Is there a conscious avoidance charge when a defendant denies having possession of illegal drugs?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from United States v. Amanor, 16-841-cr (2nd Cir. 2017):

Lastly, Amanor challenges the jury instructions given by the district court. We see no reason why a conscious-avoidance charge was not called for. A conscious-avoidance charge is appropriate where there is no dispute in the evidence that the defendant had possession of contraband, but she denies knowledge of its illegal nature. See United States v. Ebbers, 458 F.3d 110, 124 (2d Cir. 2006); United States v. Aina-Marshall, 336 F.3d 167, 171 (2d Cir. 2003) ("When a defendant charged with knowingly possessing contraband items takes the stand and admits possession of the contraband but denies having known of the nature of the items, a conscious avoidance charge is appropriate in all but the highly unusualperhaps non-existent case.").

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