United States v. Wright Contracting Co.
Decision Date | 06 May 1983 |
Docket Number | Crim. No. Y-83-00086. |
Citation | 563 F. Supp. 213 |
Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. WRIGHT CONTRACTING COMPANY. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Warren Marcus, Philadelphia, Pa., and J. Frederick Motz, U.S. Atty., D. Maryland, Baltimore, Md., for plaintiff.
Joseph B. Haynes, Atlanta, Ga., James D. Miller, Washington, D.C., and Leslie A. Vial, Baltimore, Md., for defendant.
The corporate defendant in this criminal case has pled guilty to bid rigging in violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. The maximum penalty permissible for a single violation of § 1 by a corporation is a fine of $1,000,000. On April 22, 1983, the Court sentenced defendant to a fine of $400,000 payable within sixty days but suspended the imposition of all but $50,000 of the sentence and placed defendant on probation for a period of three years pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3651. In addition to the usual terms and conditions of probation, the Court imposed as a special condition of probation a program of "Corporate Penance" obligating defendant to contribute $175,000 to Baltimore City Foundation, Inc. More commonly known as the "Blue Chip In Program," Baltimore City Foundation is a charitable organization providing a wide array of services to the disadvantaged of Baltimore City and has no reasonable factual nexus to the specific offense defendant pled guilty to. It is to be stressed that the "Corporate Penance" program is not restitutional, reparative, or in any way connected with reimbursing anyone for losses sustained as a result of this specific crime. It is instead designed to punish defendant, specifically deter defendant, and generally deter other corporations contemplating similar criminal activity. A short examination of the legal basis for this special probation condition follows.
A recent review of the genesis of a federal district judge's probationary powers stated:
It has long been settled that, unlike some state courts, federal courts possess no inherent authority to suspend a sentence of imprisonment and place a convicted defendant on probation. Ex parte United States, 242 U.S. 27, 49-52, 37 S.Ct. 72, 77, 79, 61 L.Ed. 129 (1916). See United States v. Ellenbogen, 390 F.2d 537, 541 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 918, 89 S.Ct. 241, 21 L.Ed.2d 206 (1968). Such authority, however, was granted by Congress in the form of the Federal Probation Act. 18 U.S.C. § 3651. That Act is the sole source of the court's probationary powers. See, e.g., United States v. Cohen, 617 F.2d 56, 58 (4th Cir.1980); United States v. Workman, 617 F.2d 48, 50 (4th Cir.1980).
United States v. McLaughlin, 512 F.Supp. 907, 910 (D.Md.1981). A corporation may be placed on probation under § 3651. United States v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 465 F.2d 58 (7th Cir.1972).
Section 3651 provides in relevant part:
As the Fourth Circuit recently stated:
United States v. McMichael, 699 F.2d 193, 194-95 (4th Cir.1983). Accord United States v. Bishop, 537 F.2d 1184, 1186 (4th Cir.1976) (). In general, conditions of probation are permissible as long as they "bear a reasonable relationship to the treatment of the accused and the protection of the public." United States v. Arthur, 602 F.2d 660, 664 (4th Cir.1979) ( ). Accord United States v. Restor, 679 F.2d 338 (3rd Cir.1982); United States v. Mitsubishi International Corporation, 677 F.2d 785 (9th Cir.1982).
In the present case, the Court focuses primarily on the second element of the Arthur standard, protection of the public, by imposing a special condition which furthers goals of punishment, specific deterrence, and general deterrence. As the Ninth Circuit observed, "the sentencing judge is obliged to view probation as a substitute for the sentence and to formulate conditions calculated to insure that the probation furthers the purpose of the criminal law emphasis supplied." Mitsubishi, 677 F.2d at 788. Here the "substitute sentence" furthers perhaps the most traditional purposes of the criminal law: punishment and deterrence.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has specifically upheld mandatory contribution of specified sums to charitable and community organizations as an appropriate special condition of probation for a corporate price fixing defendant. United States v. William Anderson Co., Inc., 698 F.2d 911 (8th Cir.1982); cf. Mitsubishi, 677 F.2d at 785 ( ). Contra United States v. Prescon Corp., 695 F.2d 1236 (10th Cir.1982); United States v. Clovis Retail Liquor Dealers Trade Association, 540 F.2d 1389 (10th Cir.1976). The Eighth Circuit outlined the precise statutory basis for its ruling:
William Anderson Co., Inc., 698 F.2d at 914.
The statutory construction employed in William Anderson Co. is fully consistent with the general Fourth Circuit interpretation of § 3651. As the Fourth Circuit has said in McMichael, 699 F.2d at 194-95, § 3651 vests broad discretion in the District Court, with its specifically enumerated conditions serving only as examples. The "Corporate Penance" program is rationally related to the penal goals of punishment and deterrence, and falls well within the standard which governs the exercise of the District Judge's discretion in Arthur, 602 F.2d at 664. It should additionally be noted that defendant can always opt simply to pay the full $400,000 fine. In refusing to reverse a District Court order that a corporate defendant contribute both time and money to an ex-offender's program as a special condition of probation, the Ninth Circuit stressed the need for creativity with corporate defendants and stated:
To continue reading
Request your trial-
U.S. v. Missouri Valley Const. Co., 83-2188
...in the Fourth Circuit from a decision of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, United States v. Wright Contracting Co., 563 F.Supp. 213 (D.Md.1983), that relied on this circuit's Anderson decision. 5 Third, the panel recognized the importance of the issue at stake, ......
-
U.S. v. Wright Contracting Co., MID-ATLANTIC
...specifically deter defendant, and generally deter other corporations contemplating similar criminal activity. United States v. Wright Contracting Co., 563 F.Supp. 213, 214 (1983). Mid-Atlantic Paving Company, Inc. (Mid-Atlantic), a company producing liquid bituminous material for use in the......