Opinion ID: 2811263
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pinkerton Jury Instruction

Text: Madrid also challenges the district court’s jury charge regarding Count 2, contending that the judge failed to adequately inform the jury that, under Pinkerton, he may only be convicted of crimes completed by his coconspirators where those acts were “in furtherance and as a foreseeable consequence of that conspiracy.” See Pattern Jury Instructions: Fifth Circuit, Criminal Cases, §2.22 (2012) (emphasis added). Madrid and the government dispute whether he preserved this issue for review and, thus, debate whether our review should be for an abuse of discretion or for plain error. Because we conclude that Madrid has not demonstrated reversible error under either standard of review, we will assume arguendo that Madrid adequately preserved the error and analyze the issue under an abuse of discretion standard. See, e.g., United States v. Richardson, 676 F.3d 491, 506 (5th Cir. 2012). Assuming arguendo that the district court’s Pinkerton instruction here amounted to an abuse of discretion, any error in the jury charge was harmless and, therefore, does not require that we vacate Madrid’s conviction on Count 2. See generally United States v. Nguyen, 493 F.3d 613, 622 (5th Cir. 2007) 32 Case: 13-50414 Document: 00513091274 Page: 33 Date Filed: 06/24/2015 No. 13-50414 (“An error in a jury instruction is subject to harmless error review.”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). As noted above, because of the fiveyear statute of limitations, the district court limited the acts charged under Count 2 to the payment from Garcia to Zavala on December 21, 2006, and the payment from Zavala to Briones on December 23, 2006. With a proper Pinkerton charge, the jury would have been instructed to convict Madrid of Count 2, the substantive count charging Madrid with the bribery of Briones, only if it found beyond a reasonable doubt that these two monetary transactions were acts committed by Madrid’s coconspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy. The evidence overwhelmingly established that Garcia’s purpose in hand-delivering Zavala the $3,000 check on December 21, 2006, and Zavala’s delivery of $2,000 to Briones on December 23, 2006, was to funnel money to Briones to further the conspiracy to pay Briones in exchange for her support in the maintenance and renewal of the LKG contract. Accordingly, assuming error in the district court’s jury charge, based on our review of the record, “we are convinced that the error could not have affected the outcome of the case,” United States v. Montgomery, 747 F.3d 303, 309 (5th Cir. 2014), and, therefore, any error in the Pinkerton charge is harmless.