The government looks at that language and says the plain meaning covers more than just financial records. Indeed, for more than a decade, federal prosecutors have used the statute in obstruction cases involving everything from terrorism to environmental safety violations; the "tangible object" that defendants sought to alter or destroy has included human bodies, bloodstains, guns, drugs, cash and automobiles. Most recently, the statute was used to win the conviction of a Boston man for helping the accused Boston Marathon bomber conceal physical evidence of his crime.
At the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Assistant Public Defender John Badalamenti, representing captain Yates, will tell the justices that the government's argument is a huge overreach.
"This statute does not cover the destruction of anything but records or documents," he says. Indeed, he notes, the title of this section of the law is "Destruction and Alteration of Records" and, he contends, the purpose of the law was to prevent and punish obstruction in the financial industry.
"I would not dispute that anything can be a tangible object under the broadest dictionary definition. But they have to be read in the context of all the words that Congress legislated," Badalamenti says.
Supporting the argument and opposing the government's position is a phalanx of business organizations, as well as defense and civil liberties lawyers. They contend that if the Court upholds the government's broad reading of the statute, it will give prosecutors the power to seek penalties of up to 20 years in prison if an individual destroys any object, no matter how trivial, with the intent of obstructing a federal investigation.
The government replies that the "records only" argument would make it a crime for a murderer to destroy his victim's diary, but not the murder weapon.
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