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Gantos, Jack. Hole in My Life. Macmillan Publishers, 2002.

 

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Gantos, Jack. Hole in My Life. Macmillan Publishers, 2002.

 

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This photo of Jack Gantos was taken in 1972. He was held at a medium-security Federal Correctional Institution located in Ashland, Kentucky. He was twenty-one years old and weighed 125 pounds. Gantos was locked up for year by then. Gantos was able to blend into prison to avoid trouble. He also tried to appear older by parting his hair and growing in his mustache. There were a lot of violent people in the prison who were always looking for people in inflict pain on. Gantos worked as a X-ray technician at one point, he saw all types wound on people like broken bones, bleeding flesh, and bruised skin. Gantos was never around this type of violence growing up and it was new to him seeing all these things. His dad would always be able to point out people from his town that has been to prison even though his dad has never been to prison himself. Jack Gantos dad has said, "'These folks zigged when the rest of the world zagged. And once you cross that line, there's no coming back'" (7). Once Gantos was placed into prison he knew he had to change for the good. That's when he started writing stories in prison with a journal he kept hidden. (Pages 1-9)

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Jack Gantos was nineteen years old and still doing high school. He wasn’t living at home which gave him free will. During his junior year this is when they moved to Puerto Rico from Lauderdale, Florida since his dad wanted to try starting a business. When they arrived in Puerto Rico Jack wasn’t able to go to any of the public schools since he couldn’t speak Spanish. His dad gave him a job at the hotel he was working at which gave Jack his freewill again. He got paid decently and was saving up some money. He started to think about school again so he saved up but he was denied to the schools from his grades. That’s when his parents decided to send him back to Florida to stay with a family so he could continue his education. They thought this was the best opportunity for him. (pages 9-12)

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Jack stayed with a family, the Bacon family. When Jack got there he realized they needed extra cash since their only income was from selling mail-order prosthetic that were just being made from their garage. Jack knew they more likely wanted rent money so he agreed with it since he was getting a job at the nearby Winn-Dixie. He was able to bring some canned food from his job to the house which the Bacon’s didn’t mind. But the Bacon’s soon realized that Jack was a live-in party crasher. He would drink, come home late, was playing loud music on his stereo at night, and smoked a lot in the house. The Bacon’s ended up kicking him out of the house once Jack trashed their house. Mr. Bacon told him, "'Keep this up and you'll fall flat on your ass''" (15). Jack recognized how his drinking was coming from living in the wrong place and being with the wrong sort of people. Jack knew that there was no promise that the Bacon family could do anything good for him. Jack said, "You didn't end up homeless, hung over, sleeping in your car with all your worldly possessions because you had control of your life. I had lost control(16)." (Pages 12-19)

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Jack knew he wanted to get himself back into control. He decided to start by finding a place to live. “THE KING’S COURT”. He decided this will be where he starts. Jack was able to get his drinking back into control. His passion for writing started to grow. He just wasn’t ever able to capture his ideas so he figured out his school provided a creative writing course. But you needed straight A’s all of junior year which he never finished so he didn’t join. But he continued to work on his own. A big problem though is that he wasn’t even able to find anything to write about. He would work on his writing through books which helped in the meantime until he figured out how to plan his writing.(pages 20-23)

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5 - My prison school special visit (quote 4 & 5)

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5 - My prison school special visit (quote 4 & 5)

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Jack Gantos schools was previously a prison, but the city ended up building a new one which caused this one to transform into a prison. Different rooms were used for clubs, classrooms, or offices. "At sunrise three were no prisoners left behind, but evidence of their trapped lives was everywhere" (24). Gantos could see all sorts of things the school tried to cover up like marks by the windows, explicit language, and drawing. Jack also ended up having a crush on his psychology teacher, Mill  Hall. But nothing ever happened since she ended up leaving the school because she got pregnant. One of the afternoons the principal called the school down to the auditorium for a visit from people from the prison. The principal said, "'They regret their crimes, but it is too late for regret. Their lives are ruined...'" (27) Jack knew he wouldn’t do anything like them to regret it that bad and just wanted to be a writer. Once they all told their stories Jack told himself that he had nothing in common with any of the prisoners, he didn't steal, wasn't angry, wasn't a rapist, and he never used drugs. (Pages 23-31)

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The high school Jack Gantos went to when he went back to Flordia from Puerto Rico.

