United States v. Moran-Toala

SACK, Circuit Judge:

Although juries are supposed to render verdicts that are consistent with one another, from time to time they do not. When this happens, it is well established that a criminal defendant cannot exploit any such inconsistency in the jury’s verdicts to secure a new trial. This appeal presents not a direct challenge to inconsistent verdicts, but instead a related question: whether the district court erred when it instructed the jury in effect that it was permissible to render inconsistent verdicts, and whether, in light of that instruction, the jury verdicts and judgment based…