Law:

Section:

(a) Criminal trial--- ----Elements of offence---Knowledge, requirement of---Presumption---In determining whether a criminal statute required the prosecution to prove that the defendant acted knowingly was a question of legislative in tent--- Such inquiry started from a longstanding presumption that the legislature intended to require a defendant to possess a culpable mental state regarding each of the statutory elements that criminalized oth erwise innocent conduct---Courts applied such presumption of mental state, or "scienter," even in the absence of any scienter in the statute. Defendant was in the United States on a student visa studying at an educational institute; he was academically dismissed in December 2014, and his immigration status was terminated in February, 2015. Defendant remained in the U.S. and in December 2015, purchased ammunition and rented a firearm at a shooting range and fired a few shots. Defendant was tried for "possessing firearms as an alien unlawfully in the United States," which carried up to a 10-year sentence for those who "knowingly" violated it [18 U.S.C. 924(a)(2)]. At trial, the central question that emerged was what did the defendant have to know to "knowingly" violate the statute ?. In other words whether the "knowingly" provision of 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(2) applied to both the 'possession' and '(legal) status' elements of a 922(g) crime, or whether it applied only to the possession element. Defendant argued that to violate the statute in question he had to know that he was using a firearm and that he was no longer legally in the United States. Prosecution argued that it was not required to prove that the defendant knew that he was illegally or unlawfully in the United States. Trial court told the jury that defendant's knowledge of his immigration status was irrelevant, and all that the prosecution needed to prove was that the defendant knew he was holding a firearm. Defendant was sentenced to 18 months in custody before his deportation. On appeal, the Appellate Court affirmed the convictions, holding that the prosecution did not need to prove that the defendant knew of his prohibited status in the country. Per Breyer, J…

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