Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (December 2022)

This post summarizes criminal and related decisions published by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals during December 2022. Cases of interest to state practitioners are summarized monthly. Previous Fourth Circuit case summaries are available here. (1) Two different false statements made during the course of a single interview constituted only one count of making false statements; (2) District court properly denied jury instruction on entrapment U.S. v. Smith, 54 F.4th 755 (Dec. 1, 2022). In this case from the Western District of North Carolina, the defendant was interested in travelling to Syria and fighting against the Syrian government. An informant reported this to the FBI, sparking an investigation. A second informant acted as an ISIS recruiter on behalf of the FBI. The defendant met with this informant and acknowledged his willingness to travel to Syria and to fight and kill for ISIS. The defendant later met with a third informant and offered to help the man obtain a discounted airline ticket to Syria. The defendant ultimately bought such a ticket for a different, fictitious person whose identity was created by the FBI. After he discovered that the ticket was not used, the defendant cut off contact with the informant-recruiter. The FBI then sent a subpoena to the defendant’s wife. In response, the defendant contacted the FBI and agreed to meet with an agent. During that meeting, the defendant was advised that it was a crime to lie to the FBI and shown a copy of the false statements statute. He denied [...]