Tirouda

Zineddine, Salah, and Zoubida Tirouda appeal from judgments convicting them of passport and immigrant fraud offenses in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 , 1542, and 1546. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We consider whether the district court violated the Tiroudas’ due process rights by instructing the jury to consider an alleged accomplice’s testimony, which favored the Tiroudas, with greater caution than that of other witnesses. We also consider whether the district court erred in failing to define “accomplice” in that instruction. We join the Fifth and Seventh Circuits in holding that there is no error in giving an accomplice witness instruction when the accomplice’s testimony favors the defendant. Nor did the failure to define “accomplice” in the accomplice witness instruction amount to plain error because, taken as a whole, the instructions were clear and any lack of clarity did not prejudice the Tiroudas.

BACKGROUND

In 1993, Zineddine Tirouda came to the United States as a visitor for pleasure, using a B-2 visa he obtained at the United States Embassy in Paris. Later that year, he filed an application for political asylum in which he claimed that he was an…