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458 F.2d 396

Docket No. 71-2581.

United States v. Barger

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Decided April 11, 1972.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 1972-04-11

2 counsel of record

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““A bail bond in a criminal action is a form of contract between the government on the one part and the accused and the surety on the other. Such bonds are conditioned upon the presence of the accused at specified times during the criminal proceedings and provide a monetary penalty upon condition broken. This penalty is one for damages and is deemed civil, not criminal, in nature.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including 63 Ill. App. 3d 602 - People v. Woollums

Applies 18 U.S.C. § 3150 (Bail Reform Act of 1984)

Relies on Helvering v. Mitchell · Helvering v. Mitchell · United States v. Davis

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Opinion by (per_curiam) · Decided 1972-04-11

How this case has been cited

Cited by 20 later decisions — most recently July 2024

16 federal appellate · 4 state decisions

80197219801990200020102020decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Jonathan K. Golden (argued), Burton Marks, of Marks, Sherman & Schwartz, Beverly Hills, Cal., Jack K. Berman, San Francisco, Cal., for appellant.

¶2John G. Milano, Asst. U. S. Atty. (argued), James L. Browning, Jr., U. S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.

¶3Before KOELSCH, TRASK and GOODWIN, Circuit Judges.

¶4PER CURIAM:

¶5The principal question in this appeal is this: does the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment preclude the conviction and sentence of a person for the crime of “bail jumping” [18 U.S.C. § 3150] after bail given pursuant to Rule 46 F.R.Cr.P. is duly forfeited. The answer is clearly “no.”

¶6 A bail bond in a criminal action is a form of contract between the government on the one part and the accused and his surety on the other. Such bonds are conditioned upon the presence of the accused at specified times during the criminal proceedings and provide a monetary penalty upon condition broken. This penalty is one for damages and is deemed civil, not criminal, in nature. United States v. Davis, 202 F.2d 621 (7th Cir. 1953). Hence a forfeiture does not constitute punishment.1 As the Court pointed out in Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391, 58 S.Ct. 630, 82 L.Ed. 917 (1938), “Congress may impose both a *397criminal and a civil sanction in respect to the same act or omission; for the double jeopardy clause prohibits merely punishing twice, or attempting a second time to punish criminally, for the same offense.”

¶7Appellant also contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict; in particular, he urges there was no proof showing or tending to show that his failure to appear for trial on the appointed day was wilful. He is mistaken.

¶8The judgment is affirmed.

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