Opinion ID: 3052254
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Indictment, Jury Instruction & Conviction

Text: [5] Fuller challenges the indictment and jury instruction because they failed to contain the element that “the identification document appeared to be issued by or under the authority of the United States,” which he argues was a necessary element of the crime and requires the government to prove that the document purports to be issued by a real agency. Fuller’s indictment contained two elements: (1) knowing possession of documents that were or appeared to be identification documents of the United States; and (2) that the defendant knew that the documents were stolen or produced without the 8160 UNITED STATES v. FULLER authority of the United States. Though the indictment does not charge that the document “appeared to be made by or under the authority of the United States,” a document “of the United States” sufficiently connotes a document “made by or under the authority of the United States.” Therefore, Fuller’s challenge to the indictment fails because the indictment “contain[ed] the elements of the offense charged[,] and fairly inform[ed him] of the charge against which he [had to] defend, and . . . enable[d] him to plead an acquittal or conviction in bar of future prosecutions for the same offense.” United States v. Davis, 336 F.3d 920, 922 (9th Cir. 2003). [6] “[W]hen a jury instruction is challenged on appeal, our task is to determine whether the trial court’s instruction relieved the state of this essential burden as to any individual element of the crime of which the defendant has been convicted.” United States v. Smith, 520 F.3d 1097, 1102 (9th Cir. 2008) (citing Medley v. Runnels, 506 F.3d 857, 864 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc)). As with the indictment, the language in the court’s jury instruction—“was or appeared to be an identification document of the United States”—sufficiently captures the element that the identification document be issued by or under the authority of the United States, and thus the jury instruction did not relieve the state of its burden as to an element of the crime. Finally, Fuller argues that the evidence was insufficient for a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the document at issue purported to be from an actual agency. Because that is not an element of the crime with which Fuller was charged, this challenge fails as well. See Smith, 795 F.2d at 846.