Opinion ID: 212401
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: cause or induce any person to—

Text: 3564 UNITED STATES v. DOSS (A) withhold testimony, or withhold a record, document, or other object, from an official proceeding; 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1), (2)(A) (emphasis added). [2] The principal debate is over the meaning of the term “corruptly persuades.” All courts considering the issue have found this phrase to be ambiguous. United States v. Baldridge, 559 F.3d 1126, 1142 (10th Cir. 2009). There is currently a circuit split over the type of conduct that falls within the ambit of this phrase. Two of our sister circuits conclude that persuasion with an “improper purpose” qualifies (such as self-interest in impeding an investigation), while another concludes there must be something more inherently wrongful about the persuasion (such as bribery or encouraging someone to testify falsely). Compare United States v. Thompson, 76 F.3d 442, 452 (2d Cir. 1996), and United States v. Shotts, 145 F.3d 1289, 1300-01 (11th Cir. 1998), with United States v. Farrell, 126 F.3d 484, 488 (3d Cir. 1997). In United States v. Khatami, we recognized the circuit split, but ultimately decided not to resolve the issue there because the circuits were in agreement that, at a minimum, persuading a witness to affirmatively lie to investigators would violate § 1512(b). 280 F.3d 907, 913-14 (9th Cir. 2002).3 This case, however, squarely presents the issue left open in Khatami and requires us to explore the boundaries of conduct covered by § 1512(b). We begin by considering the history of § 1512(b) and the relevant case law to date. 3 The Tenth Circuit also recently confronted the issue, but likewise decided it need not resolve whether persuading a witness to exercise a Fifth Amendment right could support a § 1512 conviction, because, even assuming error, the evidence revealed that the defendant asked witnesses to lie. United States v. Weiss, ___ F.3d ___, 2010 WL 2911718, -8 (10th Cir. July 27, 2010). UNITED STATES v. DOSS 3565 Prior to 1982, federal witness tampering was covered only by 18 U.S.C. § 1503, a general obstruction of justice provision, which applied to persons who “corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, endeavor[ed] to influence, intimidate, or impede” any grand juror, witness or court officer. In 1982, § 1512 was added to provide additional protection to witnesses in federal cases. Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982, Pub. L. No. 97291, § 4, 96 Stat. 1248, 1249-50 (1982). As initially enacted, § 1512 did not include the words “corruptly persuade,” and courts thus concluded the section did not criminalize non-misleading, non-threatening, nonintimidating attempts to have a person give false information to the government. See Khatami, 280 F.3d at 912 (discussing history). In 1988, Congress attempted to close this gap by including the phrase “corruptly persuades.” Id. (citing AntiDrug Abuse Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100-690, 102 Stat. 4181). The Second Circuit has construed “corruptly” to have the same meaning it did in § 1503 (the general obstruction statute), relying on prior cases that had interpreted the term to mean “motivated by an improper purpose.” Thompson, 76 F.3d at 452. It approved jury instructions that defined “corruptly” as “to act deliberately for the purpose of improperly influencing or obstructing, or interfering with the administration of justice.” Id. at 453. In Thompson, there was evidence that the defendant had urged his co-conspirators to conceal information and testify falsely to minimize his role in the offense. Later, however, the Second Circuit expanded the reach of its holding, concluding that one could violate § 1512 by suggesting to a co- conspirator that he invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege because the defendant had a self-interested “improper purpose” in making the suggestion — to ensure the witness did 3566 UNITED STATES v. DOSS not implicate him. United States v. Gotti, 459 F.3d 296, 34243 (2d Cir. 2006). The Eleventh Circuit has embraced the Second Circuit’s approach, concluding it is reasonable to interpret “corruptly” in § 1512 as a scienter requirement in the same manner as it had been in § 1503. Shotts, 145 F.3d at 1300-01. The Eleventh Circuit thus affirmed a witness tampering conviction of a defendant who was engaged in a shady bail bond business and attempted to persuade his secretary not to talk to law enforcement agents. Id. at 1301. The court concluded the jury could reasonably have inferred that Shotts “was attempting with an improper motive to persuade [the secretary] not to talk to the FBI.” Id. [3] The Third Circuit, however, takes a different tack. In United States v. Farrell, the defendant was charged under § 1512 for attempting to dissuade a co-conspirator from providing information to USDA investigators regarding a conspiracy to sell adulterated meat. See 126 F.3d