Opinion ID: 576300
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Huguez-Ibarra's Requested Jury Instruction

Text: 34 Huguez-Ibarra asserts that the court erred in refusing to give the jury an instruction which would have allowed him to be convicted of possession of less than 500 grams of cocaine. 35 Huguez-Ibarra's theory of the case at the beginning of the trial was to ask the jury to find him guilty only of possession of the drugs he was caught dumping in the toilet and not conspiracy or possession of the three pounds in the safe. The district court refused to instruct the jury on possession of the cocaine recovered from the toilet because the indictment did not charge Huguez-Ibarra with possession of that cocaine. Instead, both Appellants were charged with conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute the three pounds of cocaine found in the safe. 36 We see no grounds for granting the request for instructing the jury on a crime unconnected with the charges in the indictment. The prosecution enjoys broad discretion in choosing what charges to bring against criminal defendants. Since the government did not charge Huguez-Ibarra with possession of the approximately 74 grams of cocaine recovered from the toilet, the jury could not have rationally convicted him of possession of that cocaine, and consequently there was no error in the refusal to instruct the jury on the lesser charge. 7 See Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932); United States v. Gonzalez, 800 F.2d 895, 897 (9th Cir.1986).