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Gantos friend, Glen Martin, his dad would sell rep for Van Heusen shirts. One day he was sorting in their samples they were selling when Glen asked him is her ever smoked weed. He denied and said he never smoked any before and Glen offered him some in the moment but he still declined since he had work, but Gantos agreed to come back later to try some when his friend said that they were having a smoke party at his friends. The whole time he was at work he couldn't stop thinking about it. Once he got off of work he entered. Once of the guys were really paranoid that is scared Gantos. He ended up trying it and just coughing. Nobody was feeling anything from what they were making and they even ended up burning the stems and seeds. After a while Gantos left for his house and was starting to get Paranoid himself, thinking that the cos would just grab him. When he got home he told himself he doesn't have to do that again. (31-34)

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Gantos lived in King's Court for the whole school year. Davy would bake and leave cookies for Gantos on his bed. She took care of Gantos, monitored him when he was sick, made him soup whenever he was sick. Every once in a while groups of people called the Seminoles would get drunk and try to claim Florida as theirs and telling everyone to leave. Davy would let them have their parades and shout. She claimed they had every right to be yelling since a while back there were bounty's for killing Indians by settlers. For some time Gantos friends thought he was joking about living in King's Court. His friends seemed nervous every time they visited him since they felt like something would happen to their precious items. But after a while they got more comfortable talking with the neighbors. (34-35)

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Seminoles migrated from Georgia and Alabama to Florida in the 1700s. They moved from the conflict with the Europeans and other tribes hoping they could find land and live in peace again. In the late 1950s they pushed among the Indian tribes to hopefully organize themselves.

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The Seminoles of Florida call themselves the "Unconquered People," descendants of just 300 Indians who managed to elude capture by the U.S. army in the 19th century. Today, more than 2,000 live on six reservations in the state - located in Hollywood, Big Cypress, Brighton, Immokalee, Ft. Pierce, and Tampa.

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Jack took all the tests that allowed him to get into a college and was able to get accepted into the University of Florida in Gainesville. That Wednesday he headed to the campus to explore with all of his items. JAck was questioning himself if he really wanted to fully commit to this. He headed towards the admissions office and met up with  a lady. She handed him all of his school gear and was going over the rules about the campus when she broke the news that Jack couldn’t have his car. Jack fully realized he wasn’t about to leave his car so he chose not to attend. He wanted to get away from King’s Court now and really go find some place new. He sold a lot of his furniture and clothes. He decided to go ahead with his family at St. Croix but first wanted to go on his own little adventure. (pages 35-42)

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On one of his journeys Jack met with a friend named Tim Scanlon. Jack tried weed for the second time with him but it had more of an effect. Jack felt like his thoughts were really big and endless. They lounged around, ate food, smoked, and talked about books. Tim was interested in biology, chemistry, and medicine so he knew a lot of facts that Gantos was shocked that he knew. Tim mentioned to Jack that they could get some cash selling some weed which he agreed to. They headed down to Tallahassee and Tim was dropped off at his campus which was the last time Jack saw him for a while. Jack thought he was set up so he went to hunt down Tim. Jack ended up being in a hurricane but the day after it Jack called Tim’s mom which is where he found Tim. He asked about what happened with everything and Tim broke the news to him that security caught him and took the money but didn’t report the weed. Jack should have trusted his gut about the job. (pages 42-56)

