Opinion ID: 585638
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Willfulness Instructions

Text: 13 The court correctly instructed the jury on the element of willfulness. The court, in pertinent part, stated: 14 The attempt to evade or defeat the tax must be a willful attempt. That is to say, it must be an attempt made voluntarily and intentionally with the specific intent to keep from the government a tax imposed by the income tax laws which it was the legal duty of the accused to pay to the government and which the accused knew it was his legal duty to pay. 15 .... 16 Although direct proof of the defendant's intent to evade taxes is rarely available, you may infer the defendant's willfulness from all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the defendant's failure to report income to his accountant or on his income tax return. 17 .... 18 ... [Y]ou may consider all of the surrounding facts and circumstances such as defendant's knowledge and sophistication ... and other factors you consider relevant to his state of mind. 19 Reporter's Transcript [R.T.] 6/20/91 at 114-117. Fuentes argues that these instructions misled the jury to consider only his failure to report income to his accountant or on his income tax return in determining willfulness, and implied that no other information about his state of mind was relevant to this determination. We disagree. The instructions explicitly invite the jury to consider all of the facts and circumstances surrounding Fuentes' failure to report, including factors ... relevant to his state of mind. The court did not abuse its discretion in giving these instructions.