Source: https://edfolsomlaw.com/2015/03/sarbanes-oxley-short-fish-federal-overkill/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 12:12:56+00:00

Document:
SARBANES-OXLEY, SHORT FISH & FEDERAL OVERKILL.
Yates v. United States, 514 U.S. __ (Decided February 25, 2015), is an interesting case. Yates was a fishing boat captain, on a multi-day fishing run off the coast of Florida, when his boat was boarded by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission member John Jones. Jones was deputized by the National Marine Fisheries Service to enforce federal laws, and he boarded the boat to check on Yates’ catch. Jones discovered 72 red grouper that were less than the minimum legal length of 20″, the shortest being 18.75″. Jones had the short fish placed in a crate on Yates’ boat and instructed Yates to hold onto them until he finished his fishing expedition and returned to shore. When Yates returned to shore, however, Jones discovered that the fish on board, although less than 20″, weren’t quite as short as the length measured at sea. Jones questioned Yates’ crew and learned that Yates had thrown the original short fish overboard and replaced them with fish caught over the remainder of the fishing expedition. Jones took his grievance to a U.S. Attorney’s Office. Thirty-four months after the short fish were measured on Yates’ boat, Yates was indicted for two federal offenses. In the meantime, the fishing regulations had been changed to reduce the minimum length of red grouper to 18″. The two federal statutes Yates was charged with violating were 18 U.S.C. §2232(a) (destroying or removing property to prevent a seizure) and 18 U.S.C. §1519 (knowingly altering, destroying, mutilating, concealing, covering up, falsifying, or making a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence an investigation). The §2232(a) offense is punishable by a maximum of 5 years in prison. The §1519 offense is punishable by a maximum of 20 years. The original, underlying offense of keeping short red grouper is a civil offense, punishable by a fine and/or fishing license suspension only.
“I tend to think, for the reasons the plurality gives, that §1519 is a bad law–too broad and undifferentiated, with too-high maximum penalties, which give prosecutors too much leverage and sentencers too much discretion. And I’d go further: In those ways, §1519 is unfortunately not an outlier, but an emblem of a deeper pathology in the federal criminal code” [my emphasis]. Yes! Deep pathology in the federal criminal code!
But words are only words, except when they define the power of the government to convict and imprison…at will or at whim.

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