United States v. Rene Kohler

MEMORANDUM

Rene Boudewijn Kohler appeals his conviction of five counts of filing false tax returns in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206 (1) and his resulting sentence. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm Mr. Kohler’s conviction but remand for re-sentencing.

1. Mr. Kohler challenges the district court’s failure to separately instruct the jury on his good faith defense. Because he failed to object to the jury instructions in the district court, we review for plain error. United States v. Crowe, 563 F.3d 969, 972-73 (9th Cir.2009). Here, the jury instructions “fairly and adequately covered the issues presented.” United States v. Martinez-Martinez, 369 F.3d 1076, 1084 (9th Cir.2004). Because the district court also properly instructed the jury on the wilfulness element of the crime, an additional good faith instruction was not necessary. See United States v. Pomponio, 429 U.S. 10, 13 , 97 S.Ct. 22 , 50 L.Ed.2d 12 (1976); United States v. Solomon, 825 F.2d 1292, 1297 (9th Cir.1987). As a result, the district court did not commit plain error in failing to separately instruct the jury on Mr. Kohler’s good faith defense.

2. Nor did the district court plainly err…