United States v. Sterling, No. 15-3172 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his conviction for impersonating a foreign diplomatic officer and being a felon in possession of a firearm. In this case, defendant held himself out to be a diplomat of the "Conch Republic." The court concluded that, because a defendant need not purport to represent an “accredited” foreign government in order to be found guilty under 18 U.S.C. 915, the Government presented sufficient evidence to support defendant’s conviction. Based on this evidence, a reasonable jury could conclude that defendant pretended to be an official of a foreign government in order to obtain a thing of value. Therefore, the evidence was sufficient to convict defendant under section 915. The court also concluded that the evidence was sufficient to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant knowingly possessed the 12- gauge shotgun. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Gruender, Author, with Colloton, Circuit Judge, and Bough, District Judge] Criminal case - Criminal law. Evidence was sufficient to support defendant's convictions for impersonating a foreign diplomatic officer and for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.