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Once Jack came to St. Croix when he became a part of the drug culture real fast since you could find it everywhere. Cops wouldn't even do anything from how common it was. Boats at night could just slip in the night and unload their cargo of drugs. There was also a lot of racial violence which led to homes being broken into, murders, stores getting looted, and lots of buildings needing extra security. Jack was back to working with his dad but it ended up getting shut down due to media picking up on these topics. He felt trapped again but went back to writing every once in a while. He wanted to, “I wanted books to change me, and I wanted to write books that would change others" (61).  Which is when he saw something about where there is blood, there is ink. He thought he could be right about this, the racial tension so as not to login. After that he headed down to one of the Black revolutionary Party headquarters where he thought he could show up and ask questions but it didn’t end like that. They told Jack they could trust him with more information if he went on the street and shot a white man. He headed straight out of there and didn’t come back.  (pages 57-65)

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People on the St. Croix island believe that the looting can be connected to a lot of the racial tension that is on the island.

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By Jeffrey Schmalz, Special To the New York Times

Credit... The New York Times Archives

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

As food and other relief supplies poured into St. Croix today, residents and Federal officials began asking why, of a dozen Caribbean islands devastated by a hurricane last week, only one erupted in widespread violence and looting.

The answer, Federal officials and residents say, lies in a number of factors involving class, race, isolation and a general lack of government authority.

Unlike many Caribbean islands that have their own government, the main government controlling St. Croix is 40 miles away on St. Thomas, the capital of the Virgin Islands, a territory of the United States. As a result, St. Croix has long been a little less controlled, a little more lawless. Although the crime rate is high throughout the Virgin Islands, it is particularly high on St. Croix, with its rate of violent crime running three times the national average. Crack use is also more widespread on St. Croix than on most other Caribbean islands, Federal officials and private study groups say. Racial and Class Tensions

When many National Guard troops and police officers failed to report for duty the day after the hurricane, Federal officials said, that reinforced the feeling of many that there was no authority.

Like other Caribbean islands, St. Croix has racial tensions, with more than three-quarters of the island's 55,000 people being blacks who hold mostly low-paying labor jobs. Whites own most of the businesses and many hire whites from the mainland instead of blacks from St. Croix. And unlike other Caribbean islands, blacks on St. Croix have to compete for jobs with black and Hispanic residents from other islands who come to St. Croix to work in the tourist industry.

''I'm not surprised about the looting,'' said Ann Brittain, an assistant anthropology professor at the University of Miami who has studied the Virgin Islands. ''When you look at the isolation, the crime already there, the low wages, the fact that blacks cannot afford to rent or buy a house, it was bound to happen.

Charles Fisher, an editor at The St. Croix Avis, the only black-owned paper in the Virgin Islands, said: ''This is a class fight. The rich guys come down from New York or wherever and build a hotel, but they can't be bothered to build us a hurricane shelter or a playground.'' Unemployment Rate Is High

Statistics that could offer a barometer of the economic status of blacks on St. Croix were not available today. Federal figures - for unemployment, for example - are kept for the Virgin Islands as a whole, not individual islands. The islands themselves keep their own statistics, but since St. Croix officials was occupied today by the hurricane cleanup, it was unable to supply them.

But some private groups, including the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, said they believed unemployment on St. Croix is as high as 30 percent.

Larry Birns, the director of the council. a Washington-based research group, said: ''St. Croix has been a Watts or a Harlem in the waiting, The United States is not good at being a colonial power. It pays some attention to St. Thomas as a commercial center. But St. Croix is treated as backwoods. It has few paved roads, poor schools, poor medical care. If it wasn't the hurricane that touched things off, it would have been something else.''

But some white residents are not so sure that last week's incidents are part of a class fight. They point out that in separate incidents after the storm, a dozen tourists said they had been set upon in the streets by blacks, who called them ''whitey'' and told them to get out of town.

Such incidents, combined with the looting, panicked white residents. They armed themselves with shotguns and knives, and overran boats and airplanes to flee the island.

