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United States v. McConnel,
No. 03-6345 (10th Cir., September 25, 2006) (Published): Jurors; Jury Instructions--Deliberate Ignorance: Former Oklahoma attorney Joseph Edward McConnel was convicted by a jury of four counts arising out of firearm sales. McConnel's license was suspended so he apparently became self-employed as a private investigator. He associated with Oklahoma City attorney Charles Holdstock. Holdstock represented a member of a motorcycle gang who had a felony conviction and who eventually set up McConnel by arranging guns and ammo sales. McConnel raised several claims in this appeal including: 1) juror dishonesty when the foreman failed to divulge that he had been charged with several felonies; 2) error in giving a jury instruction on deliberate ignorance; 3) error in impeaching McConnel with two misdemeanor convictions; and 4) Booker error at sentencing. The panel found error in giving the deliberate ignorance instruction under the facts but no plain error requiring relief; and also found Booker error but held that the error was harmless.
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