Posted on 10/21/2014 6:10:29 AM PDT by dennisw
Supreme Court Overturns Illegal Immigrants ID Theft Conviction
MAY 04, 2009
The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that an illegal immigrant who used stolen documents to work is not guilty of identity theft because he didnt know the information belonged to another person.
The ruling eliminates an important tool for prosecuting and deporting illegal aliens who victimize Americans by stealing their identities to get jobs in this country. In its 18-page decision the court says that the crime of identity theft is limited to those who actually know they stole someone elses information.
Prosecutors must therefore prove that illegal immigrants who use false identification papers know they belong to another person to be convicted of identity theft. The Supreme Court ruling, which resolves conflicting appeals court decisions on the issue, overturns the aggravated identity theft conviction of a Mexican illegal immigrant (Ignacio Flores-Figueroa).
Flores-Figueroa had pleaded guilty to two counts of misuse of immigration documents and one count of illegally entering the United States. He was subsequently convicted on two counts of aggravated identity theft which added two years to the 51-month sentence for the previous crimes.
In 2000 the illegal alien used a fake name and Social Security number to get a job at an Illinois steal plant. In 2006, he told his employers that he wanted to use his real name and submitted new documents, including a Social Security number he bought in Chicago that belonged to someone else.
But in the High Courts opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer writes that the law requires prosecutors to show that the defendant knew the counterfeit identification belonged to another person. The court agreed that the illegal immigrant could be charged with a misdemeanor for using an identification he knew was false, but he could not be charged with a felony of aggravated identity theft because he did not know he was using someone elses Social Security number.
The legal answer for just about everything is "it depends." I think that answer also applies when one is critiqeuing the institution. Some cases are handled properly, well, and the outcome is just. I think it's accurate to say that a majority of civil actions are handled that way.
But on social issues (immoral and perverted actions turned into constitutional imperitives at the whim of the courts; stripping people of the means of force of violence), and on some civil matters, and on some criminal cases, the process is subverted.
It's tough to figure out how to stand and view an institution like that - that has quite a bit of good, and quite a bit of bad. I wouldn't reject all of the institution, but it certainly doesn't deserve the degree of respect and obedience that it thinks it's entitled to.
I absolutely agree with your sentiment. The law is all too often a tool used to perpetrate an injustice.
The prosecuter is at fault in this case. The proper charge would be fraud of misrepresenting themselves. They knew the papers were false, after all.
Yes, I agree, there are many well reasoned settlements, verdicts or other outcomes.
The cases we speak of are those that make the news, sometimes primarily because of the circumvention of justice.
I see where the blade runner gets only 5 years for slaughtering his girlfriend but will likely serve less than one year of that term.
Everything for illegals, crumbs for citizens.
An interesting question that I have thought about is if another person steals my identity and he is living as me and if I hunt him down and kill him then I am killing myself; that is, committing suicide rather than murder.
Yeah, I know, wouldn’t work that way but it is an interesting mental game.
I hope family members of these dead heads are the next victims
Check out what fast food workers make in Norway and Australia. It is high! OK with me if the economic system is not out of wack
“McDonald’s Workers in Denmark Make $21 An Hour”
“”The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that an illegal immigrant who used stolen documents to work is not guilty of identity theft because he didnt know the information belonged to another person.
______________________________________________
he didnt know the information belonged to another person
Okaaaaay””
I didn’t know that the Chamber of Amnesty (Commerce) owned the SCOTUS too....
Maybe the illegal alien was told that the documents were made up, i.e., the name, SS#, etc. were made from whole cloth.
It's actually quite simple. Illegals can do whatever they want... drink and drive without a license, steal identities, and have their unvaccinated children attend school. Laws only apply to the citizens that pay for everything.
You're welcome!
Guess who needs their identification stolen and we will see a change?.
A liberal is someone who hasn’t been mugged.
“Assume he thought he was buying a legit doc from a corrupt official.”
Doesn’t pass the smell test. People who provide false IDs don’t do business in the open. If I went looking for a fake ID, I would automatically assume that the ID was illegal.
Imagine if the same standard was applied to the filing of tax returns.
Technically the court is correct from the point of a criminal prosecution. This requires the famous “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard of proof. Civil liability would be a different story.
Forgetting details of law is often a sign of having fallen into a rage. How dare that blankety blank do that, let us throw any old book any which way. But that is to throw in with the moral side of the lawbreaker. Satan never can cast out Satan.
It usually is, remember the IRS can grandly ding you with civil penalties.
Yep! Thereby proving once again that U.S. Citizens just aren’t quite equal to illegal aliens.
Oh wow, this earth is full of sinners. Tell me some news for a change.
Bottom line is apparently the guy used his real name and a bogus number. Presenting that SS card was a crime that was committed intentionally. But it wasn't a theft.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.