United States v. Vallery

Roosevelt Vallery (defendant), a federal inmate, pushed a prison guard while trying to escape a strip search. The indictment tracked the language of 18 U.S.C. Section 111(a)(1), covering assaulting, resisting, impeding, or interfering with a federal officer, but never alleged physical contact. The trial judge therefore limited the case to misdemeanor simple assault, and the jury convicted Vallery of resisting, impeding, and interfering, for which he received the maximum misdemeanor sentence. The government appealed, arguing the indictment's omission of physical contact only mattered for the "assault" portion of the statute and should not limit felony sentencing for resisting or impeding.