Opinion ID: 814677
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Fatal Variance Regarding Count Two

Text: Defendants challenge the omission of the phrase “foreign commerce” from the first element in the count two money laundering instruction. The challenged instruction states, “The elements of money laundering, as charged in the second superseding indictment, are as follows: First, an individual engaged in or attempted to engage in a monetary transaction in or affecting interstate commerce.” Defendants allege that this omission is a fatal variance rendering their conviction on that count invalid. Because Defendants did not object at trial, we review for plain error. Defendants’ challenge amounts to a “constructive amendment” claim, although Defendants do not use that term. A constructive amendment requires reversal and occurs “when the charging terms of the indictment are altered, either literally or in effect, by the prosecutor or a court after the grand jury has last passed upon them.” United States v. Hartz, 458 F.3d 1011, 1020 (9th Cir. 2006) (internal quotation marks omitted). Defendants’ argument fails for two reasons. First, the omission was cured by a later instruction on the same page that defines monetary transaction, as used in the challenged instruction, as a “deposit, withdrawal, transfer or exchange, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce.” The instructions on that same page also reference “foreign commerce” two additional times. Second, we consider the phrase “interstate or foreign commerce” to be a unitary phrase; that is, by referencing one, the other is included as UNITED STATES V . XU 39 well. See United States v. Garcia, 94 F.3d 57, 64 (9th Cir. 1996) (describing the phrase “interstate or foreign commerce” as “one concept”). Because Defendants were not convicted at trial of an offense broader than the one charged in the indictment, Defendants’ fatal variance/constructive amendment claim fails. See Hartz, 458 F.3d at 1020.