What is the harmless error standard for failing to instruct a jury on an element of a crime?
MultiRegion, United States of America
The following excerpt is from United States v. Perez, 962 F.3d 420 (9th Cir. 2020):
Our harmless-error standard emphasizes that where evidence of a defendant's guilt is "overwhelming," even significant jury-instruction error can be harmless. See, e.g. , United States v. Conti , 804 F.3d 977, 981 (9th Cir. 2015). However, failing to instruct on an element of a crime is not harmless if there is sufficient evidence that the jury could have found in favor of the defendant if properly instructed. Neder , 527 U.S. at 19, 119 S.Ct. 1827.
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