Opinion ID: 403894
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: sufficiency of jury instructions

Text: 88 All four appellants 29 raise, in one manner or another, the sufficiency of the trial judge's instructions to the jury on the law of conspiracy. Appellants argue that under the charge given, the jury could have returned a less than unanimous verdict, in that some jurors might have been convinced that a particular defendant had conspired to import marijuana while others might have been convinced that he conspired to possess it with intent to distribute, or that the jury might have found different defendants guilty of conspiring to violate different statutes. 89 The trial judge specifically instructed the jury that in order to convict each defendant the evidence as to him must be considered separately and individually, that the jury must come to a unanimous determination that the conspiracy proved was the same conspiracy charged in the indictment, and that the defendant under consideration was in fact a member of that conspiracy and not another. 30 Considering the instructions as a whole, they adequately explained the law of conspiracy and the nature of the finding which the jury was required to make as to each defendant. The jury was not misled or confused and the instruction given by the court was sufficient. United States v. DeLeon, 641 F.2d 330 (5th Cir. 1981); United States v. Rodgers, 624 F.2d 1303 (5th Cir. 1980); United States v. LeCompte, 599 F.2d 81 (5th Cir. 1979). Moreover, since this indictment alleges a single conspiracy and we have found that the evidence is sufficient to support the jury's conclusion, the guilty verdict will be interpreted as if the jury did follow the instructions of the trial judge as given. St. Clair v. United States, 154 U.S. 134, 14 S.Ct. 1002, 38 L.Ed. 936 (1894).