Opinion ID: 692299
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Instructions and Permissive Inferences and Mandatory Presumptions

Text: 32 Waldemer continues to direct our attention to the inferences the prosecution sought to draw about his motives by attacking Instruction No. 10, which informed the jury as follows: 33 Under federal law, it is improper for a union official to accept any union campaign contributions from any employer. Specifically, federal law provides that no moneys of an employer shall be contributed or applied to promote the candidacy of any person in any election. This law applies even where the contribution may have been minimal. 34 I want to caution you that the defendant is not charged in this indictment with receiving improper payments of union campaign expenses. I want to instruct you that you may only consider this instruction in determining the defendant's intent and state of mind in answering questions before the grand jury. 35 Waldemer charges that this instruction is unconstitutional because it creates for the jury either an irrational permissive inference or a mandatory presumption. A permissive inference is an inference that the instructions allow the jury to make from the evidence. An irrational permissive inference instruction tells the jury to infer facts from the evidence that run counter to logic and common sense. Francis v. Franklin, 471 U.S. 307, 315, 105 S.Ct. 1965, 1971, 85 L.Ed.2d 344 (1985). Courts may not instruct juries that they may make irrational permissive inferences. Id. A mandatory presumption occurs where an instruction requires the jury to presume the existence of an ultimate fact, one that is an element of the offense charged, from the proof of a predicate, or non-element, fact. Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 523, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 2459, 61 L.Ed.2d 39 (1979). Such an instruction unconstitutionally shifts the burden of proof from the government to the defendant. Id. 36 Because Waldemer raises these arguments for the first time in his appeal, we review Instruction No. 10 for plain error only. In our typical review of constitutional challenges to jury instructions, we examine whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury has applied the challenged instruction in a way that violates the constitution. Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 72, 112 S.Ct. 475, 482, 116 L.Ed.2d 385 (1991). We look at the charge as a whole and, [i]f they are fair and accurate summaries of the law, the instructions will not be disturbed on appeal. United States v. Abdelkoui, 19 F.3d 1178, 1182 (7th Cir.1994) (citation omitted). Therefore, we will reverse only if we find both that Instruction No. 10 was so plainly erroneous as to render unfair the entire charge and that its errors probably led the jury to miscarry justice in convicting Waldemer. 37 Waldemer argues that Instruction No. 10 encouraged the jury to make an impermissible inference in that it fallibly argued that Waldemer had a motive to lie to the grand jury. The prosecution's argument was that, because Waldemer knew it was against the law for him to accept union campaign and business reimbursements from any employer, he lied to the grand jury about receiving such reimbursements from the Kassly Law Firm in order to avoid detection. The argument was fallible, Waldemer contends, because accepting such reimbursements, while legally improper, was not punishable by criminal or civil sanctions. So the most Waldemer apparently had to lose from telling the grand jury that he received the reimbursements was the remaining one month of his term as union legislative representative. 38 Such a cost hardly seems worth the risk of lying to the grand jury, we agree. But that only means that Waldemer miscalculated the risks involved. Waldemer wants us to find that, because the cost of telling the grand jury that he received the payments was so low, it would be illogical to conclude that he told them otherwise in order to avoid those costs. Implicit in Waldemer's argument is that the reason he told the grand jury that he did not receive the reimbursements was that he was telling the truth. The trouble with this theory is that Waldemer posits it to us rather than the jury. 39 We find it reasonable to conclude that, although in retrospect the price for admitting that he accepted improper reimbursements from Kassly Law Firm was low, Waldemer may have miscalculated that price to be so high as to be worth the risk of lying to the grand jury. This is not the only logical outcome one may deduce from the facts, but it is plausible. It is the jury's province to decide which inferences to believe. The inference that the instructions allowed did not push the jury into a non sequitur. 40 Waldemer argues in the alternative that the instruction mandatorily presumed that he knew that receiving union campaign and business expenses was legally improper. He reasons that, because the prosecutor argued that he knew of this statute, the jury could reasonably conclude that it was required to find that Waldemer knew of the prohibition against such reimbursements. 41 We do not find this argument persuasive. The instruction, as with the government's final argument, merely discusses a possible state of mind and intent relating to Waldemer's testimony. Waldemer was free to dissuade the jury from reaching the conclusion permitted by the instruction. The defendant may not reach through us what it failed to reach through the jury. We find that this instruction does not present a reasonable likelihood that the jury would have presumed that Waldemer knew of the labor law statute. 42 The propriety of the instructions, however, may turn on whether they introduce extraneous concerns that interfere with the jury's focus on the central issue of the case. We have found erroneous an instruction that articulated a regulatory predicate for a felony where the regulation did not apply to the defendant. Abdelkoui, 19 F.3d at 1182-83. In Abdelkoui, we concluded that a food stamp regulation that applied to grocers was inapposite to a small tire and used automobile merchant on trial for illegally dealing in food stamps. Id. The government in that case argued that the instruction went to the defendant's mental state at the time he engaged in the felonious transactions, but we concluded that the instruction was of no help to the jury in determining the defendant's guilt. Id. The instruction was not helpful because the grocer's regulation would not likely have informed the defendant's conduct. 1 43 As the government admits, Instruction No. 10 has nothing to do with any elements of the offense; it merely instructs the jury as to a possible motive. But Abdelkoui is distinguishable from this case because here a reasonable juror could conclude that the labor law in question may have informed Waldemer's conduct. Although Waldemer denied knowing of the prohibition against receiving reimbursements for union campaign and business expenses from employers, he practiced labor law, participated extensively in union activities, and held union offices. Instruction No. 10 provided reasonable context for the jury to understand the world in which Waldemer operated. It did not digress from the proper focus of the case. 44 Furthermore, the limitations of the instruction hedged against any unfairly prejudicial impact on the jury. The instruction at issue in Abdelkoui did not limit the instruction's role in the jury's deliberations. A statement of the law that does not directly bear on the crime with which the defendant is charged and which also does not circumscribe its usefulness may indeed unfairly prejudice the defendant. Here, the jury was told the limited purpose of the instruction: it was a contextual guide. The jurors were free to accept or reject it as such. See Ulster County Court v. Allen, 442 U.S. 140, 157, 99 S.Ct. 2213, 2225, 60 L.Ed.2d 777 (1979) (finding that burden of proof does not shift where the instruction leaves finder of fact to accept or reject the inference). 45 As for the defendant's presumption of innocence and the government's burden of proof, other instructions took care of these necessary cautions to the jury. Instruction No. 10 was not erroneous and did not, therefore, induce a miscarriage of justice.