Jury Instruction in Possession of Pseudoephedrine Case Error, But Not Plain

U.S. v. Whaler, 2007 WL 841643 (3/21/07)(unpub'd) - The 10th indicates the d.ct. erred in its instruction to the jury regarding the offense of possessing pseudoephredine knowing or having reasonable cause to believe it would be used to manufacture meth. The instruction arguably encouraged the jury to focus on the knowledge of a hypothetical reasonable person, when the standard should be subjective [requiring evaluation of scienter "through the lens of the particular defendant"]. But, any error did not meet the high standard for reversal of plain error. The evidence focused generally on the "knowing" prong not the "reasonable cause" prong.