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Written by William Clugston, Esq.
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May 12, 2009 |
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Guest Commentary On May 4th, the U.S. Supreme Court decided unanimously, in Flores-Figueroa v. United States, that the word "knowingly" modifies not only the verb, but also the direct object following the verb. In doing so, the Court also decided that illegal aliens cannot be found guilty of Aggravated Identity Theft unless they know their false identification numbers actually belong to someone else. Flores-Figueroa is a Mexican citizen who pled guilty to misuse of immigration documents and entering into the U.S. without inspection. Aggravated Identity Theft provides for two years to be added to the sentence of any such person if he "knowingly transfers, possesses or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person." 18 U.S.C. ยง1028A(a)(1). |
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