Case: 18-15339 Date Filed: 04/28/2020 Page: 1 of 17 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-15339 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 9:18-cr-80086-KAM-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ETEVALDO FERREIRA DE SOUZA, a.k.a. Etevaldo Ferreira Souza, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________ (April 28, 2020) Before ED CARNES, Chief Judge, WILLIAM PRYOR, and JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 18-15339 Date Filed: 04/28/2020 Page: 2 of 17 Etevaldo De Souza appeals his conviction for making a false statement under oath in a matter related to naturalization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1015(a). I. De Souza is a native and citizen of Brazil. He was charged in a two-count indictment with making false statements on his Form N-400 application for naturalization (Count 1) and making false statements during his citizenship interview (Count 2), both in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1015(a).1 Both Counts alleged the same false statements: (1) that De Souza had never been charged with committing a crime or offense, (2) that he had never given any United States official any information that was false, fraudulent, or misleading, and (3) that he had never lied to any Unites States official to gain immigration benefits. The crux of the government’s case was that De Souza had been charged with murder in Brazil and yet had denied ever being charged with any crimes when he later sought immigration benefits in the United States. The procedural history of De Souza’s Brazilian case is not in dispute. In August 1993 a Brazilian prosecutor filed a document called a “denúncia” accusing De Souza of murder. The denúncia was signed by a judge on August 10, 1993. In September 2000, after a preliminary hearing where De Souza was represented by 1 Section 1015(a) makes it a crime for any person to “knowingly make[ ] any false statement under oath, in any case, proceeding, or matter relating to, or under, or by virtue of any law of the United States relating to naturalization, citizenship, or registry of aliens.” 2 Case: 18-15339 Date Filed: 04/28/2020 Page: 3 of 17 counsel, a judge issued a “pronúncia” authorizing the charge against De Souza to go to trial. But the pronúncia was never served on De Souza, who by that time was living in the United States. (It appears that De Souza was living in the United States as early as 1998, when he obtained a driver’s license in Florida.) In April 2013 a Brazilian judge dismissed the charge against De Souza because the statute of limitations had expired. In 2010 De Souza began seeking immigration benefits in the United States. He filed a request for a replacement I-94, claiming that he had entered the United States on a tourist visa in November 2000 and had later lost his I-94 and his passport.2 Obtaining a replacement I-94 would have been the first step toward lawful permanent resident ...
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