Be Careful When Using Pattern Jury Instructions -- a Tax Evasion Example (5/17/11)

In my Federal Tax Crimes book, I advise readers that pattern jury instructions for the Circuit in which a case is tried are a good beginning point for (i) understanding the elements of tax and tax related crimes and (ii) fashioning proposed instructions in a criminal tax case. However, I do caution that pattern jury instructions can be wrong or misfocused. Incident to grading examinations in the class on Tax Fraud class that I co-teach at the University of Houston Law School, I have just discovered an instance of that type of problem in the Fifth Circuit pattern jury instructions for tax evasion (which are quoted in my Federal Tax Crimes book and in the LEXIS-NEXIS Tax Crimes book). This particular error was mine (originating in an earlier version of my Federal Tax Crimes book and being uncritically brought forward), so this is my mea culpa or errata for these books; corrections will appear in the next editions. But here I will present the Fifth Circuit Pattern Instruction and also present a correct instruction from the patterned from Judge Pauley's charges to the jury in the ongoing Daugerdas case.

First the Fifth Circuit Pattern Instruction:
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