United States Ninth Circuit

Conviction for making a false claim of citizenship where defendant's sole defense at trial was that he suffered from a delusion that caused him genuinely to believe that he was a United States citizen, is affirmed: 1) the willfulness element of 18 USC section 911 requires that the defendant know that the representation is false; but 2) the instruction given to the jury was adequate under the circumstances because a "misrepresentation deliberately made" suggests a knowing falsehood; and 3) defendant did not show plain error with regard to the prosecutor asking the defendant's expert witness, a doctor, to comment on the defendant's veracity, because, given that the witness had found defendant to be truthful as part of the basis for his diagnosis, questions on this subject were arguably proper.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/18/2013
• Published 04/18/2013

Judges

• FLETCHER

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel