Opinion ID: 3040543
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: analysis

Text: [1] The government must prove five elements to obtain a conviction for making a false statement under 18 U.S.C. UNITED STATES v. JIANG 1157 § 1001(a)(2): (1) a statement, (2) falsity, (3) specific intent, (4) materiality, and (5) agency jurisdiction. United States v. Camper, 384 F.3d 1073, 1075 (9th Cir. 2004). [2] When determining whether there is sufficient evidence to satisfy these elements, we “must begin with an appreciation of the context in which the statement was offered[, and] . . . we must look to the context of the defendant’s statement to determine whether the defendant and his questioner joined issue on a matter of material fact to which the defendant knowingly uttered a false declaration.” United States v. Sainz, 772 F.2d 559, 562 (9th Cir. 1985). We must also consider “extrinsic evidence relevant to [the defendant’s] understanding of the questions posed.” United States v. Culliton, 328 F.3d 1074, 1079 (9th Cir. 2003) (per curiam). The district court did not sufficiently account for the context in which Jiang’s statements were made, nor did it incorporate the numerous extrinsic facts that weigh against a conviction. [3] First, the only proof offered by the government that Jiang uttered a false statement is Agent Spelce’s testimony, based largely on Spelce’s notes, which were recorded some time after the day of the interview. Although there were nine amplifiers in the transaction, split into various shipments, Spelce testified that Jiang stated “he returned the product back to the manufacturer, Narda.” Spelce’s interview notes also indicate Jiang “stated that he bought the microwave amplifier directly from Narda” and that he “had Narda ship the product directly” to Jiang. (emphases added) Furthermore, Spelce admitted he could not recall whether he used the singular form (i.e., “amplifier”) or the plural form (i.e., “amplifiers”) when questioning Jiang. The distinction is significant because two-thirds of the amplifiers were, as Jiang correctly stated, returned to Narda. Therefore, Jiang could have understood Spelce to be referring to the second, larger shipment of amplifiers—not the entire lot. [4] Second, Spelce stated that during the interview he knew there were multiple amplifiers involved in the transaction, yet 1158 UNITED STATES v. JIANG his notes are inconsistent with that testimony. Spelce failed to indicate even once in his notes that more than a single amplifier or a single shipment was involved. Nor did Spelce ever ask Jiang whether he returned all the amplifiers to Narda, which would have been the obvious and logical follow-up question if Spelce knew there were multiple amplifiers and shipments involved in the transaction. It is particularly troubling that Spelce never asked whether Jiang had shipped any of the amplifiers to China. Spelce did not attempt to solicit this answer until July 1, 2002, when Kahle asked the question, at Spelce’s direction. Notably, when asked the question directly, Jiang did not hesitate in saying that he had shipped three of the amplifiers to China. [5] Third, Spelce requested that Jiang bring documents to the interview regarding the sale and shipment of the amplifiers, and Jiang complied. Those documents clearly indicated that Jiang contracted to ship a total of nine amplifiers to his Chinese client, four of which were to be shipped by April 30, 2002, and that six of the nine were returned to Narda on June 12, 2002. Had Spelce examined the documents Jiang provided, Spelce might have asked whether the April 30 deadline had been met, or what had happened to the other three amplifiers that were not returned. Unfortunately, Spelce did not review the documents during the interview, nor did he question Jiang about them. That Jiang provided the documents willingly, and that they indicate three of the amplifiers were not returned, is yet another reason the context indicates that Jiang did not intend to mislead Spelce. [6] Fourth, we cannot properly evaluate Jiang’s statements without considering the language barrier that existed between Spelce and Jiang. Spelce characterized Jiang’s English as “broken” and “poor,” and two other U.S. officers who interviewed Jiang both testified that his command of English was limited. Similarly, the transcript of the phone call between Kahle and Jiang (the only record of Jiang’s command of UNITED STATES v. JIANG 1159 English near the time of the interview) reveals that his English was limited—certainly enough so to doubt whether he and Spelce had a common understanding of the grammatical fine points of the questions that were asked and the answers that were given, such as the use of the singular or the plural form. Had Spelce been genuinely concerned about confirming his understanding of Jiang’s statement, rewording the questions, or asking the obvious and logical follow-up questions (discussed supra), would have gone far toward resolving the ambiguity that pervades the evidence behind Jiang’s conviction. [7] Fifth, the factual findings of the district court are insufficient to sustain a conviction. The court found that Jiang told Spelce “that the export application had been cancelled and that the product was returned to Narda.” These findings fall far short of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Jiang intentionally uttered a false statement. Although the trial court found Spelce’s testimony credible, the government cannot sustain a materially false statement charge based merely on the government agent’s interpretation of what the individual meant—there must be clear evidence of what was said and a full appreciation of the context in which the statement was made. [8] Moreover, as already explained, the documents Jiang provided to Spelce indicated that some of the amplifiers had been returned while others had not. While the export application had not been cancelled, the government necessarily already knew the status of the application, and any reasonable person in Jiang’s position would have assumed as much. This casts doubt on the conclusion that Jiang intended to mislead Spelce. [9] Finally, the record reflects that the exchange was, at best, ambiguous. The context of the question and other extrinsic evidence make it impossible to “conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant understood the question as 1160 UNITED STATES v. JIANG did the government and that, so understood, the defendant’s answer was false.” Sainz, 772 F.2d at 562 (internal quotation marks omitted). Moreover, “the consequences of imprecision in the language used to question a witness must be laid at the table of the questioner, not the questioned.” Id. at 564. It does not escape our attention that the ambiguity could have been resolved easily had Spelce simply asked whether any of the amplifiers had been shipped to China. In this vein, requiring agents to use a minimum “level of clarity and specificity is the appropriate remedy for imprecise questioning, not a [criminal] prosecution.” Id.