United States v. Caronia

Alfred Caronia was convicted of conspiring to introduce a prescription drug into interstate commerce with the intent that it be used in ways its labeling neither disclosed nor described. This intent was revealed, inter alia, through his speech. Because the First Amendment has never prohibited the government from using speech as evidence of motive or intent, see Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 U.S. 476, 489, 113 S.Ct. 2194, 124 L.Ed.2d 436 (1993), I would affirm Caronia’s conviction. By holding, instead, that Caronia’s conviction must be vacated — and on the theory that whatever the elements of the…