On the mind of virtually every white was the incident that has dominated race relations on St. Croix for 17 years: On the night of Sept. 6, 1972, during a time of heightened racial tensions, eight white Americans, four tourists and four St. Croix residents, were murdered by five black men at the Fountain Valley Golf Club. Troops Annoy Some

''I woke up and heard Rastafarian drums right after the storm,'' said a 40-year-old woman who lived on St. Croix 10 years and was at the airport there on Friday to flee to Miami with her two small children. ''All I could think of was Fountain Valley, and I thought: ''My God! I have to get out of here.''

''White people,'' said Larry Willett, who owns a liquor store on St. Croix, ''saw what some blacks were doing looting the stores and they figured that when the stores were depleted, they would turn to the homes of the whites. That's why the whites were so desperate to get help. All they saw was Fountain Valley.''

The arrival of more than 1,000 Federal troops on Thursday brought relief to white residents, at least for now. But many blacks seemed annoyed.

Some said that blacks were not the only ones to blame for the looting, adding that they had seen white store owners tell people to come in and take what they wanted so the stores could claim a 100 percent loss on their insurance.

Other blacks said they resented the presence of the troops because it reinforced a perception by some whites that they were not accountable to the local black government and that the government of the whites is the Federal Government. Whites responded that many members of the local government are corrupt and ineffectual.

Today, St. Croix remained without electricity and telephones, but the streets were calm. Officials concentrated on cleaning up 40,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil that leaked into a St. Croix harbor from a hurricane-damaged 1.6-million-gallon tank.

Meanwhile, officials said that 140 of 200 convicts who escaped from prison during the storm had been recaptured, but they would not say how many people were arrested for looting. There was no indication when Federal troops would be withdrawn.

''I can't tell you what a relief it is to have them here,'' said Scott Hemeon, a white who owns the Danish Manor Hotel, where looters had climbed the walls in an unsuccessful effort to break in. ''I'm in no rush to see the Army go.''

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Looting on St. Croix Linked to Island's Tensions

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By Jeffrey Schmalz, Special To the New York Times This is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

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One night a person named Rik stopped by the warehouse where Jack makes crates. Where Rik requests Jack to package something for him, hash. Jack didn’t question and screwed it up for him. Before Rik he told Jack to give him a call if saw a sailboat with red sails pull into the harbor. A couple days later Jack spotted the boat and called up Rik. When Rik got there he asked Jack if he would want to sail down to New York for ten thousand dollars. It would take about 6 weeks but he couldn't tell anyone what they were delivering, hash and lots of it. Jack didn’t hesitate and was down. He was going on this trip with Hamilton. They both took the sail out for a few tries which contained a lot of telling and scrambling around making sure they wouldn’t crash. Jack realized during these practice runs that he didn’t know anything about survival at sea. (pages 65-74)

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Once they were finally out on the water Hamiton wouldn't let Jack take the wheel fully. But one of the days he finally let Jack out of the wheel by himself. But Jack barely knew what he was doing and ended up crashing the boat up on a beach. Hamilton was really upset with Jack for that and some tourist on the beach ended up having to help get them off the beach. It took 2 full days to get them out fully from St. Croix. Jack had his books to keep him company since him and Hamilton didn't interact music on the boat. One of the nights when Hamltion was on duty he ended up crashing the boats on some rocks. Jack wasn't able to go to sleep after it so he walked out on the deck and, "...seen. The rising sun was buttering the clouds, the sea was royal blue, and dolphins dated in and out of the water, weaving between the rocks with absolute grace" (78). He really did think something good was happening from this. (pages 74-82)

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Hamilton was very strict about making sure Jack doesn't do anything that would be found as evidence for what they were doing. It was around July by now. One night Jack was on duty for the boat, Hamilton got out and went to go take over for him. He didn't go to his room though he stayed out their with him. Jack asked him if he was afraid about getting caught or what would ever happen if they were to get caught. Hamilton told him that is afraid of the punishment, not of what he is doing. Jack knew, "Hamilton had read my mind---I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just afraid of the punishment" (85). Jack wasn't able to sleep that night at all. (pages 82-91)

