Opinion ID: 77674
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Jury Instruction on Income Tax Evasion and Attempted Obstruction

Text: 49 The district court used the Eleventh Circuit's Pattern Jury Instruction on income tax evasion, Criminal Offense Instruction 93.1, and attempting to interfere with the administration of internal revenue laws, Criminal Offense Instruction 97. Dean stated at trial that he did not object to the use of either of these instructions, so we review the court's decision to employ them under a plain error standard. See Puche, 350 F.3d at 1148. 50 Granted, district courts do not have to use our pattern jury instructions for they are not precedent and cannot solely foreclose the construction of the necessary elements of a crime as stated in the statute. United States v. Ettinger, 344 F.3d 1149, 1158 (11th Cir. 2003). Nevertheless, our pattern jury instructions clearly state the elements of proof required for conviction under both 26 U.S.C. § 7201. See Sansone v. United States, 380 U.S. 343, 350-51, 85 S.Ct. 1004, 13 L.Ed.2d 882 (1965); United States v. Stone, 702 F.2d 1333, 1338-39 (11th Cir. 1983), and under 26 U.S.C. 7212(a). See United States v. Popkin, 943 F.2d 1535, 1539-40 (11th Cir. 1991). Accordingly, the district court did not err, much less commit plain error, in using our pattern jury instruction on these offenses. 51 In a related vein, Dean also argues that the district court erred when it instructed the jury on the charges under count VII of the indictment, which deals with attempted interference in internal revenue actions. Dean contends that the district court should not have summarized the individual obstruction charges. This argument has no merit. Dean sent essentially the same letter to each of the entities that received summonses from IRS; namely, Dean's employer, the DFAS, and his banks. The individual letters stated the same falsehood—that the entities did not have to comply with the summons to produce Dean's financial records for an IRS investigation. Thus, the court could summarize the offensive conduct quite properly as informing entities that they were under no obligation to comply with lawful summons documents from the IRS. 52 This Court will not reverse a conviction on the basis of a jury charge unless we find, after examining the entire charge, that the issues of law were presented inaccurately, the charge included crimes not contained in the indictment, or the charge improperly guided the jury in such a substantial way as to violate due process. United States v. Arias, 984 F.2d 1139, 1143 (11th Cir. 1993) (citing United States v. Turner, 871 F.2d 1574, 1578 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 997, 110 S.Ct. 552, 107 L.Ed.2d 548 (1989)).We find no evidence that any of these errors occurred here. 53