Court Opinion

ID: 9473583
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:33:28.771106+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:36.580854
License: Public Domain

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the result, and dissenting in part from the opinion.
Although I concur in the result, I disagree with the view of the majority concerning the “knowledge instruction,” Part HID of the opinion. The aphorism that imputes knowledge of the law to all is not applicable if a mistaken belief concerning how the law would treat a situation negatives the existence of the mens rea essential to the crime charged.1 If “an apparent ‘mistake of law’ was actually a ‘mistake of fact’ in that the mistake pertained to a question of legal status which was determined by a law other than the one under which the defendant was prosecuted,” such a mistake constitutes a valid defense.2
Section 1324(a)(2) makes it criminal for a person to transport an alien, “knowing that he is in the United States in violation of law.” (Emphasis added.) The statute does not penalize the transportation of any alien who has not lawfully been admitted to the United States by a person who is not aware of the alien’s illegal status. The defendant’s knowledge of the alien’s illegal status is an essential element of the offense, which the government is required to prove.3 This status, in turn, can be determined only by reference to a law separate from the one defining the crime Merkt allegedly committed. If Merkt could establish that she was ignorant of the true legal status of the two aliens, therefore, she should be allowed to assert this state of mind, however, mistaken it was, as a defense to her prosecution under § 1324(a)(2).4

. W. LaFave & A. Scott, Jr., Criminal Law § 47 (1972); Wharton’s Criminal Law § 77 (14th ed. 1977).

. United States v. Currier, 621 F.2d 7, 9 n. 1 (1st Cir.1980). See United States v. Freed, 401 U.S. 601, 610, 91 S.Ct. 1112, 1119, 28 L.Ed.2d 356 (1971) (Brennan, J., concurring).

. See Liparota v. United States, — U.S. -, -, 105 S.Ct. 2084, 2092, 85 L.Ed.2d 434 (1985); United States v. Fierros, 692 F.2d 1291, 1294 (9th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1120, 103 S.Ct. 3090, 77 L.Ed.2d 1350 (1983).

. Id. See also Bland v. United States, 299 F.2d 105, 107-08 (5th Cir.1962).