UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
v.
JEFFREY R. WALKER, ROBERT D. DOUGLAS, THOMAS DOUGLAS, JR., DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS

11th Cir. | 1994-07-14
No. 93-8235
Before EDMONDSON, Circuit Judge, JOHNSON, Senior Circuit Judge, and PITTMAN, Senior District Judge.
26 F.3d 108 Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (1994) Caution
Cited by 8 cases
Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM:

PER CURIAM: This case is about fraud. Defendants Jeffrey Walker, Robert Douglas and Thomas Douglas, Jr. were convicted in 1992 of, among other things, introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(a) and 333(a)(2). Defendants argue the district court abused its discretion when it denied their request for a good faith defense jury instruction in addition to the court’s instruction to the jury on intent to defraud.

We disagree. A district court’s failure to give a requested jury instruction is only error if the requested instruction is substantially correct as proffered, is not addressed in the charge given, and the instruction deals with a trial issue that is so important that the failure to give the instruction seriously impaired the defendant’s ability to present an effective defense. See U.S. v. Morales, 978 F. 2d 650, 652 (11th Cir.1992). Defendants cannot meet the second element of this test. “A finding of specific intent to deceive categorically excludes a finding of good faith ...” See United States v. Chenault, 844 F. 2d 1124, 1130 (6th Cir.1988).

The district court gave the jury a detailed explanation of what “intent” means in the context of the charges against defendants. The court’s instruction to the jury on intent to defraud adequately addressed the concept of good faith. So, the jury essentially considered the defense of good faith and rejected it when it found defendants guilty. See United States v. Lavergne, 806 F. 2d 517 (6th Cir.1986); see also United States v. Dockray, 943 F. 2d 152, 155 (1st Cir.1991) (where court properly instructs on intent to defraud, separate instruction on good faith not required); cf. United States v. De La Vega, 913 F. 2d 861, 872 (11th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 916, 111 S.Ct. 2011, 114 L.Ed.2d 99 (1991) (defendant was not prejudiced by court’s refusal to give defendant’s requested jury instruction when requested charge was substantially addressed in charge actually given by court).

Under these facts, a good faith defense instruction would have been superfluous. We cannot conclude the district court abused its discretion in refusing defendants’ proffered instructions.

The district court is AFFIRMED. . Defendants also argue the district court abused its discretion in refusing to hear testimony from the lawyers that defendants consulted when seeking advice on the legality of defendants’ acts. Because we conclude this evidence is not relevant to whether defendants intended to commit fraud — as opposed to whether they intended to violate a specific criminal law — this contention has no merit. See United States v. Costanzo, 4 F. 3d 658 (8th Cir.1993). . Defendants reliance on United States v. Opdahl, 930 F. 2d 1530, 1535 (11th Cir.1991), is misplaced. In Opdahl, the district court’s instruction as given to the jury did not adequately address the elements of the requested charge. That is not true in this case.

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  • United States v. Miles, 290 F.3d 1341 (11th Cir. 2002)
    …t the government must prove that the defendant knowingly did an act which the law forbids, ■ purposely intending to violate the law. Such intent may be determined from all the facts and circumstances surrounding the case. In United States v. Walker, 26 F. 3d 108 (11th Cir.1994), this court affirmed a fraud conviction where the defendants appealed the district court's refusal to instruct the jury on the good-faith reliance on counsel defense. In Walker, we held that a finding of specific intent to deceive ex…
  • United States v. Saeed Sirang, 70 F.3d 588 (11th Cir. 1995)
    …ich mistake of law is actually a defense, and which, therefore, made it especially important to charge the jury on the good faith defense. Id. at 1117-18. This latter factor, of course, does not exist in Sirang’s case. In United States v. Walker, 26 F. 3d 108 (11th Cir.1994) (per curiam), we affirmed a fraud conviction in which the district court declined to give a good faith instruction in addition to the instruction on intent to defraud. We held that the court had addressed the substance of the instru…
  • United States v. Condon, 132 F.3d 653 (11th Cir. 1998)
    …the possibility that Condon may have relied, in good faith, on Acree's silence. "So, the jury essentially considered the defense of good faith [reliance on advice of counsel] and rejected it when it found [Condon] guilty.” United States v. Walker, 26 F. 3d 108, 110 (11th Cir.1994). . Condon argues that he did introduce sufficient evidence for the instruction. He points us to Acree’s admission that he may have failed Con-don in his duty to prevent Condon from engaging in illegal activity. But, this conc…

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