Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.

Smith v. United States

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Supreme Court of the United States
Smith v. United States
Term: 2022
Important Dates
Argued: March 28, 2023
Decided: June 15, 2023
Outcome
Affirmed
Vote
9-0
Majority
Samuel Alito • Chief Justice John Roberts • Clarence Thomas • Sonia Sotomayor • Elena Kagan • Neil Gorsuch • Brett Kavanaugh • Amy Coney Barrett • Ketanji Brown Jackson

Smith v. United States is a case that was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States on June 15, 2023, during the court's October 2022-2023 term. The case was argued before the court on March 28, 2023.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • The issue: The case concerned the proper remedy for when an accused offender has been tried in the wrong court. Click here to learn more about the case's background.
  • The questions presented: "Whether the proper remedy for the government's failure to prove venue is an acquittal barring re-prosecution of the offense, as the Fifth and Eighth Circuits have held, or whether instead the government may re-try the defendant for the same offense in a different venue, as the Sixth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits have held."[1]
  • The outcome: The court affirmed the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in a 9-0 ruling, that if a trial is held in an improper venue before a jury drawn from the wrong district, the defendant is permitted a retrial. Justice Samuel Alito delivered the unanimous opinion of the court.[2] Click here for more information about the ruling.


    • The case came on a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. To review the lower court's opinion, click here.

    Timeline

    The following timeline details key events in this case:

    • June 15, 2023: The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
    • March 28, 2023: The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument.
    • December 13, 2022: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
    • June 16, 2022: Timothy J. Smith appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
    • January 12, 2022: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit vacated the second count of Smith's conviction and his sentence enhancements for sophisticated means, special skills, and calculated loss. They also affirmed the third count of Smith's conviction, the sentence enhancement for obstruction of justice, and the denial of a sentence reduction for acceptance of responsibility, and remanded for resentencing based on only count three. [3]

    Background

    Software engineer Timothy Smith lives in Alabama. In 2019, he was indicted in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida on three counts, including violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), theft of trade secrets, and extortion. Smith is alleged to have hacked into Strikelines, a company in Pensacola, Florida that finds and sells locations of artificial fishing reefs. Smith’s alleged actions were based in Alabama. In the district court, Smith moved to dismiss his CFAA and theft of trade secrets counts because the venue where he was being charged was improper. The jury convicted him of theft of trade secrets and extortion.[4][3]

    The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed Smith’s conviction for extortion but vacated the theft of trade secrets conviction due to improper venue. They also ruled that Smith can be tried in another court. In the Supreme Court case, Smith states that he should be acquitted of the theft of trade secrets count due to improper venue and that he cannot be tried again in another court. The federal government is arguing that he can be retried.[4][5]

    Questions presented

    The petitioner presented the following questions to the court:[1]

    Questions presented:
    “ Whether the proper remedy for the government's failure to prove venue is an acquittal barring re-prosecution of the offense, as the Fifth and Eighth Circuits have held, or whether instead the government may re-try the defendant for the same offense in a different venue, as the Sixth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits have held.

    [6]

    		”

    Oral argument

    Audio

    Audio of oral argument:[7]




    Transcript

    Transcript of oral argument:[8]

    Outcome

    In a 9-0 opinion, the court affirmed the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, holding that if a trial is held in an improper venue before a jury drawn from the wrong district, the defendant is permitted a retrial. Justice Samuel Alito delivered the opinion of the court.[2]

    Opinion

    In the court's majority opinion, Justice Alito wrote:[2]

    “

    When a conviction is reversed because of a trial error, this Court has long allowed retrial in nearly all circumstances. We consider in this case whether the Constitution requires a different outcome when a conviction is reversed because the prosecution occurred in the wrong venue and before a jury drawn from the wrong location. We hold that it does not. [6]

    		”
    —Justice Samuel Alito

    October term 2022-2023

    See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2022-2023

    The Supreme Court began hearing cases for the term on October 3, 2022. The court's yearly term begins on the first Monday in October and lasts until the first Monday in October the following year. The court generally releases the majority of its decisions in mid-June.[9]


    See also

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 U.S. Supreme Court, "21-1576 SMITH V. UNITED STATES: QUESTION PRESENTED," December 13, 2022
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 U.S. Supreme Court, "SMITH v. UNITED STATES," June 15, 2023
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Casetext, "United States v. Smith," January 12, 2022
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Supreme Court of the United States, "Timothy J. Smith V. United States of America, on Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit," June 16, 2022
    5. ↑ SCOTUSblog, "Smith v. United States," accessed December 21, 2022
    6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    7. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "Oral Argument - Audio," argued March 28,2023
    8. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "Oral Argument - Transcript," argued March 28,2023
    9. ↑ SupremeCourt.gov, "The Supreme Court at Work: The Term and Caseload," accessed January 24, 2022
    Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Smith_v._United_States&oldid=9159848"