Finze

MEMORANDUM *

Christian Frederic Finze appeals his convictions and sentence for numerous federal offenses, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 , false writings to an agency, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 , conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 , conspiracy to import controlled substances, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 963 , and distribution of controlled substances, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 . We affirm.

I

Neither plain nor structural error occurred when the district judge, whose throat was affected by illness, had his law clerk, with Finze’s consent, read aloud the jury instructions. The judge himself settled the instructions, presided over (and was fully in charge of) the proceedings, and explained to the jury that he would have read the instructions had he been healthy. The clerk was simply a ministerial mouthpiece, exercising no Article III power over a critical stage of the trial. Cf. Gomez v. United States, 490 U.S. 858, 876 , 109 S.Ct. 2237 , 104 L.Ed.2d 923 (1989).

Bearing in mind that “[a]n improper instruction rarely justifies a finding of plain error,” United States v.…