Cite as: 518 U. S. 267 (1996)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
Amendment. Otherwise there would have been no basis for concluding that the defendants had been "twice put in jeopardy" as the text of the Clause forbids. The prohibition against two such proceedings cannot depend on the order in which they are filed. Cf. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S., at 804 (Scalia, J., dissenting) ("[I]f there is a constitutional prohibition on multiple punishments, the order of punishment cannot possibly make any difference").
III
The Government's third argument is that the civil forfeiture and the criminal proceeding did not involve the same offense. The Government relies principally on Blockburger v. United States, 284 U. S. 299 (1932), in which we held that for double jeopardy purposes two statutes define different offenses if "each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not." Id., at 304. The application of that test would avoid any double jeopardy objection to a forfeiture followed by a prosecution—or a prosecution followed by a forfeiture—whenever the seizure could be supported without proof that the defendant committed a crime and the conviction did not require proof that the forfeited property had been used illegally.
Thus, if instead of forfeiting Ursery's home the Government had decided to forfeit his neighbor's property where the marijuana was grown, the Blockburger rule would avoid any double jeopardy objection to either the forfeiture or respondent's prosecution. In that scenario, the forfeiture could be supported without proof that Ursery violated the law and Ursery could be convicted without proof that he harvested the marijuana on property owned by someone else.
The rule does, however, bar this conviction because the elements that the Government was required to allege and prove to sustain the forfeiture of Ursery's home under § 881(a)(7) included each of the elements of the offense for which he was later convicted. As in Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U. S. 410 (1980), and Harris v. Oklahoma, 433 U. S. 682
317
Page: Index Previous 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007