Virginia M. Kendall
A law against falsifying government records in order to impede a federal investigation passes muster under the U.S. Constitution, a judge held Monday.
In a written opinion, U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall declined to throw out two counts accusing Chicago police officer Aldo Brown of making false entries in official reports to cover up his alleged use of excessive force during an arrest.
Kendall rejected the argument that the statute is so vague it leaves individuals open to criminal charges for practically any action they might take with regard to a document.
She also rejected the argument that the statute is unconstitutionally vague as applied to Brown because he purportedly did not know the reports he filed could become the focus of a federal inquiry.
“As a police officer himself, it is entirely plausible that Brown recognized the underlying incident, where he allegedly struck and kicked a victim several times, would be the subject of an investigation within the purview of a United States agency,” Kendall wrote, citing United States v. Moyer, 674 F.3d 192 (3d Cir. 2012).
Brown’s jury trial on the two false-entry counts and a count of using excessive force began today.
Brown’s attorney, Daniel Q. Herbert of Law Offices of Daniel Q. Herbert, could not be reached for comment.
The lead prosecutor in the case is Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Romero.
Spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick of the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment because the case is pending.
In 2012, Brown and another officer entered a convenience store, handcuffed several people and searched the location.
Prosecutors allege Brown struck an individual identified only as Victim A after the other officer removed the man’s handcuffs.
Victim A again was handcuffed, prosecutors allege, and Brown then took a firearm from the man’s pocket and kicked him.
Brown put false information on a tactical response report and an arrest report he filed on the incident, prosecutors allege.
They allege Brown falsely wrote that Victim A was an “active resister” who pulled away from him and attempted to flee. They also allege Brown failed to disclose that he punched and kicked the man.
Brown was indicted on one count of violating Victim A’s civil rights by unlawfully seizing him and using excessive force against him.
He also was indicted on two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. Section 1519, which makes it a crime to knowingly alter, destroy or falsify records in an attempt to impede a federal investigation.
In her opinion, Kendall rejected the argument that Section 1519 is so vague it gives prosecutors “virtually unlimited scope” to bring criminal charges.
That argument “amounts to an attack on the effect the statute may have on hypothetical defendants,” Kendall wrote, and does not apply to Brown’s case.
Also, she wrote, prosecutors do not have to show that Brown had actual notice of an ongoing investigation in order to have violated Section 1519.
“All that is required is that Brown falsified information in an attempt to impede a federal investigation, whether current, proposed or in the future,” Kendall wrote.
She issued the opinion in United States v. Aldo Brown, No. 14 CR 674.