United States v. Vernon Newson

MEMORANDUM

Vernon Newson appeals his conviction for assisting in the preparation and presentation of false income tax returns. See 26 U.S.C. § 7206 (2). We affirm.

Newson asserts that the district court erred when it refused to instruct the jury that the jurors had to unanimously agree that a particular deduction was willfully false before they could agree that he had willfully assisted in preparing or presenting an income tax return with false matter. See id. We disagree.

Certainly a defendant cannot be convicted of a crime unless the jury’s verdict is unanimous, which means that the jurors must agree that all elements of the offense have been proved. However, that does not mean that the jurors must agree on the “ ‘preliminary factual issues which underlie the verdict.’ ” Schad v. Arizona, 501 U.S. 624, 632 , 111 S.Ct. 2491, 2497 , 115 L.Ed.2d 555 (1991). Of course, jurors cannot be instructed that a defendant can be convicted of an offense if he committed, for example, crime A or crime B, unless they are also instructed that there must be unanimous agreement on which crime it was. See Richardson v. United States, 526 U.S. 813, 818-20, 824 , 119 S.Ct. 1707, 1710-11, 1713 , 143…