032176P.pdf   05/10/2004  United States  v.  Chase Alone IronEyes
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  03-2176
   District of North Dakota   
   Criminal case - criminal law. When a defendant presents evidence of a 
   mistake of fact and proffers a jury instruction accurately stating the law 
   on the issue, it might be a better practice to give the instruction so that 
   the jury understands exactly how subjective mistakes of fact can negate the 
   mental state required for conviction; here, however, the court's 
   instructions were adequate and no error resulted; court did not err in 
   rejecting defendant's proposed instructions on burden of proof as they 
   were not correct statements of the law; there was no evidence that the 
   police acted in bad faith in instructing victim that he could destroy a 
   damaged piece of property, and the district court did not err in denying 
   defendant's motion to dismiss based on governmental misconduct or in 
   refusing to instruct the jury they could draw an adverse influence from 
   the destruction. 
   [PUBLISHED] [M. Arnold, Author]