Court Opinion

ID: 9487464
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:17:11.252246+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:17.022656
License: Public Domain

MeKEE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
While I agree with the majority in all other respects, I respectfully dissent from Part II of the majority opinion. The majority reasons that, despite the fact that the government disseminated the inaccurate maximum penalty information printed on form 1-294 to McCalla (and countless other deportees), McCalla’s sentence in excess of two years does not offend due process because the relevant statute gave notice to all the world of its contents. Notice of the conduct that a statute proscribes and the penalty prescribed for such conduct are fundamental to due process of law. See McBoyle v. United States, 283 U.S. 25, 27, 51 S.Ct. 340, 341, 75 L.Ed. 816 (1931). The statement on form 1-294, did not give McCal-la accurate information and fair warning regarding “what the law intends to do if a certain line is passed.” Id. Accordingly, traditional notions of fairness inherent in the requirement of due process should preclude us from allowing McCalla to be sentenced to more than the two years that the government represented to be the maximum sentence.
Although the government was justified in its efforts to incarcerate McCalla based upon his illegal return to this country, our holding today does not properly consider the totality of the circumstances of McCalla’s deportation and the context in which he received the “information” in form 1-294. The record before us establishes that once it is determined that an individual will be deported, the government makes flight arrangements for the deportee. At the appointed time, the deportee is escorted to the airport in handcuffs by two deportation officers who fingerprint the deportee and are responsible for making sure that the deportee signs the warrant of deportation. Prior to departure the handcuffs are removed, and the warrant of deportation is read to the deportee and then given to him or her along with a copy of form 1-294. He or she is then put on the airplane, and the appropriate travel documentation is given to an airline attendant.
In this coercive atmosphere the government clearly intends for the deportee to read and rely upon the information and warnings in each of the documents that are presented to him or her. Indeed, McCalla was given form 1-294 so that he would take note of, and heed, the warnings it contained. We now allow the government to successfully assert that the contents of the form are irrelevant to McCalla’s notice.
We charge the defendant with knowledge because of the unambiguous statute, yet we do not charge the government agency responsible for enforcing this country’s immigration laws with the same notice, and we excuse the error in this form. It stands reality on its head to suggest that the unambiguous statute buried within one particular volume of the United States Code sitting somewhere upon the shelves in far off law libraries somehow reaches out to McCalla in these circumstances and trumps the “information” in form 1-294.
I fail to understand the logic or fairness of a position which charges this defendant with knowledge based upon the publication of a statute yet fails to attribute that same knowledge to duly appointed agents of the Attorney General of the United States, or the agency of the government responsible for enforcing immigration laws. All parties seem to agree that the INS did not intentionally mislead McCalla because the INS did not realize that the information contained in form 1-294 was wrong when agents handed it to McCalla. Yet, this defendant who is not responsible for enforcing the law, is charged with notice of the change in the law.
Courts have traditionally held that one must know the consequences of an action before one can be held criminally accountable for the action. Thus, due process and fair notice dictate that a defendant cannot be *682punished when the statute does not clearly define the criminal conduct. McBoyle, 283 U.S. at 27, 51 S.Ct. at 341. In addition, no penalty can be imposed if a statute does not prescribe punishment for certain conduct. United States v. Evans, 333 U.S. 483, 495, 68 S.Ct. 634, 640-41, 92 L.Ed. 823 (1948). Accordingly, under the circumstances of this case, it is reasonable to limit the government to the sentence that it has represented to be the maximum penalty. I believe fundamental fairness requires nothing less.
The rationale asserted by the government and adopted by the majority elevates the maxim that “ignorance of the law is no excuse” to a mantra which has hindered realistic analysis here. The Supreme Court recently had occasion to limit the use of this “age old maxim” in Ratzlaf v. United States, -U.S.-, 114 S.Ct. 655, 126 L.Ed.2d 615 (1994). Ratzlaf, though clearly distinguishable, teaches that the existence of a statute cannot serve to give notice of its contents for all purposes even when a defendant engages in conduct known to be improper. Id. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 663. McCalla was aware of the contents of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2) just as the defendant in Ratzlaf was aware of the contents of the statutes at issue in that case. Both defendants knew that they were engaging in conduct that was improper. The Court in Ratzlaf, however, held that the defendant could not be charged with knowledge that his conduct was a crime. See id. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 658. Just as the defendant in Ratzlaf could not be charged with knowledge of the criminal nature of his activity, the circumstances surrounding McCalla’s deportation should preclude charging him with knowledge of 8 U.S.C. § 1326.
Thus, absent controlling precedent to the contrary, I believe that fundamental fairness limits the maximum penalty to which this defendant should be subjected to that amount of incarceration which the government told him he could expect if he were to return illegally. Therefore, I most respectfully dissent.