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Criminal Law Keyed to Gershowitz
United States v. Knox
Citation:
112 F.3d 802.Only StudyBuddy Pro offers the complete Case Brief Anatomy*
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*Case Brief Anatomy includes: Brief Prologue, Complete Case Brief, Brief Epilogue
- The Brief Prologue provides necessary case brief introductory information and includes:
- Topic: Identifies the topic of law and where this case fits within your course outline.
- Parties: Identifies the cast of characters involved in the case.
- Procedural Posture & History: Shares the case history with how lower courts have ruled on the matter.
- Case Key Terms, Acts, Doctrines, etc.: A case specific Legal Term Dictionary.
- Case Doctrines, Acts, Statutes, Amendments and Treatises: Identifies and Defines Legal Authority used in this case.
- The Case Brief is the complete case summarized and authored in the traditional Law School I.R.A.C. format. The Pro case brief includes:
- Brief Facts: A Synopsis of the Facts of the case.
- Rule of Law: Identifies the Legal Principle the Court used in deciding the case.
- Facts: What are the factual circumstances that gave rise to the civil or criminal case? What is the relationship of the Parties that are involved in the case. Review the Facts of this case here:
Defendant Reverend David Brace, a pastor of the Faith Metro Church in Wichita, Kansas, had financial difficulties and was heavily in debt. In an effort to raise money, Brace hired a financial consulting firm, First Diversified Financial Services, and met with Mike Clark, the president of First Diversified, and Clark’s assistant, 24-year-old defendant Shannon Knox. Brace paid First Diversified $75,000 to prepare a prospectus for a $10.8 million limited private offering by Faith Metro. At the same time Brace and Clark were seeking financing for Faith Metro, undercover federal agents were running an elaborate sting operation in San Antonio designed to catch money launderers.
On March 24, the undercover agents met with Brace at a meeting also attended by Knox. The undercover agents told Brace that they would be able to loan him the entire $10 million, but the undercover agents told them that they would have a practice transfer of $100,000. The undercover agents then informed Brace that the money came from the sale of cocaine, and that he was being asked to launder it. Brace stated that he was not troubled by the money’s source.
Brace met with the undercover agents again on April 26. Before the meeting, Knox told the undercover agents that he and Brace had already “contrived a system” to quickly deposit and transfer the first $100,000. At the meeting, the undercover agents gave Brace an account number for an undercover account in a London bank where Brace was to wire the $100,000 in the first test. Brace was given $100,000 in cash which he wired to the English bank the next week.
On May 5, the undercover agents again met with Brace and suggested another $100,000 test, this time to a domestic account controlled by the undercover agents. Brace agreed to this, stating that to conceal the source of the money, he would carry it on his books as a loan. Brace took the money and wired it the account.
On May 12, the undercover agents met with Brace and Knox, and delivered cash for another test, this time $150,000. Four days later, Brace and Knox wired the money to the English bank. The undercover agents told Brace and Knox that they would soon be ready to transfer the entire $10 million.
On June 21, the final meeting took place. The undercover agents met Brace and Knox in a San Antonio parking lot and gave them three canvas bags purportedly containing $10 million. Brace and Knox were arrested as they left the parking lot.
Brace and Knox were convicted of money laundering. Brace appealed, arguing that it was an entrapment.
- Issue(s): Lists the Questions of Law that are raised by the Facts of the case.
- Holding: Shares the Court's answer to the legal questions raised in the issue.
- Concurring / Dissenting Opinions: Includes valuable concurring or dissenting opinions and their key points.
- Reasoning and Analysis: Identifies the chain of argument(s) which led the judges to rule as they did.
- The Brief Prologue closes the case brief with important forward-looking discussion and includes:
- Policy: Identifies the Policy if any that has been established by the case.
- Court Direction: Shares where the Court went from here for this case.
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