Court Opinion

ID: 9486374
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:46:34.82526+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:41.675824
License: Public Domain

SILER, Circuit Judge:
Defendant Harry Armondo Dorri appeals his conviction for soliciting a bribe pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 201(b)(2)(A). The only issue on appeal is whether the district court erred by failing to respond more explicitly to an inquiry by a deliberating jury concerning the definition of the word “corruptly.” Finding no error, we affirm the ruling of the district court.
THE FACTS
Dorri was an employee of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Seta Sar-rafian is an alien who was applying to the INS for a permanent residency card, or “green card.” Defendant told Sarrafian several times by telephone that if she paid him $1,000 he could guarantee the processing of her green card application. In addition, defendant attempted to use Sarrafian to solicit *890bribes on his behalf from other resident aliens who were applying for green cards. However, unknown to him, some of the calls were recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and he was eventually indicted and tried for violating 18 U.S.C. § 201(b)(2)(A), by “corruptly ... seeking] ... anything of value ... in return for ... being influenced in the performance of any official act.”
Later, in an interview with the FBI, defendant denied soliciting anything of value for himself while he worked for the INS. He also denied soliciting money from Sarrafian for the processing of her application. However, once he was confronted with the taped conversations, he admitted that he had been conducting his own personal investigation of Sarrafian to prove that she had submitted a fraudulent application and would bribe him. At trial, he testified at length about conducting this secret, unauthorized investigation of Sarrafian. He stated that he had no intent to keep the money that he requested from Sarrafian.
The court’s instructions to the jury included the following three essential elements of the crime charged:
One: The defendant demanded, sought, or received something of value as described in the indictment;
Two: The defendant was, at that time, a public official of the United States or was acting on behalf of the United States; and
Three: The defendant demanded, sought or received the item of value corruptly in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act.
This was derived from 2 Edward J. Devitt & Charles B. Blackmar, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions § 25.06 (4th ed. 1990).
The court further instructed the jury from Ninth Circuit Model Jury Instruction No. 3.14:
An act is “corruptly” done if it is done voluntarily and intentionally to bring about either an unlawful result or a lawful result by some unlawful method with a hope or expectation of either financial gain or other benefit to one’s self or to another.
The jury was also instructed that it was “not a defense to the crime of bribery ... that the demand of something of value was made by the public official to influence an official act which is actually lawful, desirable or even beneficial to the public [or] that the public official did not have the authority, power, or ability to perform the act for which the thing of value was demanded or sought.” This came from 2 Devitt & Blackmar, Federal Jury Practice & Instructions §§ 25.11, 25.12 (4th ed. 1990).
Defense counsel did not tender a proposed jury instruction concerning the word “corruptly,” nor did he object to the instructions given pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 30..
During deliberations, the jury sent a note to the court, asking for a clarification on the word “corruptly.” The court then consulted with counsel. The only suggestion to the court by defense counsel was that the jury was just looking for clarity in the instruction on the word “corruptly.” He suggested the court use language from United States v. Strand, 574 F.2d 993, 996 (9th Cir.1978), that “[a]n act is ‘corruptly’ done if done voluntarily and intentionally, and with the bad purpose of accomplishing either an unlawful end or result, or a lawful end or result by some unlawful method or means.” Thereafter, the court responded to the jury by saying:
The instruction is the law, and remember what I said, to the extent that you perceive there to be a gap between the law and the facts as you see them, that’s what all those common sense instructions were about.
If it makes sense and you think it’s possible to deal with that perceived gap just by filling it, collectively, then I think that’s the best thing. This is the right instruction, it’s hard to clarify it.
Essentially, then, the court advised the jury to follow the instructions previously given.
THE LAW
The defendant contends that the court erred by failing to clarify the word “corruptly” when the jury specifically asked about it. If the defendant wanted an instruction supporting his theory of the ease, that is, that he was operating his own sting, he should have *891proposed an instruction rejecting the theory that ambition for advancement would suffice as a corrupt motive. However, he made no tender of an instruction before the jury retired to deliberate.
