November 19, 2014 — Fish are tangible objects, and Congress was right to criminalize the destruction of tangible objects when the intent is to obstruct a criminal investigation. The problem isn't with the law, but with the way the government used it against John Yates.
John Yates was piloting a commercial fishing boat through the Gulf of Mexico seven years ago when a Florida conservation officer boarded the ship, noticed Yates had dozens of red grouper smaller than the legal limit and instructed Yates to return to port.
Yates complied, but on the way back to port, he instructed his crew to toss the incriminating fish overboard. As one would expect, this led to additional criminal charges — including one that carried a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars.
Yates was convicted and sentenced to 30 days in jail. He has appealed his conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the law under which he was convicted was intended to thwart white-collar criminals, not peddlers of red grouper.
That's true — to an extent.
There's no question that the law was written to address the actions of Enron company officials who began shredding corporate documents when they realized the company's impending collapse would quickly lead to a federal investigation.
Read the full story at the Des Moines Register