## Facts

- Doris Cooley sought Social Security mother’s insurance benefits based on the earnings record of her deceased husband, Melvin K. Cooley.
- While living in Iran due to Melvin’s employment there, Doris shot Melvin three times during a marital dispute, killing him.
- Iranian authorities charged her with “willful homicide” under Article 170 of the Iran Penal Code, convicted her in a five-judge court, and imposed a death sentence later commuted to ten years’ imprisonment.
- After serving her sentence and returning to the United States, she applied for benefits under 42 U.S.C. § 402(g).
- The Social Security Administration applied 20 C.F.R. § 404.364, which bars benefits to a person “finally convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction of the felonious and intentional homicide” of the insured individual.
- Cooley argued the Iranian conviction should not be used because the proceedings allegedly lacked protections she associated with U.S. criminal procedure (including access to counsel, Miranda warnings, indictment, bail, cross-examination, and proof beyond a reasonable doubt).
- The administrative law judge found she was represented by counsel of her choice, was tried under Iranian law and procedure, and that witnesses were examined (with judges conducting cross-examination consistent with Iranian practice).

## Issues

1. Whether a final Iranian conviction for “willful homicide” constitutes a “final conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction” of “felonious and intentional homicide” for purposes of 20 C.F.R. § 404.364.
2. Whether the Iranian proceedings were so fundamentally unfair that the Secretary and reviewing courts could not rely on the conviction to deny Social Security benefits.

## Decision

- The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment upholding the Secretary’s denial of benefits.
- The court concluded the Iranian judgment was a final conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction and fit the regulation’s category of felonious and intentional homicide.
- The court held the record did not show the Iranian proceedings were fundamentally unfair so as to prevent reliance on the conviction in the administrative benefits determination.
- The court accepted the agency’s findings as supported by substantial evidence and applied the regulatory bar to benefits.

## Legal Principles

- A foreign criminal conviction may satisfy a Social Security regulation requiring a “final conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction,” including for disqualification based on felonious and intentional homicide.
- In reviewing an administrative denial of benefits, courts may rely on a foreign conviction unless the claimant shows the foreign proceedings were fundamentally unfair in a manner that would make reliance improper.
- Substantial-evidence review applies to the agency’s factual findings supporting application of the regulatory disqualification.
- Under 20 C.F.R. § 404.364, a person finally convicted of the felonious and intentional homicide of the insured is ineligible for benefits based on the insured’s earnings record.

## Conclusion

The court upheld denial of mother’s insurance benefits because Cooley’s final Iranian conviction for willful homicide qualified as a felonious and intentional homicide under the governing regulation, and she failed to show the foreign proceedings were so unfair that the agency could not rely on the conviction.


Cooley v. Weinberger, 518 F.2d 1151 (10th Cir. 1975)