Opinion ID: 751803
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: issues

Text: 29 On appeal, Fawley asserts that the district court committed reversible error in convicting him of perjury in violation 18 U.S.C. § 1623. Specifically, the defendant-appellant contends that: (1) the trial court abused its discretion in admitting evidence of the illegal aliens' living conditions in violation of Rules 401, 402, and 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence; (2) the district court abused its discretion in giving the jury its ostrich or conscious avoidance instruction; (3) the district court improperly rejected Fawley's requested instructions regarding Fawley's understanding of the word knowledge, and alternative language describing the requirement for a unanimous verdict in the perjury trial; and (4) not withstanding having given a limiting instruction, the trial court nevertheless abused its discretion in allowing the Government to elicit on cross-examination the fact that a witness was convicted of harboring illegal aliens in March of 1996.