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Yates v. United States

Yates v. United States

Supreme Court of the United States

November 5, 2014, Argued; February 25, 2015, Decided

No. 13-7451

Opinion

 [*531]  Justice Ginsburg announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which The Chief Justice, Justice Breyer, and Justice Sotomayor join.

John Yates, a commercial fisherman, caught undersized red grouper in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. To prevent federal authorities from confirming that he had harvested undersized fish, Yates ordered a crew member to toss the suspect catch into the sea. For this offense, he was charged with, and convicted of, violating 18 U.S.C. §1519, which provides:

] “Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence [****7]  the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”

Yates was also indicted and convicted under §2232(a), which provides:

] "DESTRUCTION OR REMOVAL OF PROPERTY TO PREVENT SEIZURE.—Whoever, before, during, or after any search for or seizure of property by any person authorized to make such search or seizure,  [**1079]  knowingly destroys,  [*532]  damages, wastes, disposes of, transfers, or otherwise takes any action, or knowingly attempts to destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, transfer, or otherwise take any action, for the purpose of preventing or impairing the Government’s lawful authority to take such property into its custody or control or to continue holding such property under its lawful custody and control, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.”

 [***73]  Yates does not contest his conviction for violating §2232(a), but he maintains that fish are not trapped within the term “tangible object,” as that term is used in §1519.

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574 U.S. 528 *; 135 S. Ct. 1074 **; 191 L. Ed. 2d 64 ***; 2015 U.S. LEXIS 1503 ****; 83 U.S.L.W. 4120; Fed. Sec. L. Rep. (CCH) P98,374; 2015 AMC 626; 25 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 93

JOHN L. YATES, Petitioner v. UNITED STATES

Notice: The Lexis pagination of this document is subject to change pending release of the final published version.

Prior History:  [****1] ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

United States v. Yates, 733 F.3d 1059, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 17063 (11th Cir. Fla., 2013)

Disposition: Reversed and remanded.

CORE TERMS

tangible object, fish, plurality, words, records, documents, destroys, canons, provisions, alters, tangible, objects, covers, verbs, falsifies, concurrence, destruction, obstructive, federal investigation, false entry, tampering, conceals, nouns, official proceedings, noscitur a sociis, physical evidence, ejusdem generis, undersized, physical object, dictionary definition

Business & Corporate Compliance, Corporate Governance, Record Inspection & Maintenance, Recordkeeping, Criminal Law & Procedure, Obstruction of Administration of Justice, Evidence Tampering, General Overview, Search & Seizure, Governments, Legislation, Interpretation, Discovery by Defendant, Tangible Objects, Scope of Disclosure, Penalties, Interpretation, Rule of Lenity