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Fourth Circuit Weighs in on Split Re Meaning of Lopez-Mendoza the "Identity Statement"

By A. Benjamin Spencer

Per UNITED STATES v. RAUL MESA OSCAR-TORRES, --- F.3d ----, 2007 WL 3293266 (4th Cir. Nov. 08, 2007):

The meaning of the Lopez-Mendoza ?identity statement? has bedeviled and divided our sister circuits. Compare United States v. Olivares-Rangel, 458 F.3d 1104, 1106 (10th Cir.2006) (interpreting Lopez-Mendoza as merely reiterating long-standing jurisdictional rule), and United States v. Guevara-Martinez, 262 F.3d 751, 754-55 (8th Cir.2001) (same), with United States v. Bowley, 435 F.3d 426, 430-31 (3d Cir.2006) (interpreting Lopez-Mendoza as barring sup-pression of evidence of identity), United States v. Navarro-Diaz, 420 F.3d 581, 588 (6th Cir.2005) (same), and United States v. Roque-Villanueva, 175 F.3d 345, 346 (5th Cir.1999) (same). We now turn to this question.

Close examination of Lopez-Mendoza itself, as well as other Supreme Court precedent, persuades us that Lopez-Mendoza does not prohibit suppression of evidence of a defendant's identity.

Full post as published by Split Circuits on November 09, 2007 (boomark / email).