Failure to Pay Child Support and Federal Criminal Liability
By
Law Office of Alexander Korotkin, Esq.
In a case of first impression, the defendant, the father of twin daughters, was convicted by a jury in the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York of two counts of willful failure to pay a court-ordered child support obligation in violation of 18 USC §228(a). One of the questions of first impression for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals was “whether violation of a single child support order which covers two children gives rise to one or two violations of 18 USC §228.” Conviction is affirmed on one count, vacated on the second, and the matter remanded for resentencing. When Congress leaves a statute ambiguous as to the proper unit of prosecution, “the ambiguity should be resolved in favor of lenity.” Here, because the statute does not clearly distinguish between a “support obligation” and a “court order,” the defendant’s willful failure to comply with the underlying order of support for his two daughters justifies the prosecution of only one count for willfully violating an order of support, rather than two counts for failing to pay support for his twin daughters. USA v. Kerley. Decided 9/25/08.
