''Pinkerton v. United States'', 328 U.S. 640 (1946), is a case in the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. The case enunciated the principle of

Pinkerton liability The Pinkerton liability rule was pronounced by the Supreme Court of the United States in '' Pinkerton v. United States'',328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946) in 1946. Walter and Daniel Pinkerton were brothers who were charged with one ...

, a prominent concept in the law of

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

History

Walter and Daniel Pinkerton both lived separately on Daniel Pinkerton's farm. They were indicted for violations of the

Internal Revenue Code The Internal Revenue Code (IRC), formally the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, is the domestic portion of federal statutory tax law in the United States, published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, and separately as Title 26 ...

. Walter Pinkerton was found guilty of nine counts of violating the tax code and one count of conspiracy. His brother Daniel was found guilty of 6 substantive counts of violating the tax code and one count of conspiracy. Daniel Pinkerton appealed, claiming that because only his brother had committed the substantive crimes he was incorrectly convicted. The actual crime committed may have been moonshining and the government chose to prosecute for

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

. They were suspected of "unlawful possession, transportation and dealing of whiskey.

Issue

At issue is whether a defendant can be held liable for substantive crimes committed by another in the furtherance of a conspiracy in which they are joined.

Holding

The Court held that when a defendant is joined in a conspiracy, substantive crimes committed to advance that conspiracy can be charged to all defendants as long as they are still part of the conspiracy when those crimes are committed.

References

External links

* * {{caselaw source , case = ''Pinkerton v. United States'', {{ussc, 328, 640, 1946, el=no , cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/328/640 , courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/104316/pinkerton-v-united-states/ , googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7522663957503397577 , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/us/328/640/case.html , loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep328/usrep328640/usrep328640.pdf , openjurist =https://openjurist.org/328/us/640 United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Stone Court 1946 in United States case law United States Supreme Court criminal cases

History

Issue

Holding

See also

References

Further reading

External links