United States of America, Appellee v. Russell Hoffmann, Appellant Case Study

United States of America, Appellee v. Russell Hoffmann, Appellant - Case Study Example 201(c) (1) (A). Hoffman, however, argues that he gave Schwening a gift as a booster and not for authoritative reasons.Issue The court of appeal was to determine whether Russell D. Hoffmann (Appellant) contravened 18 U.S.C. 201(c) (1) (A) by giving a gratuity to Schwening, as earlier affirmed by a state court. Russell D. Hoffmann argued otherwise.18 U.S. Code 201 Applies to bribery of public officials and witnesses. 18 U.S.C. 201(c)(1)(A) defines the term official act as any action or conclusiveness regarding any question or cause that, at any time according to the law, may be presented to a public official in an official capacity in the officials trust (LII, 2015).In determining the law, the government must ascertain the relationship between a thing of valued presented to a public official and the specific public act for or the reason to which it was offered.Reason Based on the evidence pres ented by USA, it was sufficient that both(prenominal) parties were on official duty as stipulated under 18 U.S.C. 201(c) (1) (A). This is illegal as it creates a conflict of interest between the two