United States of America v. Donald Douglas Scarlett

Tucson, Arizona criminal law lawyer represented Defendant charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit in violation of 8:1324, which provides:



(a) Criminal penalties

(1)(A) Any person who—

(i) knowing that a person is an alien, brings

to or attempts to bring to the United States in

any manner whatsoever such person at a place

other than a designated port of entry or place

other than as designated by the Commis-

sioner, regardless of whether such alien has re-

ceived prior official authorization to come to,

enter, or reside in the United States and re-

gardless of any future official action which

may be taken with respect to such alien;

(ii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the

fact that an alien has come to, entered, or re-

mains in the United States in violation of law,

transports, or moves or attempts to transport

or move such alien within the United States

by means of transportation or otherwise, in

furtherance of such violation of law;

(iii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the

fact that an alien has come to, entered, or re-

mains in the United States in violation of law,

conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or

attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from de-

tection, such alien in any place, including any

building or any means of transportation;

(iv) encourages or induces an alien to come

to, enter, or reside in the United States, know-

ing or in reckless disregard of the fact that

such coming to, entry, or residence is or will

be in violation of law; or

(v)(I) engages in any conspiracy to commit

any of the preceding acts, or

(II) aids or abets the commission of any of

the preceding acts, shall be punished as provided in subparagraph

(B).

(B) A person who violates subparagraph (A)

shall, for each alien in respect to whom such a

violation occurs—

(i) in the case of a violation of subparagraph

(A)(i) or (v)(I) or in the case of a violation of

subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), or (iv) in which the

offense was done for the purpose of commer-

cial advantage or private financial gain, be

fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than

10 years, or both;

(ii) in the case of a violation of subparagraph

(A)(ii), (iii), (iv), or (v)(II), be fined under title

18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both;

(iii) in the case of a violation of subpara-

graph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) during and in

relation to which the person causes serious

bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of title

18) to, or places in jeopardy the life of, any

person, be fined under title 18, imprisoned not

more than 20 years, or both; and

(iv) in the case of a violation of subpara-

graph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) resulting in

the death of any person, be punished by death

or imprisoned for any term of years or for life,

fined under title 18, or both.

(C) It is not a violation of clauses 1 (ii) or (iii)

of subparagraph (A), or of clause (iv) of subpara-

graph (A) except where a person encourages or

induces an alien to come to or enter the United

States, for a religious denomination having a

bona fide nonprofit, religious organization in

the United States, or the agents or officers of

such denomination or organization, to encour-

age, invite, call, allow, or enable an alien who is

present in the United States to perform the vo-

cation of a minister or missionary for the de-

nomination or organization in the United States

as a volunteer who is not compensated as an em-

ployee, notwithstanding the provision of room,

board, travel, medical assistance, and other

basic living expenses, provided the minister or

missionary has been a member of the denomina-

tion for at least one year.

(2) Any person who, knowing or in reckless

disregard of the fact that an alien has not re-

ceived prior official authorization to come to,

enter, or reside in the United States, brings to

or attempts to bring to the United States in any

manner whatsoever, such alien, regardless of

any official action which may later be taken

with respect to such alien shall, for each alien in

respect to whom a violation of this paragraph

occurs—

(A) be fined in accordance with title 18 or

imprisoned not more than one year, or both;

or

(B) in the case of—

(i) an offense committed with the intent or

with reason to believe that the alien unlaw-

fully brought into the United States will

commit an offense against the United States

or any State punishable by imprisonment for

more than 1 year,

(ii) an offense done for the purpose of com-

mercial advantage or private financial gain,

or Page 345 TITLE 8—ALIENS AND NATIONALITY § 1324

1 So in original. Probably should be ''clause''.

shall be punished as provided in subparagraph

(B).

(B) A person who violates subparagraph (A)

shall, for each alien in respect to whom such a

violation occurs—

(i) in the case of a violation of subparagraph

(A)(i) or (v)(I) or in the case of a violation of

subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), or (iv) in which the

offense was done for the purpose of commer-

cial advantage or private financial gain, be

fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than

10 years, or both;

(ii) in the case of a violation of subparagraph

(A)(ii), (iii), (iv), or (v)(II), be fined under title

18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both;

(iii) in the case of a violation of subpara-

graph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) during and in

relation to which the person causes serious

bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of title

18) to, or places in jeopardy the life of, any

person, be fined under title 18, imprisoned not

more than 20 years, or both; and

(iv) in the case of a violation of subpara-

graph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) resulting in

the death of any person, be punished by death

or imprisoned for any term of years or for life,

fined under title 18, or both.

(C) It is not a violation of clauses 1 (ii) or (iii)

of subparagraph (A), or of clause (iv) of subpara-

graph (A) except where a person encourages or

induces an alien to come to or enter the United

States, for a religious denomination having a

bona fide nonprofit, religious organization in

the United States, or the agents or officers of

such denomination or organization, to encour-

age, invite, call, allow, or enable an alien who is

present in the United States to perform the vo-

cation of a minister or missionary for the de-

nomination or organization in the United States

as a volunteer who is not compensated as an em-

ployee, notwithstanding the provision of room,

board, travel, medical assistance, and other

basic living expenses, provided the minister or

missionary has been a member of the denomina-

tion for at least one year.

(2) Any person who, knowing or in reckless

disregard of the fact that an alien has not re-

ceived prior official authorization to come to,

enter, or reside in the United States, brings to

or attempts to bring to the United States in any

manner whatsoever, such alien, regardless of

any official action which may later be taken

with respect to such alien shall, for each alien in

respect to whom a violation of this paragraph

occurs—

(A) be fined in accordance with title 18 or

imprisoned not more than one year, or both;

or

(B) in the case of—

(i) an offense committed with the intent or

with reason to believe that the alien unlaw-

fully brought into the United States will

commit an offense against the United States

or any State punishable by imprisonment for

more than 1 year,

(ii) an offense done for the purpose of com-

mercial advantage or private financial gain,

or

(iii) an offense in which the alien is not

upon arrival immediately brought and pre-

sented to an appropriate immigration officer

at a designated port of entry,

be fined under title 18 and shall be imprisoned,

in the case of a first or second violation of

subparagraph (B)(iii), not more than 10 years,

in the case of a first or second violation of

subparagraph (B)(i) or (B)(ii), not less than 3

nor more than 10 years, and for any other vio-

lation, not less than 5 nor more than 15 years.

(3)(A) Any person who, during any 12-month

period, knowingly hires for employment at least

10 individuals with actual knowledge that the

individuals are aliens described in subparagraph

(B) shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned for

not more than 5 years, or both.

(B) An alien described in this subparagraph is

an alien who—

(i) is an unauthorized alien (as defined in

section 1324a(h)(3) of this title), and

(ii) has been brought into the United States

in violation of this subsection.

(4) In the case of a person who has brought

aliens into the United States in violation of this

subsection, the sentence otherwise provided for

may be increased by up to 10 years if—

(A) the offense was part of an ongoing com-

mercial organization or enterprise;

(B) aliens were transported in groups of 10 or

more; and

(C)(i) aliens were transported in a manner

that endangered their lives; or

(ii) the aliens presented a life-threatening

health risk to people in the United States, ***

Defendant ws committed to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for a term of EIGHTEEN (18) MONTHS, with credit for time served. Upon release from imprisonment, the defendant shall be placed on supervised release for a term of THREE (3) YEARS. Special Assessment: $100.00 JVTA: $5,000.00.