As the Gunwalker conspiracy cover-up continues to unravel, I increasingly hear a legal term being mentioned: Misprision of a Felony.

A misprision of a felony is the concealment of a felony without giving any degree of support to the felony.

To sustain a conviction of misprision of a felony, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt:

* that the principal had committed and completed the felony alleged;

* that the defendant had full knowledge of that fact;

* that the defendant failed to notify authorities; and

* that the defendant took affirmative steps to conceal the crime of the principal.

The elements of misprision of a felony, both of which must be proved to support conviction, are:

* concealment of something, such as suppression of evidence or some other positive act; and

* failure to disclose.

Failure to disclose, without active concealment, is not a felony. -- U.S. Legal.com.

There is a federal crime reporting statute, Title 18 U.S.C. § 4, which makes it a federal offense to fail to disclose a felony, if that failure is coupled with some act concealing the felony, such as suppression of evidence, harboring or protecting the person performing the felony, intimidation or harming a witness, or any other act designed to conceal from authorities the fact that a crime has been committed.

The statute reads as follows:

Title 18 U.S.C. § 4. Misprision of felony. Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

Interestingly, a federal judge -- or any other government official -- is required as part of their mandatory administrative duties to receive any offer of information of a federal crime. If that judge or official blocks such report, that block is a felony under related obstruction of justice statutes, and constitutes a serious offense. Upon receiving such information, the judge or official is then required to make it known to a government law enforcement body that is not themselves involved in the federal crime.

Exactly what constitutes "active concealment" is the subject of much jurisprudence and often can be somewhat contradictory, dependent as much upon the facts of the case, the skill sets of the opposing attorneys, and the notoriousness of the case.

This should not give much comfort to Gunwalker conspirators and their silent abettors in the various agencies involved.