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One of the days they were out of on the water and their boat was coming up with some problems, they were low on fuel. They thought they spotted an oil derrick but it ended up being a enormous Japanese fishing trawler. Jack tried to ask them if they had any extra fuel on them to spare. He ended up jumping aboard on their boat and greeted the captain in which he have then 5 gallons on fuel. Hamilton gave then back a bottle of rum as a thank you gift in which they brought back a big bottle of sake. "It was as tall and round as decorative bottles they use in liquor store displays and I had to use both hands to carry it" (92). Jack didn't know whether or not he could make the jump back to the boat and swim but he went for it. Jack slowly started to go under but he pushed back really hard. He barely made it on board. Hamilton thought he was going to drown. (pages 91-98)

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This is what Jack Gantos and Hamilton would have seen when they were running out of fuel out on the water.

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After a few weeks they went up on some shore. They met up with a group of people who have all been to prison before. Everyone was telling their stories about getting busted and getting caught. Jack loved those kinda stories. Everyone being scared together and scared of one another created a great bond. All of them were all taken by for but differently made it through prison. After they had their smalls stop with this group they came right up the New Jersey sea coast were they were able to see the Statue of Liberty statue. Jack felt like the fear of waiting to get caught was worse then actually getting caught. He slowly starting more paranoid the closer they got to their destination. Jack felt like they would wait for them to start selling before catching them. Hamilton tried to tell Jack that it would be over soon once they were able to deliver out all the hash. (pages 99-106)

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One of the nights they slept over at person house named Jerome. Jack didn't like his house he felt suspicious of him but he didn't try to let it bother him. The next morning coming back from Jerome's they were driving back to New York when Jack realized Hamilton was looking back a lot. He asked him what was wrong and he told him that they were being followed. Hamilton started to speed around and Jack tried to tell him no one was following them. Hamilton slowly calmed down but was still annoyed. Once they parked at the marina the manager came running up to them saying that two men came on the boat when it broke away during the storms and tied the boat back up. Jack froze up and he knew that people were on to them. Hamilton told the other people they were with to take the money back to hotel when Jack and him would move the boat back. They tried to make up excuses on whether or not they would suspect. When Jack was pulling away from the dock he felt like someone was watching them but couldn't tell what it is. The second week the sold most of the hash. They were working fast on it trying to get it done before anything happens. (pages 106-114)

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It was a Friday, close to being fully done with selling all the hash. Hamilton was going to sell the last hash and fully be done. Jack was on the second floor when he hear "We're FBI!". He completely froze. Jack didn't want to see what was happening, he could only see the front door. Hamilton screamed out, "Those are the guys who own the boat." He did so that they would let him go for a quick second and try to make a run for it. Jack ran back into the room and scrambled to grab all of his money he received and any hash. Jack walked out of the room, scanned the surrounding area and walked all the way Penn Station. He felt like any second someone would come and grab him. Jack bought a train ticket and road it all the way up to North Carolina. He stayed the night at some motel and in the morning he called his dad. (pages 114-121)

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The report on the boat that Jack Gantos delivered the hash to before he was caught.

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Yachtsman Held in $3.5‐Million Hashish Smuggling (Published 1971)

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H Bryce, 38-yr-old Englishman, held, NYC, in lieu of $250,000 bail on charges that he sailed yacht with 1,800 lbs of hashish from Morocco to NY; yacht illus; police say that he and 3 others docked yacht at 79th St boat basin and allegedly sold most of hashish to bulk purchasers; say Bryce tried to bribe arresting agents and then sought to escape; G C West also held on charges of receiving 200 lbs of hashish; another Englishman, M Saunders, reptdly helped sail yacht and sell hashish, but flew to Switzerland earlier with about $500,000

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Photo of the FBI searching the boat for hash once they were caught.

