By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//June 22, 2011//
Criminal Procedure
Jury instructions; constructive possession
The pattern jury instruction for constructive possession is not misleading.
“We decline Mokol’s invitation to hold that the Seventh Circuit Pattern Criminal Federal Jury Instruction for constructive possession misleads juries into convicting defendants on a conspiracy theory of liability. These two respective forms of liability have different elements, which the pattern jury instructions reflect. The implication of Mokol’s argument is that instructing a jury on any form of derivative liability creates an unacceptable risk that the jury will convict the defendant on some other. But we presume that juries understand and follow instructions. See United States v. O’Neill, 116 F.3d 245, 249 (7th Cir. 1997).”
Affirmed.
10-2334 U.S. v. Mokol
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Van Bokkelen, J., Cudahy, J.
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