Opinion ID: 599121
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: applying the law

Text: 41 All that remains is for us to apply the fruits of our analysis to each appellant's situation. 42
43 In Donovan's case, the trial judge instructed the jury that Donovan's actions were willful if he had the bad purpose to disobey or to disregard the law. While Judge Devine did not give the exact instruction which Donovan requested, the instruction he gave was almost identical to the instruction which we approved for CTR violations in Bank of New England, 821 F.2d at 855. Moreover, Donovan's requested instruction focused on bad motive--and the Cheek Court made clear that a showing of bad motive is more restrictive than necessary, even under the tax-crime standard. See Cheek, 498 U.S. at 200, 111 S.Ct. at 610; see also Pomponio, 429 U.S. at 13, 97 S.Ct. at 24. Finally, the judge allowed the parties to introduce evidence pertaining to Donovan's state of mind regarding the law and the facts. 44 The trial court--which, in instructing the jury, had no obligation to parrot the precise language favored by either side--gave a charge that, viewed in its entirety, adequately explained the legal issues, including every legitimate theory upon which Donovan's defense could rest. No more was exigible. See United States v. McGill, 953 F.2d 10, 13 (1st Cir.1992); United States v. Nivica, 887 F.2d 1110, 1124 (1st Cir.1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1005, 110 S.Ct. 1300, 108 L.Ed.2d 477 (1990). This is especially true where, as here, the defendant's subjective mistake-of-law proposal went well beyond what the law requires in its insistence upon proof of evil motive. See, e.g., United States v. David, 940 F.2d 722, 738 (1st Cir.1991) (holding that the district court may appropriately refuse to give a proposed jury instruction which is incorrect, misleading, or incomplete in some material respect), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 605, 116 L.Ed.2d 628, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 908, 116 L.Ed.2d 809, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1298, 117 L.Ed.2d 520, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 2301, 119 L.Ed.2d 224 (1992). 45
46 We find the remaining appeals to be cut from different cloth. Because of restrictive rulings made below, neither Aversa nor Mento ever had a chance to present a mistake-of-law defense. Both of them were precluded by the government's successful motion in limine from offering any evidence as to their ignorance of the antistructuring law. Additionally, in Mento's case the district judge charged the jury that mistake of law was no defense, declaring: It is not necessary that the United States prove that the defendant knew that the structuring of his currency transactions was unlawful. 47 Since neither of these defendants were afforded an opportunity to develop the record, and since both of them claim not to have known that what they did was illegal, we cannot say what a fully amplified record might show regarding Aversa's and Mento's familiarity with, or actual knowledge of, the antistructuring law. 11 Similarly, we cannot say how the proof might shape up in respect to reckless disregard or deliberate blindness. It follows inexorably that, on this scumbled record, Aversa's and Mento's convictions cannot stand.