01 June 2006

Disavowing Citizenship Defense Crashes, Burns

A nutcase in a mobile home park charged with several criminal counts in connection with intimidating a witness in an indecent exposure case arising from a trip to the communal shower, tried to claim immunity from criminal prosecution because he had disavowed his U.S. citizenship. Not surprisingly, the Colorado Court of Appeals reminds us that expatriation is not a valid defense that deprives the U.S. courts of jurisdiction, in cases where a crime is commited in, and the defendant is arrested in, Colorado.

How Mr. Jones ever convinced attorney Kathy Goudy, of Carbondale, Colorado, who appears to be a criminal defense attorney with an active appellate practice, to present the issue on appeal is beyond my comprehension.

In other odd criminal case news, the United States Court of Appeal for the 6th Circuit held that if you write and publish a book explaining precisely how to commit a particular type of mail fraud, and then go out and do it exactly as you describe in your previously published book, that the book can be introduced into evidence to rebut your claim that you were duped into participating in a scheme that you didn't understand.

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