Opinion ID: 627196
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether the district court properly instructed the jury?

Text: Vasquez argues that the aiding and abetting jury charge was improper because there was no evidence of any person whom he could have aided and abetted. The offense of aiding and abetting requires proof that Vasquez: (1) associated with a criminal venture; (2) participated in the venture; and (3) sought by action to make the venture successful. Garcia, 567 F.3d at 731. Because Vasquez objected to the district court's aiding and abetting charge, our review is for abuse of discretion. Betancourt, 586 F.3d at 305. The district court did not abuse its discretion in instructing the jury on aiding and abetting. `Typically, the same evidence will support both a conspiracy and an aiding and abetting conviction.' United States v. Rodriguez, 553 F.3d 380, 391 (5th Cir.2008) (quoting United States v. Singh, 922 F.2d 1169, 1173 (5th Cir.1991)). Here, the jury could have inferred that others were involved in Vasquez's criminal venture from the same evidence that was sufficient to support his conspiracy conviction, as discussed above.
If a deliberate ignorance instruction is given, a balancing instruction should be considered upon request of defendant. See United States v. Farfan-Carreon, 935 F.2d 678, 681 n. 5 (5th Cir. 1991). In the present instance, Vasquez neither objected to the deliberate ignorance instruction, nor did he request a balancing instruction, hence, the plain error standard. See Betancourt, 586 F.3d at 305-06. The district court read into the record, word-for-word, this court's pattern jury instruction on deliberate ignorance: The word knowingly, as that term has been used from time to time in these instructions, means that the act was done voluntarily and intentionally, not because of mistake or accident. You may find that a defendant had knowledge of a fact if you find that the defendant deliberately closed his eyes to what would otherwise have been obvious to him. While knowledge on the part of the defendant cannot be established merely by demonstrating that the defendant was negligent, careless, or foolish, knowledge can be inferred if the defendant deliberately blinded himself to the existence of a fact. Fifth Circuit Pattern Jury Instructions: Criminal § 1.37. The deliberate ignorance instruction does not lessen the government's burden to show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the knowledge elements of the crimes have been satisfied. United States v. Reveles, 190 F.3d 678, 686 n. 12 (5th Cir.1999); see United States v. Ojebode, 957 F.2d 1218, 1229 (5th Cir.1992) (this court warned that a deliberate ignorance instruction should rarely be given because it creates the risk that a jury may convict on a lesser negligence standard); see also United States v. Newell, 315 F.3d 510, 528 (5th Cir.2002) (the essence of deliberate ignorance is `Don't tell me, I don't want to know.') (quoting Lara-Velasquez, 919 F.2d at 951); cf. Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A., ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 2060, 179 L.Ed.2d 1167 (2011) (analyzing deliberate ignorance's civil equivalent, willful blindness). A judge is cautioned that, in instructing on a statute which punishes otherwise innocent conduct, the knowledge requirement applies to each element. United States v. Ahmad, 101 F.3d 386, 390 (5th Cir.1996), reh'g and suggestion for reh'g en banc denied, 108 F.3d 335 (5th Cir.1997). Fifth Circuit precedent requires that a district court give a deliberate ignorance instruction when a defendant claims a lack of guilty knowledge and the proof at trial supports an inference of deliberate indifference. United States v. Threadgill, 172 F.3d 357, 368 (5th Cir.1999). Vasquez, through his attorney, stated before the district court and argued on appeal to this court that he did not know about the cocaine. In particular, Vasquez's attorney stated, during his opening statement that: [T]he government agents found cocaine hidden in the batteries. The other thing, as [the government] told you-all, it was hidden and concealed. You couldn't see the stuff. You couldn't see the cocaine or anything or anything unusual by looking atunder the hood. All you could see were batteries. She talked about how they were motorcycle batteries. The motorcycle batteries were concealed within a shell of larger batteries. So anyone looking at them would see nothing but larger batteries. So there's nothing unusual about the way the car looked, nothing unusual about the way the car operated. Vasquez's attorney also stated at the beginning of his closing argument: And the court has read you the instructions, and the instructions say the government may not rely upon the defendant's ownership and control of the vehicle to prove the defendant knew he possessed the controlled substance. In other words, they can't just show you that Pedro Vasquez owned the vehicle. They can't just show you that Pedro Vasquez was driving the vehicle. They have to bring you other evidence, other evidence to show beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew. A reasonable doubt, we talked about in jury selection, is the kind of doubt that would make you, you hesitate in the most important of your own affairs. There is reasonable doubt in this case, and there's reasonable doubt because Pedro Vasquez is innocent. That's why there's doubt. And that's why there's no evidence of his knowledge because the evidence doesn't exist because he's innocent. The trigger for deliberate ignorance is that the evidence at trial must raise two inferences: that the defendant (1) was subjectively aware of a high probability of the existence of the illegal conduct, and (2) purposely contrived to avoid learning of the illegal conduct. United States v. Mendoza-Medina, 346 F.3d 121, 132-33 (5th Cir.2003); see also United States v. Cavin, 39 F.3d 1299, 1310 (5th Cir.1994). The essential feature of deliberate ignorance is the conscious action of the defendantthe defendant consciously attempted to escape confirmation of conditions or events he strongly suspected to exist. Mendoza-Medina, 346 F.3d at 133 (quoting Lara-Velasquez, 919 F.2d at 951). Here, Vasquez contends that not only was the deliberate ignorance instruction not supported by the evidence, but also that it was deficient because it omits the requirement that a defendant possessed subjective awareness of a high probability of the existence of illegal conduct. Threadgill, 172 F.3d at 368. In other words, Vasquez argues that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support the deliberate ignorance instruction, and he asserts that the deliberate ignorance instruction incorrectly stated the law. Vasquez is wrong. The evidence demonstrates that Vasquez owned and controlled the Suburban, which some unknown buyer purchased. Vasquez drove extremely slowly, and then had a nervous demeanor when CBP officers and ICE agents questioned him. Vasquez's Suburban, which requires only a single battery, had two car batteries under its hood. Moreover, the car dealer testified that the Suburban required changing the freon every two to three days in order to operate the air-conditioning, thus necessitating a check under the hood. Likewise, the photographs demonstrate how the batteries were loaded with cocaine. Finally, Vasquez's employer testified regarding Vasquez's coincidental leave of absence from Cristalina Pools. We do note that neither the government nor the defendant requested that a deliberate ignorance instruction be given, but nonetheless, the district court's instruction was supported by the evidence at trial and was a correct statement of the law.