Fill and Sign the Jury Instruction Charge 497334356 Form

16 Good Faith Defense to Charge of Intent to Defraud Good faith is a complete defense to the charges in the indictment since good faith on the part of the Defendant is inconsistent with intent to defraud or willfulness which is an essential part of the charges. The burden of proof is not on the Defendant to prove good faith, of course, since the Defendant has no burden to prove anything. The Government must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant acted with specific intent to defraud as charged in the indictment. One who expresses an honestly held opinion, or an honestly formed belief, is not chargeable with fraudulent intent even though t he opinion is erroneous or the belief is mistaken; and, similarly, evidence which establishes only that a person made a mistake in judgment or an error in management, or was careless, does not establish fraudulent intent. On the other hand, an honest belief on the part of the Defendant that a particular business venture was sound and would ultimately succeed would not, in and of itself, constitute " good faith" as that term is used in these instructions if, in carrying out that venture, the Defendant knowingly made false or fraudulent representations to others with the specific intent to deceive them. ANNOTATIONS AND COMMENTS United States v. Goss, 650 F.2d 1336 (5th Cir. 1981), failure to give this instruction as a theory -of -defense charge, when requested to do so, is error if there is any evidentiary foundation to support the Defendant's claim. Note, however, that there must be some evidentiary basis for the request. If the usual instructions are given defining willfulness and intent to defraud, that will ordinarily suffice in the absence of evidence of good faith. United States v. Boswell, 565 F.2d 13 38 (5t h Cir. 1978), reh'g denied, 568 F.2d 1367 (11th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 819, 99 S.Ct . 81, 58 L.Ed.2d 110 (1978); United States v. England, 480 F.2d 1266 (5th Ci r. 1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1041, 94 S.Ct. 543, 38 L.Ed.2d 332 (1973); United States v. Williams, 7 28 F.2d 1 40 2 (1 1t h Cir. 1 98 4).