United States v. Da-Chuan Zheng

OPINION

SAROKIN, District Judge.

The court here confronts a difficult and highly technical problem involving the propriety of regulations implementing a criminal statute. Underlying this specific issue, however, are more fundamental principles regarding the creation of criminal liability, the extent to which a defendant’s subjective belief in the criminality of his or her acts affect such liability, and the compliance by the Executive branch with congressional directives regarding what may be made a crime and what may not.

On February 23, 1984, defendants Da-Chuan Zheng, Kuang-Shin Lin, David…