[RED DEMOCRATICA] NOTICIAS : Unanimous Supreme Court ruling voids Postville-like charge (9-0)

READ THE LATEST NEWS IMPACTING LATINOS

Blog: www.tyapias.blogspot.com

Website: www.utahlatinos.com

 

U.S. Supreme Court unanimous decision on Identity Theft (9-0)

 

PERSONAL NOTE:  Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on an issue that prosecutors have been using for the past few years with regards to identity theft. Thousands of undocumented immigrants have been deported during raids due to using false documents to work.  An identity theft charge against an undocumented became a favorite tool for prosecutors. 

 

Here in Utah, prosecutors have been using this to convict undocumented workers.  I believe some of the workers involved in the SWIFT raid in Hyrum pleaded guilty to these charges.  The question most immigrants have today is what will the State of Utah do with identity theft cases involving undocumented immigrants?

 

The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision (9-0) is a strong message to prosecutors all over the United States that what they have been doing was illegal.  Currently there are many cases in Utah State Court and in Federal Court, what will prosecutors do? Drop these cases?  There is still lost of questions and we hope that the U.S. Attorney's office and the Utah Attorney General address this issue soon.  One last question, how will this decision impact SB-81?

 

Thanks,

Tony

 

desmoinesregister.com src="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/graphics/mastlogo.gif"> May 5, 2009 Unanimous Supreme Court ruling voids Postville-like charge By TONY LEYS tleys@dmreg.com   Critics of the prosecution in last May's immigration raid at Postville hailed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday in a similar case. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that prosecutors should not charge immigrants with aggravated identity theft unless they can prove the immigrants knowingly used Social Security numbers or other identifications that belonged to actual people. The ruling came in an unrelated case, and it apparently has no direct impact on the former Postville workers. But the facts of the cases are similar, and prosecution critics portrayed the decision as a rebuke of tactics used to induce guilty pleas from the immigrants captured in the Postville raid. The ruling came in a case first heard in U.S. District Court in Davenport, in which an illegal immigrant who lived and worked in the Quad Cities bought a counterfeit identification card so he could work. Critics in such cases have accused prosecutors of misusing a 2004 identity-theft law that was designed to punish criminals who drain bank accounts and make false credit-card purchases. The Postville cases involved about 300 Guatemalan and Mexican workers arrested in a raid at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant. Most of the workers initially were charged with aggravated identity theft. Within two weeks, most of them pleaded guilty to lesser charges, such as using false identifications, and were sentenced to five months in prison.   U.S. attorney responds   Robert Teig, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said none of the initial wave of defendants pleaded guilty to the charge at the heart of the Supreme Court case. He said all of them agreed that they were guilty of the lesser crimes they did plead to. Teig said that before the Supreme Court ruling, appeals courts had split on the issue. He said the prosecutors in the Iowa case were following the practice in this part of the nation at the time. "The facts and the law supported the charges," he said.   Defenders react   Rockne Cole, an Iowa City defense lawyer who criticized the way the Postville workers were treated, cheered the Supreme Court's decision. "This really vindicates people who had concerns about the rush to judgment," he said. Cole said he refused to participate in the legal proceedings against the immigrants, who were held at the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo. Cole said the defendants were being railroaded. The identity-theft charges carried two-year prison terms, which Cole said helped prosecutors persuade defendants to plead guilty to lesser charges. "The aggravated identity theft was the hammer being held over these people's heads," Cole said. Without that threat, he said, some of the defendants might have avoided jail and immigration-law consequences by fighting their cases in court. Stephen Swift, a defense lawyer who participated in more than 12 of the plea deals, was less critical of prosecutors. But he agreed with Cole that the identity-theft charges were a factor in some of the guilty pleas. Swift said some of his clients probably would have pleaded guilty even without the threat. "But I would certainly think some of them would not have been in such a hurry about it," he said.   Court ruling   The Supreme Court's ruling was written by Justice Stephen Breyer. He disagreed with the prosecutors' claim that they only had to prove that an immigrant knew he was using a false identification. Cole said the Supreme Court's ruling probably will have no direct effect on the former Postville workers, because they signed away their rights to appeal when they pleaded guilty. The Postville prosecutions drew nationwide attention, because they marked the first time that a majority of workers caught in a big immigration raid were sent to prison. In previous and subsequent raids, most illegal-immigrant workers were quickly deported if they hadn't committed other crimes beyond using false papers to find jobs. The Obama administration has indicated it plans to target employers more than workers in future immigration cases.   Flores-Figueroa vs. United States   THE CASE: Ignacio Carlos Flores-Figueroa, 41, a Mexican immigrant employed at a steel plant in East Moline, Ill., traveled to Chicago and bought identifying numbers from someone who trades in counterfeit identifications. Unlike earlier fictitious numbers Flores-Figueroa used, these numbers belonged to real people. RULING: In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court rejected the government's argument that prosecutors need only show that the identification numbers belong to someone else, regardless of whether the defendant knew it. Unlike a thief who steals identities to gain access to a bank account, an immigrant often buys them from forgers, never knowing whether they belong to anyone. The case goes back to U.S. District Court in Davenport. Additional Facts Former worker seeks to change plea A former human resources employee at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant asked for permission Monday to withdraw her guilty plea to an identity-theft charge. Laura Althouse's attorney cited a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which said prosecutors should not file charges of aggravated identity theft unless they can prove a defendant knowingly used a Social Security number or other identification information belonging to an actual person. In court papers, her attorney said prosecutors had agreed not to fight the withdrawal of the guilty plea. At an October court hearing, Althouse pleaded guilty of aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain. At the time, court officials said she faced two to 12 years in prison. She has not yet been sentenced.

 
 

This email was sent to you by:

Tony Yapias

Cellular: (801) 577-3200

__._,_.___

Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic

Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Calendar

Red Democratica 10 years "On line" (1998-2008)!
Http://reddemocratica.blogspot.com
Http://www.caretas.com.pe/2000/1631/articulos/protesta.phtml
Http://www.caretas.com.pe/2000/1612/articulos/debate.phtml

Celebrando 10 anos "On Line"..2008

Keep the candle burning

I have a dream
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/interactiveFrame.htm

FORUM TPSIPOL: RED DEMOCRATICA .
Informacion : Http://tpsipol.home-page.org

Http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eleccion

Para enviar un message , enviar a: eleccion@yahoogroups.com
Para suscribirse al Forum , enviar un mensaje a : eleccion-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Para salir del Forum, enviar un mensaje en blanco : eleccion-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

Recent Activity

•  1
  New Members

Visit Your Group

Give Back

Yahoo! for Good

Get inspired

by a good cause.

Y! Toolbar

Get it Free!

easy 1-click access

to your groups.

Yahoo! Groups

Start a group

in 3 easy steps.

Connect with others.

.

__,_._,___