United States v. Esmail Yermian

708 F.2d 365 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Esmail YERMIAN, Defendant-Appellant. No. 81-1192. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted May 3, 1982. Decided April 19, 1983. Alan Zarky, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendant-appellant. Janet Goldstein, Asst. U.S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before FLETCHER, PREGERSON and REINHARDT, Circuit Judges. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge: 1 Appellant Yermian was charged with violating 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001 (1976). 1 At trial, Yermian's defense was simply that he did not know at the time he signed a personnel security form that it would be sent to the government. He appeals his conviction. Our jurisdiction rests on 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291 . We reverse the judgment and remand for a new trial because the trial court construed the scienter requirement of section 1001 too narrowly and gave the jury an inadequate instruction on that issue. 2 I. Facts. 3 Shortly after appellant Yermian was hired as an engineer by Galton Industries, Inc. (Galton) of Hawthorne, California, Galton asked Yermian to fill out a personnel…