Braverman v. United States

Nature of the Case

This was an appeal by Braverman (D) from a conviction of conspiracies to violate internal revenue law.

Facts

Braverman and others were indicted on seven counts charging conspiracies to violate separate and distinct internal revenue laws of the United States. There was sufficient evidence to permit the jury to find that Braverman collaborated in the illicit manufacture and distribution of distilled spirits involving the violations set forth in the counts of the indictment.

At the close of the trial defendants renewed a motion made at the beginning of the trial to require the United States to elect one of the counts of the indictment upon which to proceed. Defendants contended that the evidence did not establish more than one conspiracy. The government contends that the counts of the indictment charged the several illegal objects of one continuing conspiracy as separate offenses. If the jury found such a conspiracy it might find the defendants guilty of as many offenses as it had illegal objects. For each offense the two-year statutory penalty could be imposed. The trial judge agreed with the government. The jury returned a general verdict of guilty and the court sentenced each to eight years imprisonment. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Issue

Is a single agreement to commit acts in violation of several penal codes to be punished as several conspiracies?

Holding and Rule of Law (Stone)

No. A single agreement to commit acts in violation of several penal codes is not to be punished as several conspiracies.

A single agreement to commit an offense does not amount to several conspiracies merely because it continues over a period of time. Where each of the counts of an indictment alleges a conspiracy to violate a different penal statute, it may be proper to find that several conspiracies are charged rather than one, and that a defendant may be convicted on each separate count. It is a different matter however to find that even though there has only been one agreement, the conspirators are guilty of as many offenses as the agreement has criminal objects.

The crime of conspiracy is the agreement or confederation of the conspirators to commit one or more unlawful acts, where one or more of the parties commit one or more acts to toward the object of the conspiracy. The overt act, without which a charge of conspiracy cannot lie, may be that of only a single conspirator and need not itself be a crime.

Whether the object of a single agreement is to commit one crime or many crimes, it is that agreement which constitutes the conspiracy which the statute punishes. That one agreement cannot be taken to be several agreements and therefore several conspiracies merely because it envisages the violation of several statutes rather than one. A conspiracy is not the commission of crime, and neither violates nor arises under the corresponding statute. If a single continuing agreement embraces its criminal objects, it differs from successive acts which violate a single penal statute and from a single act which violates two statutes. The single agreement is the prohibited conspiracy.

Disposition

Reversed and remanded to the district court for resentencing.