Jury Instructions

By: Derek Hawkins//July 9, 2018//

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Jose Maldonado, et al.

Case No.: 16-4083; 17-1402

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and BAUER and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Jury Instructions

Jose Maldonado and Francisco Masias (together, “the Defendants”) were charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine, amongst six other counts irrelevant to this appeal. During trial, the district court gave a multiple conspiracies jury instruction and refused to give a “meeting of the minds” instruction proposed by Masias. The jury convicted the Defendants on all counts, and they now appeal. They contend the government lacked sufficient evidence to prove conspiracy between them and Edwin Rodriguez, a cooperating defendant, and Masias contends separately that the district court erred by refusing to give a “meeting of the minds” jury instruction.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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