Opinion ID: 788340
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Nature of evidence and legal concepts involved

Text: 141 Baker's reference to the competence of the ordinary juror came from its consideration of a Second Circuit case on severance, where that court opined: 142 There is no support in caselaw or in logic for the proposition that a lengthy trial, a large number and variety of charges, and numerous defendants violate due process without a showing that the issues were actually beyond the jury's competence. No such showing was made in the instant matter. The crimes here may have been large in number and variety, but they were rather ordinary in nature, except in their viciousness. The evidence could also be understood without difficulty, the alleged complexity stemming more from the abundance of evidence than from the subtlety of the analysis needed to consider it. 143 DiNome, 954 F.2d at 842 (quoted in Baker, 10 F.3d at 1388). Although the inclusion of several RICO and VICAR counts make this case more difficult in terms of the legal concepts involved than was true for Baker and the Second Circuit cases that it cites, the predicate or underlying crimes alleged are well within the ability of the ordinary juror to understand. See Baker, 10 F.3d at 1388 (holding that [d]rug manufacturing and distribution, even on such a large scale as in this case, is not beyond the competence of the ordinary juror). Moreover, given the district court's careful and detailed instructions on the elements the prosecution must prove in order to establish a violation of the RICO and VICAR statutes, the repetition of some of these instructions on the jury verdict form, and the jury's selective verdict on several counts and predicate acts within the racketeering count, we conclude that the jurors were able to understand the fundamental elements of the racketeering-related offenses and apply them to the evidence presented at trial.