Opinion ID: 474874
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Implication of Insufficiency in the Dismissal of Count I.

Text: 104 Allen argues that the district court's remarks to the jury when the court announced the dismissal of Count I implied that the evidence was insufficient to convict the defendant. Count I charged Allen of conspiracy with Pat McAtee, a co-defendant who had been severed from the trial, to transport the explosives in interstate commerce. The district court granted Allen's motion for judgment of acquittal as to Count I and just prior to closing arguments stated to the jury: 105 Members of the jury, the testimony has all been presented and the court has taken up several matters with the attorneys for the parties and the Court has determined that there is insufficient [evidence] to submit this matter to you ladies and gentlemen with regard to count 1, the conspiracy charge between the defendant Allen and the defendant McAtee. 106 The Court nevertheless will submit the case to you ladies and gentlemen on Counts 2, 3, 4 and 5 and we're ready now for closing arguments to be made by the attorneys for the parties. 107 Allen's motion for a mistrial, on the theory that the language the district court used implied to the jury that there was enough evidence to convict Allen on counts two through five, was denied. We affirm. 108 Allen makes no claim that the district court erroneously instructed the jury in the elements of the offense, reasonable doubt, or burden of proof. The district court followed the Seventh Circuit Pattern Instruction 1.03 and cautioned the jury that, 109 Neither by these instructions nor by any ruling or remark which I have made, do I mean to indicate any opinion as to the facts or as to what your verdict should be. You are the sole and exclusive judges of the facts. 110 In the context of a trial where most of the salient facts were not in dispute (because the defendant's defense was coercion and entrapment), the instructions as a whole did not imply that the evidence was sufficient to convict on the other counts. 111