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Extraction Summary
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Document Information
Type:
Legal document
File Size:
602 KB
Summary
This document is a page from a court filing (Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE), filed on December 18, 2021, which appears to be jury instructions. The text explains the legal doctrine of "conscious avoidance," instructing the jury on how they can find that a defendant acted knowingly if she deliberately avoided learning the truth about her involvement in unlawful conduct or a conspiracy. It clarifies that while conscious avoidance can establish knowledge of a conspiracy's objective, it cannot substitute for the finding that the defendant knowingly and intentionally joined the conspiracy itself.
People (1)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Defendant | Defendant |
The subject of the jury instructions, referred to with female pronouns ('her', 'she'). The instructions concern her p...
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Organizations (1)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| DOJ-OGR | Government agency |
Appears as part of a Bates number in the footer of the document (DOJ-OGR-00008596), likely indicating the Department ...
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Timeline (1 events)
Key Quotes (1)
"deliberately closing her eyes,"Source
— Unknown
(A phrase used to define a type of conduct for which a defendant can be held responsible, as part of the legal concept of conscious avoidance or willful blindness.)
DOJ-OGR-00008596.jpg
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Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (1,700 characters)
Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 563 Filed 12/18/21 Page 58 of 167
1 responsibility for her own conduct by “deliberately closing her eyes,” or remaining purposefully
2 ignorant of facts which would confirm to her that she was engaged in unlawful conduct.
3 With respect to the conspiracy counts, you must also keep in mind that there is an
4 important difference between knowingly and intentionally participating in a conspiracy, on the
5 one hand—and which I just explained to you—and knowing the specific objective of the
6 conspiracy, on the other. You may consider conscious avoidance in deciding whether the
7 Defendant knew the objective of a conspiracy, that is, whether she reasonably believed that there
8 was a high probability that a goal of the conspiracy was to commit the crime charged as objects
9 of the conspiracy and took deliberate and conscious action to avoid confirming that fact but
10 participated in the conspiracy anyway. But conscious avoidance cannot be used as a substitute
11 for finding that the Defendant knowingly and intentionally joined the conspiracy in the first
12 place. It is logically impossible for a defendant to intend and agree to join a conspiracy if she
13 does not actually know it exists.
14 In sum, if you find that the Defendant believed there was a high probability that a fact
15 was so and that the Defendant took deliberate and conscious action to avoid learning the truth of
16 that fact, you may find that the Defendant acted knowingly with respect to that fact. However, if
17 you find that the Defendant actually believed the fact was not so, then you may not find that she
18 acted knowingly with respect to that fact.
2 ignorant of facts which would confirm to her that she was engaged in unlawful conduct.
3 With respect to the conspiracy counts, you must also keep in mind that there is an
4 important difference between knowingly and intentionally participating in a conspiracy, on the
5 one hand—and which I just explained to you—and knowing the specific objective of the
6 conspiracy, on the other. You may consider conscious avoidance in deciding whether the
7 Defendant knew the objective of a conspiracy, that is, whether she reasonably believed that there
8 was a high probability that a goal of the conspiracy was to commit the crime charged as objects
9 of the conspiracy and took deliberate and conscious action to avoid confirming that fact but
10 participated in the conspiracy anyway. But conscious avoidance cannot be used as a substitute
11 for finding that the Defendant knowingly and intentionally joined the conspiracy in the first
12 place. It is logically impossible for a defendant to intend and agree to join a conspiracy if she
13 does not actually know it exists.
14 In sum, if you find that the Defendant believed there was a high probability that a fact
15 was so and that the Defendant took deliberate and conscious action to avoid learning the truth of
16 that fact, you may find that the Defendant acted knowingly with respect to that fact. However, if
17 you find that the Defendant actually believed the fact was not so, then you may not find that she
18 acted knowingly with respect to that fact.
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DOJ-OGR-00008596
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