By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//July 23, 2013//
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
Criminal
Criminal Procedure – venue
In a prosecution for making false statements, venue is proper in district in which the indictment alleged the defendant created false payroll records and signed an affidavit that they were true.
“The ‘key verbs’ in the false statements statute under which Clark has been charged are ‘make’ and ‘use.’ 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(3). The indictment alleges that Clark ‘made and used’ (and ‘caused to be made and used’) false writings and documents within the Southern District of Illinois, and for present purposes, we accept these allegations as true. While venue might also be proper in some other district, see Muhammad, 502 F.3d at 653-54, the ‘verb test’ supports a finding that conducting Clark’s trial in the Southern District of Illinois is consistent with Section 3237(a) and the Constitution. See U.S. CONST. art. III, § 2, cl. 3 and amend. VI.”
Reversed and Remanded.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Murphy, J., Wood, J.