Right, the lesson is, don't lie to the feds. In a criminal case, you don't even have to talk to them unless they immunize you. I was fairly flabbergasted when I learned a out 1001 in my White Collar Crime class. And like all laws, it poses a greater danger to the poor, because the poor aren't typically going to be represented by high priced defense counsel. (Although there are many excellent lawyers in the Federal Public Defenders office.) I'm not sure that the poor are more likely to be scared than the rich. No one looking into the cold eyes of the US Attorney's Office is going to feel very cheery. Immigrants definitely are more likely to be scared than citizens. But, as a Bulgarian lawyer in the Chicago Guild chapter often reminds me, immigrants have no rights anyway. jks
> Perhaps, a more compelling reason for leftists to > take a second look > at the Martha Stewart affair is 18 USC 1001: > [D]efense lawyers for white-collar criminal cases > say the focus on > Ms. Stewart's celebrity misses the point. The real > lesson of the > case, they say, is that it once again proves the > potency of a > little-known federal law that has become a crucial > weapon for > prosecutors. > > The law, which lawyers usually call 1001, for the > section of the > federal code that contains it, prohibits lying to > any federal agent, > even by a person who is not under oath and even by a > person who has > committed no other crime. Ms. Stewart's case > illustrates the breadth > of the law, legal experts say. . . . > > From social welfare to immigration to criminal > justice, 18 USC 1001 > is likely to present a far more danger to the poor > than to the rich, > especially during the endless "war on terrorism." > > The full posting at > <http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/05/martha-stewart-and-18-usc-1001.html>. > -- > Yoshie > > * Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> > * Bring Them Home Now! > <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> > * Calendars of Events in Columbus: > <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, > <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & > <http://www.cpanews.org/> > * Student International Forum: > <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> > * Committee for Justice in Palestine: > <http://www.osudivest.org/> > * Al-Awda-Ohio: > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> > * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/> __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
