United States v. Janis

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction of two counts of abusive sexual contact. The court held that simply submitting a proposed instruction without objecting to the district court's refusal to give it did not preserve the issue for appeal and the issue was subject to plain error review; the district court did not plainly err in refusing defendant's proposed instruction regarding equal inferences in criminal cases where the instruction was another way of explaining reasonable doubt and the jury had been properly instructed on reasonable doubt; defendant failed to preserve his objection to a forensic examiner's testimony vouching for the truthfulness of the victim's statements and any prejudicial effect was cured by the district court's jury instructions; and, to the extent the forensic examiner's testimony was irrelevant, defendant failed to show plain error. View "United States v. Janis" on Justia Law