Opinion ID: 790772
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jury Instruction Regarding Financial Gain Offenses

Text: 6 Munoz first argues that the district court erroneously gave a jury instruction that relieved the government of its burden of proof on one element of the financial gain offenses. We review de novo whether a jury instruction misstated an element of the charged offense. United States v. Kaur, 382 F.3d 1155, 1157 (9th Cir.2004). 7 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii) provides enhanced penalties for an offense done for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain. In instructing the jury on the financial gain element of the offenses, the district court stated that [i]t is not necessary for the government to prove the defendant was to receive the financial gain. Munoz argues that this instruction relieved the government of its burden of proof in that it allowed the jury to convict her without finding that she had the requisite intent to benefit financially from transportation of the aliens. 8 The government argues that the instruction correctly stated the law because the statute does not require proof that Munoz was to receive any financial gain. It contends that § 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii) requires only that the defendant brought an alien to the United States for the purpose of some person's private financial gain. It is thus unnecessary, in its view, to prove that Munoz intended to derive any financial gain for herself. The government goes on to argue that, even if the jury instruction was incorrect, any error was harmless. 9 We agree with Munoz that the statute requires the government to prove that she intended to derive a financial benefit from transport of the aliens. Our previous cases touching on this issue, while not requiring the government to prove an actual payment or agreement to pay the defendant, have assumed that the statute requires proof that the defendant intended to reap a financial benefit from the alien-smuggling transaction. See United States v. Yoshida, 303 F.3d 1145, 1152 (9th Cir.2002); United States v. Angwin, 271 F.3d 786, 805 (9th Cir.2001); United States v. Dixon, 201 F.3d 1223, 1230-32 (9th Cir.2000); cf. United States v. Schemenauer, 394 F.3d 746, 751 (9th Cir.2005) (declining to address the question of whether § 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii) requires that the offense be done for the purpose of financially benefiting the defendant herself). Although another of our cases, United States v. Tsai, 282 F.3d 690 (9th Cir.2002), approved a § 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii) conviction based on intent financially to benefit someone other than the defendant, Tsai was an aiding and abetting case. In that context, it correctly relied upon a defendant's intent to aid and abet another as a principal in achieving financial gain. Id. at 697. As Munoz points out, the government here expressly declined to prosecute her under an aiding and abetting theory. We hold that, in order to impose § 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii)'s enhanced penalties on a defendant prosecuted as a principal, the government must prove that she intended to derive a financial gain from the transaction. 1 10 In the circumstances of this case, the challenged instruction effectively relieved the government of its burden of proof on the financial gain element of the offenses. The instruction implies that proof of any person's financial gain in connection with the alien's transport will satisfy the financial gain element of the offense. The record indicates that both the trial court and the prosecutor understood this to be the case. The instruction thus misstates the financial gain element of the offense in that the jury could interpret it, as the district court and the prosecutor did, to allow conviction without proof that Munoz had the requisite intent to derive a financial benefit. Accordingly, the district court erred in giving the instruction because it effectively eliminated an element of the offense. 11 Finally, we agree with Munoz that the erroneous jury instruction was not harmless. A jury instruction misstatement that omits an element of the offense is a constitutional error subject to harmless error review. Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 8-13, 119 S.Ct. 1827, 144 L.Ed.2d 35 (1999). A district court's failure properly to instruct the jury on an element of the offense is harmless if we can conclude that it is `clear beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have found the defendant guilty absent the error.' United States v. Shryock, 342 F.3d 948, 986(9th Cir.2003) (quoting United States v. Gracidas-Ulibarry, 231 F.3d 1188, 1197 (9th Cir.2000) (en banc)); see also Neder, 527 U.S. at 15-16, 119 S.Ct. 1827. Here, we cannot conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have convicted Munoz of the financial gain offenses absent the erroneous instruction because the instruction deprived her of the opportunity of arguing to the jury regarding her lack of pecuniary intent. Given that there was no evidence that Munoz ever received or would have received money in connection with the aliens' transport, she may have been able to convince a properly instructed jury that reasonable doubt existed as to her intent. Therefore, the erroneous instruction was not harmless error. 12 Accordingly, we reverse Munoz's conviction on the two financial gain counts.