Safe Havens

(B)  Safe Havens Specific to this Category.  A plea to a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a), clause 2 (false statement to government official) might be a safe alternative plea.  It is difficult to consider § 1001 to be “perjury,” since it does not require that the statement be sworn, or even be a statement at all, and does not apply to unsworn oral or written statements made by the defendant, any other party, or counsel to the court.[699]  Moreover, it is a divisible statute, one subsection (Clause (a)(2)) of which does not necessarily involve moral turpitude.[700]

[699] 18 U.S.C. § 1001(b).

[700] In Hirsh v. INS, 308 F.2d 562 (9th Cir. 1962), the Ninth Circuit granted a petition for review setting aside an order of deportation on the ground that proof of conviction on an indictment charging that defendant had made false statements to a federal agency “unlawfully, willfully and knowingly” under statute couched in the disjunctive did not establish moral turpitude justifying deportation.  This is very analogous to the language used in 18 U.S.C. § 1001.