Court Opinion

ID: 9463720
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:14:13.370236+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:14.965417
License: Public Domain

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
While concurring in Part I of the opinion, I would hold that it was error to give the Jewell instruction on these facts.
The majority makes a commendable attempt to limit use of the instruction by confining it to the rare case. But this case should not be so characterized. The prosecution offered no proof, either in its case in chief or on rebuttal, that would show that the defendant, in order to concoct a defense to potential criminal charges, deliberately chose to avoid learning about the contraband. The willful blindness theory was injected into the case only during the prosecution’s closing argument. The facts cited by the majority to justify the instruction are consistent with a finding that the defendant was fully aware of the nature of *1326his cargo; indeed, the case was tried on that theory.
The Jewell instruction should not be given unless the evidence can sustain a finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant purposely contrived to avoid learning all of the facts in order to have a defense in the event of being arrested and charged. To permit the Jewell instruction here is to permit it in any number of smuggling cases. The danger is that juries will avoid questions of scienter and convict under the standards analogous to negligence. Such convictions are wholly inconsistent with the statutory requirement of scienter. For these reasons, I would reverse.