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Gomez-Castro: 1028(a)(1): Jury Can Use Its Common Sense

By Tim Cone

In U.S. v. Gomez-Castro, No. 09-12557 (May 13, 2010), the Court held that the government presented sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction for aggravated identity theft in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1). The Court rejected the argument that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Gomez-Castro knew that she had used the identity of a real person. Pointing out that such knowledge can be established with circumstantial evidence, the Court noted that the evidence included proof that Gomez-Castro paid $2,500 for a fake birth certificate and social security card, had tested their authenticity repeatedly before using them to obtain a passport, and that the jury could use its common sense to know that Gomez-Castro knew that the government used verification procedures to verify the identity she was stealing.continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on May 17, 2010 (boomark / email).