Opinion ID: 707621
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to instruct on elements of underlying drug offenses

Text: 72 Defendants also claim that the district court erred when it refused to instruct the jury on the necessary elements of the predicate activity, i.e., drug trafficking. [Golb Br. at 4]. This argument is unavailing and the cases cited, e.g., United States v. Montoya, 945 F.2d 1068 (9th Cir.1991), do not support it. The jury was instructed as a matter of law that the manufacture, importation, and distribution of controlled substances is a specified unlawful activity and that the government had to prove that at least some of the funds involved represented the proceeds of the manufacture, importation and distribution of controlled substances. [7/7/92 RT at 151, 156]. These instructions closely track those approved in United States v. Mickens, 926 F.2d 1323, 1330 (2d Cir.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1060, 112 S.Ct. 940, 117 L.Ed.2d 111 (1992). Because the drug trafficking which was the source of the proceeds was not part of the charged money-laundering offense, i.e., the drug traffickers were not on trial, the jury did not need to be further instructed. As this Court noted in analyzing a similarly constructed statute, the Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1952, the statutory language embodies all of the essential elements of the offense. United States v. Gordon, 641 F.2d 1281, 1284 (9th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 859, 102 S.Ct. 312, 70 L.Ed.2d 156 (1981). See also United States v. Smith, 44 F.3d 1259, 1265 (4th Cir.1995) (details about the nature of underlying unlawful activity need not be alleged in indictment charging money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1957).