Opinion
CASE NO: 8:09-cr-373-T-26TGW.
August 23, 2010
ORDER
Pending before the Court is Defendant's Motion for New Trial in which he solely contends that this Court committed reversible error in giving the jury a deliberate ignorance instruction because there was insufficient evidence to support such an instruction with respect to whether Defendant demonstrated a conscious avoidance that he sold and distributed the substance GBL for human consumption. As the Government points out, however, even assuming error in giving the instruction, it was at most harmless error in light of the fact that the Court's instruction also advised the jury they could convict Defendant on the alternative theory of actual knowledge which the evidence amply supported. See United States v. Steed, 548 F.3d 961, 977-78 (11th Cir. 2008). Accordingly, Defendant's Motion for New Trial (Dkt. 74) is denied.
The Government marshals the facts supporting Defendant's actual knowledge that the GBL he distributed and imported into the United States was for human consumption at pages 10 and 11 of its response filed at docket 82.
DONE AND ORDERED at Tampa, Florida.