Opinion ID: 2977642
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Informant Testimony

Text: Defendants argue that the district court erred in instructing the jury about the testimony of paid informants. On this subject, the district court attempted to follow the Sixth Circuit pattern instructions. See id. at 2826; Sixth Circuit Pattern Jury Instruction No. 7.06A. At one point, however, the judge mistakenly instructed the jury to consider the testimony of paid informants with “the same caution of testimony from any of the other witnesses,” and not “more caution,” as is stated in the pattern instructions. See Trial Tr. at 2826; Sixth Circuit Pattern Jury Instruction No. 7.06A. The government asserts that this is a transcription error, but it is impossible to verify such a claim. We thus presume that the trial transcript is accurate in depicting this error Under the pattern jury instructions, jurors are to consider testimony from paid informants with greater scrutiny. Here, the instructions given failed to make this point and thus constituted error. Nevertheless, that error, standing alone, is unlikely to have “produce[d] a grave miscarriage of justice,” given the overwhelming evidence of guilt in this case. Combs, 33 F.3d at 669. Therefore, it does not rise to the level of plain error.