United States v. Yermian Case Brief Summary | Law Case Explained

United States v. Yermian | 468 U.S. 63 (1984)

Ignorance of the law isn’t an excuse. According to one of the harshest and most important assumptions in American criminal law, knowledge of a jurisdiction’s laws is imputed to all people within the jurisdiction. In United States versus Yermian, we examine whether an exception should be made for broad statutes reaching innocent conduct.

Esmail Yermian was hired by a company under contract with the United States Department of Defense, or DoD. Yermian needed a DoD security clearance and was directed to fill out a draft questionnaire. Responding to a question about criminal charges, Yermian omitted his federal conviction for mail fraud. In response to a question about previous employers, Yermian included companies he’d never worked for. Yermian’s responses were transcribed onto an official DoD questionnaire. Yermian reviewed his responses, vouched for their accuracy, and acknowledged his understanding that knowingly providing false information was a crime. Yermian’s questionnaire was then sent to the DoD. The DoD discovered the inaccuracies and confronted Yermian, who admitted to knowingly providing false information.

Yermian was prosecuted in the United States District Court for the Central District of California for giving false or fraudulent statements in a matter under the jurisdiction of a federal agency, pursuant to Title Eighteen of the United States Code, Section 1001. In defense, Yermian argued that he missed the questionnaire’s references to the DoD and wasn’t aware of the DoD’s involvement. Yermian was convicted. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard Yermian’s appeal and reversed the conviction. So, the government appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which granted cert.




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