United States v. Smith
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
The Tenth Circuit affirmed the conviction and 480-month sentence of former police officer Jeffrey Scott Smith for depriving a victim's civil rights and falsifying records after turning off his body and dash cameras before sexually assaulting her during a traffic stop. The court upheld the district court’s refusal to grant a continuance, rejected Smith’s argument that deactivating the cameras did not violate 18 U.S.C. § 1519, and found the sentence substantively reasonable.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether an omission from an official record must be material in order to constitute a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519.
Circuit Positions
Materiality of the omission is required for an omission to violate § 1519.
Materiality is not required; any intentional omission can violate § 1519.
No definitive holding; the court assumed materiality but did not decide the issue.
Conflict Summary
The Third Circuit has held that § 1519 does not contain an implicit materiality element, so any knowing omission can qualify as falsification. The Fourth and Sixth Circuits have proceeded on the premise that an omission must be material before § 1519 is violated. In the opinion at hand, the Tenth Circuit expressly noted the disagreement and assumed (without deciding) that materiality is required, leaving the question open in this Circuit.