Opinion ID: 676118
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Response to the Jury's Question

Text: 12 In another effort to challenge the verdict rendered on Count VII, Patel challenges the district court's treatment of a question asked by the jury during deliberations. The jury sent the following question to the district judge: If defendant is found guilty of [giving a] gratuity to a public official, does that automatically make him not guilty of Counts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5? Counsel for both parties were consulted, and they agreed upon the following answer, which was delivered by the court: 13 My answer to your question is, no, it does not automatically make the defendant not guilty of those counts. You will still be required to consider each of those counts separately and, in considering those counts, I would just instruct you to consider the previous instructions that were given to you about the definitions of scheme to defraud, intent to defraud, as well as all the other instructions the Court has given to you and all the evidence, but that the lesser included offense of gratuity does not automatically result in a not guilty in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. 14 Although he agreed to this answer at the time it was given, Patel now argues that the court's answer was insufficient for failing to tell the jury that its verdict on each count should reflect deliberations that take into consideration all of the offenses separately. We review this mutually-agreed upon instruction for plain error, which allows Patel relief only if (1) the district court made an error, (2) the error was plain or obvious, and (3) it affected the outcome of the trial. United States v. Olano, --- U.S. ----, ---- - ----, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1777-78, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993). 15 We are hard pressed to find anything wrong with the district court's answer. The court's answer is a correct statement of law (as recognized by the parties at the time it was discussed), and the language now favored by Patel is somewhat confusing as it seemingly contradicts the court's instruction to consider each count separately.