United States Seventh Circuit

Conviction for wire fraud is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not err in giving the conscious or deliberate avoidance instruction as substantial evidence showed defendant deliberately avoided learning the truth; 2) the court did not err in refusing to include negligence language, and the jury was appropriately instructed that it could not convict absent a finding that defendant acted knowingly; and 3) any error in the instructions was harmless given the extensive evidence of defendant's direct knowledge.

Appellate Information

• Argued 02/27/2009
• Decided 08/03/2009
• Published 08/03/2009

Judges

• TINDER, Circuit Judge., Before MANION, ROVNER, and TINDER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Matthew Burke (argued), Office of the United States Trustee, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee., Gary J. Ravitz (argued), Attorney, Ravitz & Palles, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.