Opinion ID: 155016
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: d efense t heory

Text: Dashney next argues that the district court denied him the right to have his theory of the case submitted to the jury. In particular, Dashney contends that because the district court refused to instruct the jury that knowledge of illegality is an element of a structuring defense, the court did not permit him to pursue this as his principal theory of defense. We have reviewed the record and conclude that Dashney had ample opportunity to pursue the defense that he had no knowledge of the illegality of structuring. During a pre-trial hearing, the district court explicitly informed Dashney’s attorney that “[t]he defendant will get [a] full opportunity to argue that—either that he had no knowledge, or that it wasn’t for the purpose of - 14 - evading, or that it wasn’t willful, or whatever other defenses he wishes to assert.” R. Vol. II at 29. At trial, Dashney defended in part by claiming he did not know his structuring was illegal. He testified that he thought his earnings were reported to the government by the casino. He testified that he was concerned about the “bureaucratic problems” which might arise from having the same money reported to the government again when he bought cashier’s checks. During crossexamination of Dashney’s broker, the defense asked whether he had the impression that Dashney thought he could legally do what he wanted with the cash. The broker responded affirmatively, supporting Dashney’s theory that he acted without knowledge that structuring was illegal. Finally, as discussed above, the district court instructed the jury that it must find that Dashney acted with the bad purpose to disobey the law. In fact, Instruction No. 20 stated: It is the defendant’s theory of the case that the defendant believed that Mirage Casino filed with the Federal Government the financial records of his gaming activities. Therefore, it was the defendant’s belief that the Federal Government would have sufficient records of his financial information regarding his profits from gaming activity at the Mirage and that no further reports needed to be filled out at the financial institutions with regard to the money he had won. Because the defendant asserts he believed he need not fill out further reports regarding the money he had won, he asserts he did not have the necessary specific intent to do something the law forbids; that is to say, with bad purpose to either disobey or disregard the law. - 15 - (Emphasis added). Dashney’s defense counsel in his closing then told the jury what the government had to prove in order to convict Dashney of structuring: The judge is going to instruct you as to what specific intent is. As such, the Government is going to have to prove that Mr. Dashney did this for a bad purpose, to disobey the law or disregard it. That’s the specific intent they have to prove. R. Vol. IX at 450. We have reviewed the record and conclude that Dashney had ample opportunity to present his theory of defense to the jury. Not only did he have the opportunity, Dashney actually relied at trial on the theory that he lacked knowledge that structuring was illegal. The jury simply rejected that argument.