United States Fifth Circuit

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and obstruction of justice convictions of two executives at an American company that exported rice to Haiti and paid Haitian officials to reduce duties and taxes on their rice, are affirmed over claims of error that: 1) the FCPA failed to give fair notice that defendants' conduct was illegal and that proceeding to trial with a late arriving clarification of the FCPA violated their due process rights; 2) the district court failed to adequately instruct the jury on the element of willfulness and thus gave improper instructions as to mens rea; 3) the district court allowed the jury to convict based on a defective indictment that omitted the element of willfulness; 4) the indictment was defective on other grounds; 5) the evidence was insufficient to convict; 6) the district court abused its discretion by refusing to give a requested good-faith jury instruction on the obstruction count; 7) the district court erred in refusing to admit certain evidence; 8) a defendant's Fifth Amendment protections were violated; and 9) a decision to increase a sentence by two levels for an abuse of trust was error.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/24/2007
• Published 10/25/2007

Judges

• PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:, Before HIGGINBOTHAM, BARKSDALE and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Joseph Charles Wyderko (argued), Crim. Div., Ellen R. Meltzer, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, James Lee Turner, Asst. U.S. Atty., Houston, TX, for U.S., Reid H. Weingarten, Brian Matthew Heberlig, Bruce C. Bishop (argued), David M. Fragale, Steptoe & Johnson, Washington, DC, for Kay., Kevin K. Russell, Thomas C. Goldstein (argued), Goldstein & Howe, Washington, DC, for Murphy., John D. Cline, Peter E. Davids, Jones Day, San Francisco, CA, William E. Rittenberg, Rittenberg, Samuel & Phillips, New Orleans, LA, for Nat. Ass'n of Crim. Def. Lawyers, Amicus Curiae.