Had the jury not made an inquiry, any flaw in the instruction would be reviewed by this court only for plain error. See United States v. Varela, 993 F.2d 686, 688 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 114 S.Ct. 232, 126 L.Ed.2d 186 (1993). Nevertheless, when a jury requests a clarification on the instructions, the parties have an opportunity to object, and an objection made at that time would preserve any error on appeal. See United States v. Lane, 708 F.2d 1394, 1397 (9th Cir.1983). However, the requirement under Fed.R.Crim.P. 30 still applies. That is, counsel must state “distinctly the matter to which that party objects and the grounds of the objection.” Otherwise, if the party just objects, the court would be at a loss to know the reasons for it. The trial court, not the appellate court, should have the first opportunity to correct the mistake.
In the case at bar, defense counsel made his objection, but he did not articulate it sufficiently for the court to give a valid clarification to the jury. The only significant difference between the original instructions and the language that defense counsel proposed from United States v. Strand is the addition of the words “bad purpose,” which defense counsel could not define. As the trial judge correctly pointed out, telling the jury “corruptly” meant “bad purpose” would have given them no additional help. Therefore, the defendant did not comply with Rule 30 by stating distinctly the matter to which he was objecting and giving the grounds of his objection. The factual situation here is similar to that in Varela, 993 F.2d at 688, where defense counsel proposed no “alternate formulation” to the instructions that the defendant preferred. As in Varela, the court here gave appropriate original instructions. However, in Varela, the court gave a supplemental instruction; here, it declined to do so. Nevertheless, in both cases, counsel did not comply with Rule 30.
Therefore, the ruling of the district court should be reviewed on a “plain error” basis. Under the circumstances, it was not plain error for the court to give no clarifying instructions. See United States v. Kessi, 868 F.2d 1097, 1102 (9th Cir.1989) (general objection insufficient). Plain error is error that is clear under current law and must affect substantial rights of the defendant. The burden is on the defendant to establish that the error was prejudicial. If these elements are established, the court of appeals should correct a plain error affecting substantial rights if it “ ‘seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.’” United States v. Olano, — U.S. -,-, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1779, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993) (quoting United States v. Atkinson, 297 U.S. 157, 160, 56 S.Ct. 391, 392, 80 L.Ed. 555 (1936)). Thus, plain error is “found only in exceptional circumstances.” United States v. Harris, 738 F.2d 1068, 1072 (9th Cir.1984). This case does not present those exceptional circumstances.
Here, no one seemed to be overly concerned about the specificity of the word “corruptly,” until the trial was over.1 This concern ripened into a motion for a new trial after defense counsel had spoken with a juror who told him that the word was a primary concern for them. At trial, the prosecutor did not argue that Dorri would be guilty even if he acted only for professional advancement, so the judge was not on notice that it would be a troublesome issue.2 Thus, it was incumbent upon defense counsel to *892articulate the problem with particularity, so that the court could make an appropriate ruling. The “bad purpose” language defense counsel had suggested would not have assisted the jury in rejecting the erroneous notion that desire for professional advancement was “corrupt.”
We have no quarrel with the dissent’s very eloquent explanation of the law of bribery. If defense counsel had demonstrated just a little of this eloquence in timely fashion, the jury might have been instructed differently and we would not have had this issue to decide. But this did not happen, as counsel did not comply with Rule 30.
Additionally, although Bollenbach v. United States, 326 U.S. 607, 612-13, 66 S.Ct. 402, 405, 90 L.Ed. 350 (1946), held that the court should clear up the difficulties which a jury may have, nevertheless, the giving of supplemental instructions lies within the discretion of the trial court. United States v. Solomon, 825 F.2d 1292, 1295 (9th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1046, 108 S.Ct. 782, 98 L.Ed.2d 868 (1988). There was no abuse of discretion here.
Therefore, for either the reason that the trial court did not commit plain error by refusing to clarify the instruction after the inquiry by the jury, or because the failure of the court to give supplemental instructions was not an abuse of discretion, we find no reversible error under the circumstances of this case.
AFFIRMED.

. The dissent at p. 1202 n. 3 doesn’t understand this sentence. The explanation that there was little concern about the word "corruptly” until the trial was over is simple but may be just a semantic difference: I consider the trial to be completed when a jury begins its deliberation. If one thinks the trial was not over until the jury verdict, then obviously there was some concern about the word “corruptly” prior to the termination of the case, but it was not raised by a proposed jury instruction or by objection to the court’s original instructions.

. Similarly, the dissent at p. 893 n. 3 has some trouble with this sentence. The trial judge had no notice of the magnitude of this issue (defining "corruptly”) because defense counsel did not submit proposed instructions or object before the jury was originally charged.