Opinion ID: 793382
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Jury Instruction for the Public Authority Defense

Text: 75 Baker next argues the district court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of public authority. We review de novo a district court's decision not to instruct the jury on a theory of defense. United States v. Skoczen, 405 F.3d 537, 545 (7th Cir.2005) (citing United States v. Hendricks, 319 F.3d 993, 1004 (7th Cir.2003)). A defendant is entitled to a theory of defense instruction if, inter alia, the theory is supported by the evidence. Howell, 37 F.3d at 1203. As discussed above, Baker was properly precluded from presenting this defense at trial. As a result, the district court was not required to give a jury instruction that was based entirely on facts that were not actually introduced at trial and thus not supported by the evidence. See United States v. Baker, 40 F.3d 154, 162 (7th Cir.1994) (concluding district court did not err by refusing to legitimize a defendant's theory in the form of a defense instruction when there was nothing in the evidence to support the theory). 76