This week, a long-simmering motion to have his conviction overturned was denied by U.S. District Judge Richard Vorhees.
Summation and excerpts from Vorhees' order:
Quote:
these post-conviction filings present a question as to the scope and extent of Congress’s constitutional power to coin money and regulate its value whether Congress, under the Constitution and by enactment of 18 U.S.C. § 486 and its prohibition of coins “intended for use as current money,” has the power to coin money to the exclusion of all others, including individuals like Defendant von Nothaus.....
After presenting a series of what he sees as precedent decisions in support of his conclusion, Vorhees writes:
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the undersigned is of the opinion, and this Court so finds as a matter of law, that Congress indeed possesses the power to criminalize an individual’s minting of coinage, whether in resemblance of U.S. coins or of original design, that is intended for use as current money.
Von NotHaus had more arguments:
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Defendant contends that in order to be “current,” the U.S. money with which the Liberty Dollar is accused of seeking to compete must be genuine items of U.S. currency presently in circulation and of the same denomination.....
According to the defense, because the United States does not mint silver coins in denominations of $5, $10, $20, and $50, the values of the accused Liberty Dollar pieces, the conviction under § 486 must be vacated. The undersigned declines to construe the phrase “intended for use as current money” as narrowly as the defense proposes.....
the Court construes 18 U.S.C. § 486 such that, regardless of the nature of the subject coin (in resemblance or of original design), if a coin is “intended for use as current money” then there must necessarily be a deceptive quality about its design. In other words, resemblance and original design, while capable of independent existence, are not necessarily mutually exclusive under a plain reading of the statute.
The rest of Vorhees' opinion knocks down von NotHaus' claims of insufficient evidence of criminal intent, that the jury was given improper instructions on the extent of the government's exclusive power to coin money, and that some of the evidence against him given by federal agents should be considered inadmissable hearsay.
As noted in this Coinweek story on the case, von NotHaus is scheduled to finally receive sentencing in this case on December 2, reminding readers that the 70-year-old man has been awaiting sentence for over 3 and a half years now.