United States v. Young

Chief Justice Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

We granted certiorari to review the reversal of respondent’s conviction because of prosecutorial comments responding to defense counsel’s closing argument impugning the prosecution’s integrity and belief in the Government’s case.

[*3] Respondent Billy G. Young, as vice president and general manager of the Compton Petroleum Corporation in Abilene, Texas, contracted in 1976 and 1977 to deliver monthly supplies of “sweet” crude oil to the Apeo Oil Corporation refinery in Cyril, Oklahoma. Some 205,000 barrels of oil were delivered under the contract between January and September 1977, but more than half of the oil delivered to Apeo, approximately 117,250 barrels, consisted of fuel oil, an already refined product less valuable than crude oil. Compton’s invoices accompanying those deliveries falsely certified that all of the oil was crude. Apeo relied on those false certifications and reported to the Federal Energy Administration, in compliance with Government regulations, 10 CFR §§211.66, 211.67, and 212.131 (1976), the amount of crude oil it thought it was refining each month. The Federal Energy Administration in turn relied on Apco’s reports to determine the national averages of tier categories of refined oil for purposes of equalizing the cost of crude oil under its entitlement program.