Brief filed: 12/22/2008
Documents
Flores-Figueroa v. United States
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 08-108
Prior Decision
Case below 274 Fed. Appx. 501 (8th Cir. 2008)
Question Presented
Whether a statute’s specified mens rea requirement extends to all elements of the offense, the application of which in this case would resolve whether, to prove aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1), the government must show that the defendant knew that the means of identification he used belonged to another person.
Argument(s)
The Court should adopt the Model Penal Code Rule (§ 202(4) (1985)) that a specified mens rea requirement extends to all material elements of a statute unless a contrary purpose plainly appears, and that the rule of lenity requires reading the statute to require knowledge of all elements of the crime.
