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Supreme Court to Hear Identity Theft Case
U.S. v. Flores-Figueroa, 274 Fed. Appx. 501, No. 07-2871 (8th Cir. April 23, 2008) (per curiam), cert. granted sub nom. Flores-Figueroa v. U.S., No. 08-108, 2008 U.S. LEXIS 7827 (U.S. Oct. 20, 2008).
The Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine what federal prosecutors must show to prove aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1). The provision applies when a person "knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person." The Court will clarify the meaning of the word "knowingly," and determine if federal prosecutors must show that the defendant "knew" that the means of identification he or she used belonged to another person. The defendant in the case used a fraudulent alien registration number and a fraudulent Social Security number. The defendant argued that he did not know that the numbers belonged to another person and that the government must prove that defendant knew the means of identification belonged to another person because "knowingly" in 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1) modifies not only "transfers, possesses, or uses," but also the phrase "of another person." The Eighth Circuit disagreed with the defendant, holding that the word "knowingly" modifies only "transfers, possesses, or uses." Therefore, the government need not prove that Flores knew that the means of identification belonged to another person.
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