NACDL - United States v. Clay

United States v. Clay

Brief for Amici Curiae National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Washington Legal Foundation, Cato Institute, Reason Foundation and Twelve Criminal and Business Law Scholars In Support of Defendants-Appellant Todd S. Farha's Petition for Rehearing En Banc.

United States v. Clay

Case Details

Case No.: 14-12373
Jurisdiction: 11th Circuit Court of Appeals

Key Topics in the Case

White Collar | Global-Tech | "Deliberate Indifference" | Knowledge | Prosecutorial Power | Separation of Powers

Documents

United-States-v-Clay-Amicus.pdf

Prior Decision

Panel Decision, 2016 WL 4254355 (Aug. 11, 2016), Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, No. 8:11-cr-00115-JSM-MAP.

The Court should grant appellant's petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc. The Supreme Court in Global-Tech expressly held that "deliberate indifference" is a less demanding and therefore inadequate formulation of "knowledge." "Deliberate indifference" is not "knowledge." Permitting knowledge to be satisfied by proof of "deliberate indifference" would eliminate an essential check on prosecutorial power, violate the separation of powers, and open the floodgates for further overcriminalization.

Author(s)

Jonathan S. Jeffress and Adam Zurbriggen, Kaiser Dillon PLLC, Washington, DC; Shana O'Toole, NACDL, Washington, DC; William N. Shepherd, Holland & Knight LLP, West Palm Beach, FL.