Opinion ID: 527868
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Use of the Objectively Reasonable Standard

Text: 18 All of the crimes of which Cheek was convicted require willfulness. In United States v. Pomponio, 429 U.S. 10, 97 S.Ct. 22, 50 L.Ed.2d 12 (1976), the Supreme Court held that willfully in the context of the Internal Revenue Code simply means a voluntary, intentional violation of a known legal duty. Id. at 12, 97 S.Ct. at 23. Under the proper circumstances, however, a good faith misunderstanding of the law may negate willfulness. See, e.g., United States v. Bressler, 772 F.2d 287, 290 (7th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1082, 106 S.Ct. 852, 88 L.Ed.2d 892 (1986). Cheek argues that the district court erred in instructing the jury that such a good faith misunderstanding of the law must be objectively reasonable. Cheek contends that every other circuit that has ruled on the issue of whether a good faith misunderstanding of the law must be objectively reasonable has decided to the contrary, and has adhered to a subjective standard of reasonableness. See, e.g., United States v. Whiteside, 810 F.2d 1306, 1310 (5th Cir.1987); United States v. Phillips, 775 F.2d 262, 264 (10th Cir.1985); United States v. Aitken, 755 F.2d 188, 191 (1st Cir.1985); Cooley v. United States, 501 F.2d 1249, 1253 n. 4 (9th Cir.1974), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1123, 95 S.Ct. 809, 42 L.Ed.2d 824 (1975); Yarborough v. United States, 230 F.2d 56, 61 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 351 U.S. 969, 76 S.Ct. 1034, 100 L.Ed. 1487 (1956); Battjes v. United States, 172 F.2d 1, 4 (6th Cir.1949); see also United States v. Kraeger, 711 F.2d 6, 7 (2d Cir.1983) (good faith misunderstanding of the law negates willfulness, but a good faith disagreement does not); United States v. Ingredient Technology Corp., 698 F.2d 88, 97 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 462 U.S. 1131, 103 S.Ct. 3111, 77 L.Ed.2d 1366 (1983) (defendant's subjective intent is a jury question). 19 Regardless of what the other circuits have ruled on this issue, this circuit has, in recent years, emphatically adhered to the objectively reasonable standard. See, e.g., United States v. Buckner, 830 F.2d 102, 103 (7th Cir.1987); United States v. Davenport, 824 F.2d 1511, 1517-18 (7th Cir.1987); Bressler, 772 F.2d at 290; United States v. Moore, 627 F.2d 830, 833 (7th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 916, 101 S.Ct. 1360, 67 L.Ed.2d 342 (1981). To the extent that this court's opinion in United States v. Dack, 747 F.2d 1172, 1175 (7th Cir.1984) could be interpreted to mean that an objectively unreasonable belief can negate willfulness, our later cases have made it clear that this is not so. Thus, the district court did not err in instructing the jury that an objectively reasonable good faith misunderstanding of the law negates willfulness.