- Posted January 31, 2013
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Supreme Court again takes up case of poisoned paramour
By Kimberly Atkins
Dolan Media Newswires
BOSTON, MA -- A year after ruling that a woman charged under an international treaty for the allegedly poisoning of her husband's paramour had standing to challenge the application of the law, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide the merits of the case.
The case involves a defendant accused of waging a campaign of harassment against a woman whom the defendant's husband impregnated. The defendant's alleged actions included sprinkling a caustic chemical substance on the woman's mailbox and car door. Postal inspectors caught the defendant in the act of placing the poison on the mailbox and arrested her.
But rather than being charged with assault or other state criminal offenses, the woman was prosecuted for terroristic possession and use of a chemical weapon under 18 U.S.C. §229(a)(1), part of an international treaty designed to prosecute terrorists who use chemical weapons.
The defendant moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that the statute was beyond the federal government's enumerated powers.
A federal district court denied the motion and the 3rd Circuit affirmed, ruling that the defendant had no standing to make a Tenth Amendment challenge. But the Supreme Court unanimously reversed, holding that she had standing.
On remand, the 3rd Circuit affirmed her conviction. "While one may well question whether Congress envisioned the Act being applied in a case like this, the language itself does cover [the defendant's] criminal conduct," the court concluded.
The Supreme Court again granted the defendant's petition for certiorari. The case will be heard later this term or next term.
Bond v. U.S., No. 12-158.Certiorari granted: Jan. 18, 2013. Ruling below: 681 F.3d 149 (3rd Cir. 2012).
Entire contents copyrighted © 2013 by The Dolan Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is expressly forbidden.
Published: Thu, Jan 31, 2013
headlines Ingham County
- ABA Commission on Women in the Profession announces five recipients of the 2024 Margaret Brent award
- National Center for State Courts supports new legislation to protect state court judges from escalating threats
- ACLU launches interactive map that tracks book bans and other forms of censorship in Michigan
- Federal Reserve’s Michael Barr discusses health of banking system, SVB failures, and more at Michigan Law Conference
- Bodman attorney enjoys ‘code driven’ tax law
headlines National
- New Legalese: You may have heard a deepfake, but what about ‘Twiqbal’?
- From Intake to Outcome: An in-house lawyer’s guide to matter management solutions
- 2 BigLaw firms in merger talks that could produce 1,600-lawyer firm with top 50 revenue
- Send in the paralegals
- Lawyer reprimanded after mistakenly emailing opposing counsel with plan to avoid judge’s call
- ‘I don’t play well’ judge who threatened to track down, jail misbehaving litigant gets tossed from case