Source: http://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/396/77/case.php
Timestamp: 2019-11-20 20:21:59
Document Index: 614957197

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1001', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 1001', '§ 1001', '§ 4412', '§ 4412', '§ 7203', '§ 4412', '§ 4412', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 1001', '§ 7203']

UNITED STATES V. KNOX, 396 U. S. 77 (1969) - US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE
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298 F.Supp. 1260, reversed. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Knox moved to dismiss the indictment, asserting that this Court's decisions in Marchetti v. United States, 390 U. S. 39 (1968), and Grosso v. United States, 390 U. S. 62 (1968), had held invalid [Footnote 1] the provisions of the wagering tax laws that required him to file the special return. The Government, in response, stated that it would not pursue the first four counts, but argued that Knox's objections based on the Marchetti and Grosso decisions were "largely irrelevant" to Counts Five and Six. The District Court disagreed. It dismissed all six counts, reasoning that Knox could not be prosecuted for his "failure to answer the wagering form correctly," since his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination would have prevented prosecution for "failure to answer the form in any respect." 298 F.Supp. 1260, 1261. The United States filed a direct appeal to this Court chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
from the dismissal of the two count charging violations of § 1001, and we noted probable jurisdiction, 394 U.S. 971 (1969). [Footnote 2]
In Bryson v. United States, ante, p. 396 U. S. 64, decided today, we reaffirmed the holding of Dennis v. United States, 384 U. S. 855 (1966), that one who furnishes false information to the Government in feigned compliance with a statutory requirement cannot defend against prosecution for his fraud by challenging the validity of the requirement itself. Bryson, like Dennis, chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
involved § 9(h) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended by the Taft-Hartley Act, 61 Stat. 146, which was attacked as an abridgment of First Amendment freedoms and as a bill of attainder forbidden by Art. I, § 9, of the Constitution. In contrast, Knox alleges infringement of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. We do not think that the different constitutional source for Knox's claim removes his case from the ambit of the principle laid down in those decisions. The validity of the Government's demand for information is no more an element of a violation of § 1001 here than it was in Bryson. [Footnote 3]
The indictment charges that the forms Knox filed with the District Director of Internal Revenue contained false, material information, [Footnote 4] an accusation that concededly chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
falls within the terms of § 1001. However, Knox claims that the Fifth Amendment bars punishing him for the filings because they were not voluntary, but were compelled by §§ 4412 and 7203 of the Internal Revenue Code. He points out that, if he had filed truthful and complete forms as required by § 4412, he would have incriminated himself under Texas wagering laws. On the other hand, if he had filed no forms at all, he would have subjected himself to criminal prosecution under § 7203. [Footnote 5] In choosing the third alternative, submission of a fraudulent form, he merely opted for the least of three evils, under a form of duress that allegedly makes his choice involuntary for purposes of the Fifth Amendment. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
This is not to deny that the presence of §§ 4412 and 7203 injected an element of pressure into Knox's predicament at the time he filed the forms. At that time, this Court's decisions in United States v. Kahriger, 345 U. S. 22 (1953), and Lewis v. United States, 348 U. S. 419 (1955), established that the Fifth Amendment did not bar prosecution for failure to file a form such as 11-C. But when Knox responded to the pressure under which he found himself by communicating false information, this was simply not testimonial compulsion. Knox's ground for complaint is not that his false information inculpated him for a prior or subsequent criminal act; rather, it is that, under the compulsion of §§ 4412 and 7203, he committed a criminal act, that of giving false information to the Government. If the compulsion was unlawful under Marchetti, [Footnote 6] Knox may have a defense to chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
this prosecution under the traditional doctrine that a person is not criminally responsible for an act committed under duress. See generally Model Penal Code §§ 2.09, 3.02 (Proposed Official Draft, 1962); id. § 2.09, Comment (Tent.Draft No. 10, 1960). It is only in this sense that there is any relevance to Knox's attempted distinction of this case from Dennis, Bryson, and their predecessors, United States v. Kapp, 302 U. S. 214 (1937), and Kay v. United States, 303 U. S. 1 (1938), on the ground that, in those cases, the false statements were voluntarily filed for the purpose of obtaining benefits from the Government.
Knox argues that the criminal sanction for failure to file, coupled with the danger of incrimination if he filed truthfully, was more coercive in its effect than, for example, the prospect that the petitioners in Dennis would lose their jobs as union officers unless they filed non-Communist affidavits. While this may be so, the question whether Knox's predicament contains the seeds of a "duress" defense, or perhaps whether his false statement was not made "willfully," as required by § 1001, is one that must be determined initially at his trial. [Footnote 7] It chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
This is not a case where an individual, with knowledge that he has a right to refuse to provide information, nonetheless provides false information. Under the decisions in United States v. Kahriger, 345 U. S. 22, and Lewis v. United States, 348 U. S. 419, which were controlling at the time Knox filed his wagering form, Knox faced prosecution under 26 U.S.C. § 7203 for failure to file the form, despite claims of self-incrimination. The Government's requirement to file the wagering form was unconditional. The majority argues that, by the terms of Marchetti, the Government is not prohibited from requesting the form, but is only prohibited from prosecuting an individual for his failure to comply with the request. Ante at 396 U. S. 80, n. 3. The question in this case, however, is not whether the Government has the power to request the form to be filed, but whether it has the power to require the form to be filed. If Knox had chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
390 U.S. at 390 U. S. 71. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
That reasoning is equally applicable here, for Kahriger and Lewis were still on the books at the time Knox filed his form. And see Leary v. United States, 395 U. S. 6, 395 U. S. 27-29.