In a fascinating decision yesterday, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a trial court's application of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines to enhance the sentence of two defendants who had been convicted of carrying out a wire fraud scheme directed particularly at evangelical Christians. In
United States v. Dupre, (2d Cir., Sept. 6, 2006), the trial court had found that the advance fee fraud had been aimed at particularly "vulnerable victims", concluding that the "scheme was imbued with religious elements. It asked participants to have faith, to accept what they were told, to not ask questions, to pray for the success of the project, and to plan on doing good works with the payout that they receive. It was described as a plan in which there would be a redistribution of wealth from the wicked to God’s people."
The trial court used that finding to enhance the offense by two levels, as permitted by
U.S.S.G. § 3A1.1(b). However, the Second Circuit held:
While we recognize that a fraud grounded in religious themes may pose an especially effective threat, ... membership in religious groups cannot, standing alone, make victims "vulnerable" for purposes of the enhancement, even where a fraud involves reliance on religious themes or imagery.... We have no reason to believe that evangelical Christians as a class are "unusually susceptible" to fraud.
An
Associated Press report yesterday gives additional background on the case.