at 486. The court reasoned that the phrase “corruptly persuades” cannot mean simply “persuades with the intent to hinder communication to law enforcement” because such an interpretation would render the word “corruptly” meaningless, as the statute already requires an intent to hinder an investigation or proceeding. Id. at 487. The court pointed out that the House Report gave two examples of “culpable corrupt persuasion” — if a defendant offered to financially reward a coconspirator’s silence (a bribe) or attempted to persuade a coconspirator to lie to law enforcement about the defendant’s involvement in the conspiracy. Id. at 488 (citing H.R. Rep. No. 100-169 at 12 & n.25 (1987)); see also Baldridge, 559 F.3d at 1142 (approvingly quoting Farrell). [4] The Third Circuit thus read “the inclusion of ‘corruptly’ in § 1512(b) as necessarily implying that an individual can ‘persuade’ another not to disclose information to a law enforcement official with the intent of hindering an investigaUNITED STATES v. DOSS 3567 tion without violating the statute, i.e., without doing so ‘corruptly.’ ” Farrell, 126 F.3d at 489. It concluded that the statute did not reach “a noncoercive attempt to persuade a coconspirator who enjoys a Fifth Amendment right not to disclose self-incriminating information about the conspiracy to refrain, in accordance with that right, from volunteering information to investigators.” Id. at 488. The court commented, however, without expressly deciding the issue, that in “the absence of a privilege, society has the right to the information of citizens regarding the commission of crime,” and thus persuasion of those without a privilege might well have the requisite degree of culpability or corruptness. Id. at 489 n.3. Finally, the Third Circuit expressly rejected the reasoning of Thompson because it did not find the use of “corruptly” in § 1503 sufficiently analogous to its use in § 1512(b) to justify construing the terms identically. Id. at 490. The court noted that “corruptly” in § 1503 had consistently been interpreted to provide the intent element of that section, which would otherwise have no mens rea element. Id. In contrast, § 1512 requires both “knowing” conduct and also specifically describes the necessary intent within the various subsections (e.g., with intent to influence, delay or prevent testimony, or with intent to cause a person to destroy evidence). Id. As we consider which of these two competing approaches we should adopt, the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, 544 U.S. 696 (2005), offers some guidance. In Arthur Andersen, an accounting firm had been convicted under § 1512 for destruction of documents in connection with the Enron investigation. Id. at 698. Although factually a very different case, the Court made a number of observations about § 1512 with potential implications for this decision. The Court focused its attention on what it means to “knowingly . . . corruptly persuade.” The Court commented that: 3568 UNITED STATES v. DOSS the act underlying the conviction— “persua[sion]”— is by itself innocuous. Indeed, “persuad[ing]” a person “with intent to . . . cause” that person to “withhold” testimony or documents from a Government proceeding or Government official is not inherently malign. Consider, for instance, a mother who sug- gests to her son that he invoke his right against compelled self-incrimination, see U.S. Const., Amdt. 5, or a wife who persuades her husband not to disclose marital confidences, see Trammel v. United States, 445 U.S. 40 (1980). Id. at 703-04 (emphasis added) (internal footnote omitted).4 Arthur Andersen explained that to convict the accounting company, the government had to prove the company “knowingly . . . corruptly persuaded” its employees to destroy the documents, as opposed to instructing its employees to comply with a valid document retention policy. Although the parties relied on interpretations of “corrupt” in §§ 1503 and 1505, the Supreme Court found these provisions lacked the modifier “knowingly,” making any analogy “inexact.” Id. at 706 n.9. “Knowingly,” the Court explained, is associated with “awareness, understanding or consciousness,” and “corruptly” is associated with “wrongful, immoral, depraved, or evil”; together they require “conscious[ness] of wrongdoing.” Id. at 705-06. Finally, the Court rejected the jury instructions, which permitted the jury to convict if it found the company intended to “subvert, undermine, or impede” governmental factfinding, noting that under this definition there was no dishonesty required and that “anyone who innocently persuades another to withhold information from the Government” will impede the Government’s progress. Id. at 707. 4 Trammel held that apart from confidential communications (a privilege held by the accused spouse), a witness spouse holds the privilege to refuse to testify adversely and “may be neither compelled to testify nor foreclosed from testifying.” 445 U.S. at 53. UNITED STATES v. DOSS 3569