Opinion ID: 757025
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Inclusion of the Pinkerton Charge

Text: 287 Ajaj and Abouhalima each contend that the district court erroneously instructed the jury that they could be convicted on Counts Two to Six and Eight to Ten under a Pinkerton theory of liability. The court instructed the jury that [i]f in light of my instructions you find beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant was a member of the conspiracy charged in Count One and, thus, guilty on the conspiracy count, then you may also, but you are not required, to find him guilty of any or all of the substantive crimes charged in Counts Two through Six and Counts Eight through Ten. 288 The district court then set forth the elements of the Pinkerton analysis: 289 First, the crime charged in the substantive count, that is, Counts Two through Six and Counts Eight through Ten was, in fact, committed. 290 Second, that the person or persons you find actually committed the crime were members of the conspiracy you found to have existed. 291 Third, that the substantive crime was committed pursuant to the common plan and understanding you found to exist among the conspirators. 292 Fourth, that the defendant was a member of the conspiracy at the time the substantive crime was committed. 293 And, fifth, that the defendant could have reasonably foreseen the substantive crime committed by his co-conspirators. 294 Neither Ajaj nor Abouhalima object to the substance of the district court's Pinkerton charge but each offers slightly different criticisms of that charge. Ajaj argues that the charge was improper in light of the absence of independent evidence supporting his membership in the conspiracy. Lacking such evidence, Ajaj argues that the district court's Pinkerton instruction improperly invited the jury to engage in an inverse-Pinkerton  analysis whereby the jury inferred Ajaj's participation in the conspiracy from the commission of the substantive offenses. Abouhalima, offering a similar argument, contends that because there was insufficient evidence that he agreed specifically to bomb the World Trade Center, the court's Pinkerton instruction invited the jury to engage in an inverse-Pinkerton  analysis. Abouhalima's argument rests on the premise that the object of the conspiracy charged in the indictment was a scheme to bomb the World Trade Center. We disagree and affirm the propriety of the court's charge. 295 Under the Pinkerton doctrine, a jury [may] find a defendant guilty on a substantive count without specific evidence that he committed the act charged if it is clear that the offense had been committed, that it had been committed in the furtherance of an unlawful conspiracy, and that the defendant was a member of that conspiracy. United States v. Miley, 513 F.2d 1191, 1208 (2d Cir.1975) (citing Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 645, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946)). We have cautioned that the Pinkerton charge should not be given as a matter of course and in particular where the evidence is such that the jury is required to resort to the inverse of Pinkerton and infer the existence of a conspiracy from the series of disparate criminal offenses. United States v. Corr, 543 F.2d 1042, 1050 (2d Cir.1976); see Gleason, 616 F.2d at 19; United States v. Sperling, 506 F.2d 1323, 1342 (2d Cir.1974) (improper to give Pinkerton charge when the conspiracy ... must be inferred largely from the series of criminal offenses committed); United States v. Cantone, 426 F.2d 902, 904-05 (2d Cir.1970). 296 Contrary to Ajaj's argument, the government presented ample evidence of Ajaj's membership in the conspiracy that bombed the World Trade Center. The government presented evidence that: (1) Ajaj traveled to the Middle East to obtain terrorist training; (2) Ajaj and Yousef studied the construction of explosive devices in the Middle East; (3) Ajaj and Yousef conspired to enter the United States illegally in furtherance of their plot to bomb buildings and vehicles in the United States; and (4) Ajaj remained in close contact with Yousef after his incarceration. See infra Part VII.B. (discussing Ajaj's sufficiency of evidence argument). Given the ample evidence supporting Ajaj's conspiracy conviction, the district court's Pinkerton charge did not invite the jury to engage in an inverse-Pinkerton  analysis. See United States v. Harwood, 998 F.2d 91, 100 (2d Cir.1993). Indeed, the district court cautiously instructed the jury that Ajaj could be found guilty of the substantive crimes only after the jury had concluded that he was a conspirator. 297 Furthermore, Abouhalima's argument is predicated on the flawed premise that the object of the conspiracy was to bomb the World Trade Center. The indictment, however, alleged four separate objectives, none of which required the government to prove that the defendant was aware of the specific target of the bombing conspiracy. Accordingly, Abouhalima's inverse-Pinkerton  argument is misplaced. Given the ample evidence of Abouhalima's knowing participation in the conspiracy's objectives, the court's Pinkerton charge was appropriate. See infra Part VII.C. (discussing Abouhalima's challenge to the sufficiency of evidence). 298