United States v. Juan Ramon Fernandez

The law of this circuit, expressed in United States v. Kartman (9th Cir. 1969) 417 F.2d 893 and McEwen v. United States (9th Cir. 1968) 390 F.2d 47, is that a defendant’s actual or implied knowledge that his victim was a federal law enforcement officer is not an element of the offense defined by 18 U.S.C. § 111. I concur solely under the compulsion of the law of the circuit, but I express my reasons for believing that these Ninth Circuit cases and the cases on which they rely are wrong.1

Section 111 does not explicitly state that Congress intended to punish conduct by persons who were ignorant…