The following excerpt is from U.S. v. Stafford, 831 F.2d 1479 (9th Cir. 1987):
Absent Congressional intent, express or implied, regarding separate punishment for overlapping federal crimes, we employ the rule of statutory construction announced in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). Blockburger provides "where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or one, is whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not." Id. at 304, 52 S.Ct. at 182 (emphasis added); see Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 100 S.Ct. 1432, 63 L.Ed.2d 715 (1980) (reversing the imposition of consecutive sentences for rape and felony murder when rape was the felony used to establish felony murder).
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