If that much is true, the inquiry turns to the prospect that such an investigation would have borne disqualifying fruit. The Government need not show definitively that its investigation would have unearthed a disqualifying fact. It need only establish that the investigation “would predictably have disclosed” some legal disqualification. Id., at 774. If that is […]
False Statements and Immigration Benefits: Part 3
The statute Congress passed, most naturally read, strips a person of citizenship not when she committed any illegal act during the naturalization process, but only when that act played some role in her naturalization. When the underlying illegality alleged in a §1425(a) prosecution is a false statement to government officials, a jury must decide whether […]
False Statements and Immigration Benefits: Part 2
Justice Kagan, writing for a six-justice majority, held that the text of §1425(a) makes clear that, to secure a conviction, the Government must establish that the defendant’s illegal act played a role in her acquisition of citizenship. The pro-prosecutor wing of the Court, Justices Gorsuch, Alito, and Thomas, all concurred in the judgement, but differed […]
False Statements and Immigration Benefits: Part 1
On June 22, 2017, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Maslenjak v. United States. Petitioner Divna Maslenjak is an ethnic Serb who resided in Bosnia during the 1990’s, when a civil war divided the new country. In 1998, she and her family sought refugee status in the United States. Interviewed under oath, […]
New Child Porn Laws: Part 3
“N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4. Endangering Welfare of Children” was amended as well. The first change involved a broadening of the definition of “Item depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child.” The definition now includes “a photograph, film, video, an electronic, electromagnetic or digital recording, an image stored or maintained in a computer program or file […]
New Child Porn Laws: Part 2
Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.A. 2C:1-8, a conviction of leader of a child pornography network shall not merge with the conviction for any offense which is the object of the conspiracy, nor shall the other conviction merge with a conviction under this section. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed in any way to […]
New Child Porn Laws: Part 1
On February 1, 2018, new laws will go into effect regarding child pornography offenses. One law establishes the first degree crime for being the “leader of [a] child pornography network.” Separate laws establish additional penalties related to child pornography and expand the definition of the crime to include portrayal of a child in a sexual […]
Consensual Juvenile Sex & Child Endangerment: Part 4
When a court does not find facts legally sufficient to adjudicate the accused delinquent, that is the end of the matter with respect to that charge. We cannot, as the State here urges, change the original adjudication based on comments the court made while imposing a disposition. We are not fact-finders. The judge articulated the […]
Consensual Juvenile Sex & Child Endangerment: Part 3
The Legislature did not intend sexual behavior between children close in age not involving penetration, which it specifically exempted from the criminal statutes, to nonetheless be included within the crime of child endangerment. Our Supreme Court has told us to analyze ambiguous statutes in a criminal context in favor of the accused: Like all matters […]
Consensual Juvenile Sex & Child Endangerment: Part 2
Once the judge found insufficient evidence of sexual penetration, the question became whether a juvenile who is not guilty of sexual assault due to an insufficient age differential could nonetheless be adjudicated delinquent of child endangerment for that same behavior. In other words, did the Legislature particularly exempt sexual contact between two children close in […]
English
Spanish