in this case. Under the 1934 statute, the weight of authority sustained convictions of more tha......
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Thomas v. United States
...F.2d 23; Carroll v. United States, 6 Cir., 174 F.2d 412, certiorari denied 338 U.S. 874, 70 S.Ct. 136, 94 L. Ed. 536; United States v. Carpenter, 7 Cir., 143 F.2d 47; United States v. Dunbar, 7 Cir., 149 F.2d 151, certiorari denied 325 U.S. 889, 65 S.Ct. 1577, 89 L. Ed. 2002; and Carpenter ......