Opinion ID: 610597
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Instruct the Jury

Text: 27 The government introduced evidence of Taylor's and Mouton's prior acts under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b). Before this evidence was introduced, Vaquero's counsel requested the court to instruct the jury that the evidence was not attributable to Vaquero. The district court refused, stating [a]t the close of all evidence, if there [are] specific instructions that need to be given regarding the use of certain tapes or certain videos regarding Mr. Vaquero, we can put that in the final charge. Vaquero argues that this refusal constitutes error. 28 A court's refusal to deliver a requested jury instruction is reversible error only if the instruction: (1) was substantially correct; (2) was not substantially covered in the charge delivered to the jury; and (3) concerned an important issue so that the failure to give it seriously impaired the defendant's ability to present a given defense. U.S. v. Duncan, 919 F.2d 981, 990 (5th Cir.1990); United States v. Burroughs, 876 F.2d 366, 369 (5th Cir.1989); United States v. Mollier, 853 F.2d 1169, 1174 (5th Cir.1988). 29 Vaquero has made no showing whatsoever that the refusal to deliver his requested instruction at the time requested constitutes reversible error. Furthermore, Vaquero failed to provide a proposed instruction to the court regarding this issue, and failed to object to the court's closing jury charge, thereby waiving any objection to the closing charge. 3 See United States v. Jacob, 781 F.2d 643, 647-648 (8th Cir.1986).