United States v. Sablan
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
92 F.3d 865 (1996)
- Written by Alex Ruskell, JD
Facts
In 1992, Bernadette Sablan (defendant), a former employee of the Bank of Hawaii, went to a bar with a friend and then decided to break into her old workplace. Sablan entered the bank through an unlocked door, went to her old workstation, and used an old password to log into the bank’s computers. Sablan claimed she called up several computer files and logged off, but the government believed Sablan changed and deleted files. Under either version of the story, Sablan severely damaged several bank files. Sablan pleaded conditionally guilty to felony violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Sablan appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, arguing that the act was unlawful because it did not have a mens rea requirement for each element of the crime and that the government was required to prove she intended to damage the bank’s computer files.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Hug, C.J.)
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