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Jack called his dad that morning. He wasn't very happy and was question where Jack was. He told him that the FBI has been all over the house searching their mail, tapped the phone, and have been following his dad. His dad told him that he has to go meet up with his Lawyer and Jack agreed. His father gave him the number of the lawyer, A1 E. Newman. He ringed him up and Newman told him he needed Jack to meet up with him since they needed to talk. Before Jack headed back he went to motel, where they were caught. He found everything just as he left it. HE took all the left over stuff and headed on his way. When he met up with Newman he talk about his sentences he was listed for. Newman knew Jack was scared, but he told him to suck it just since the judge wasn't going to let in on anything. Newman tells Jack that he more likely can't lie his way though since everyone else must have rat him out by them. (pages 121-132)

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Jack was placed in a hotel in Chelsea while he waited for his sentence. He started to feel like he got uglier, he was horrified of himself. Jack's skin started reshaping with these huge lumps under his skin. Blemishes started to appear and brown marks to. He started picking at his skin when he knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't resist the urge. Every morning he would pick at his skin. Jack knew the only thing would change was his attitude but he felt like it was changing for the worst. Jack knew the detectives were always watching him around. The way he figured out he could lose then was when he would jump around the trains. Jack was scared about going to prison. One of the days he buried the rest of the hash by central Park. September 14th was Jacks sentencing day. (pages 132-140)

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Jack wanted probation the most. He knew what Hamilton said that day on the boat was true, he was only afraid of punishment. Jack still had some left over cash that he gave to Newman to hold for him at the court meet. They walked in court room and went up to their post. The Judge was asking all these questions and Newman would reply for him but sometimes Jack had to respond for. Newman brought up now Jack was still young and had a lot of time ahead of him if hopes of lowering his years., but he wouldn't take it. Jack try to say that he made a big mistake, but the judge came back and said a criminal mistake or just the mistake of getting caught. It made Jack freeze in place. "I stood there knowing the truth was that I was sorry I was caught, and if I hadn't been I would just have moved on to college and this would be a great story I could tell my friends after drinks and a joint" (143). (pages 141-145)

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After the court he was taken out by a guard. He was taken into a office where his item were taken from his pocket. Jack was held in a cell with other people. He ended up getting visited by his dad before officially saying goodbye. After a while he was brought into the actually prison. He said the first night was the scariest. In his cell his bunk mate asked if he was funny. But he was trying to imply whether or not Jack would do it with a boy. He denied it but his bunk said he had tax on his ass and would probably have to pay up. Lucas which is one of the people he sold to ended up getting raped. Not to long after Jack was moved from his facility. He was moved into his own private yellow cell, but only until the recently found lice would leave him. He liked the cell, it provided privacy for him. His yellow room could control his room. Whenever the sun shined in a different way he could cry, laugh to himself, or be depressed. Jack felt safe in this cell. The only thing that bothered him was that he had to get counted in by the guards everyday. In his cell Jack, I puzzled out names and words, dares and shapes, and imagined the lives of the men who lived there before me, just as I had done in my old ex-prison high school" (157). One of the days Jack was getting checked on his lice, he asked the guy if he needed help with X-ray technician.(pages 145-162)

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Information of what happened inside of Jack Gantos court case and what he was going to go to prison for.

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Summary

upholding a conviction where the defendant "told the undercover agent that the watches were copies"

Summary of this case from Lifeng Wang v. Rodriguez

No. 86-1685.

Charles E. Atwell, Kansas City, Mo., for appellant.

Anita L. Mortimer, Asst. U.S. Atty., Kansas City, Mo., for appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Before ROSS, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Following a jury trial Lawrence J. Gantos was convicted on four counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2320. The district court sentenced Gantos to four concurrent three-year terms of imprisonment, all but seventy-eight days suspended, and a special probation term of three years. On this appeal Gantos contends that (1) the district court erred by failing to give his requested specific intent jury instruction; (2) the statute under which he was convicted was unconstitutional; and (3) there is insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction. We affirm.

The Honorable Scott O. Wright, United States District Judge, Western District of Missouri.

On three separate occasions, September 4, 6 and 16, 1985, Gantos sold a wristwatch bearing the label "Rolex" to an undercover agent. The watches sold for $80.00, $60.00 and $70.00 respectively. At the time of each sale Gantos did not represent the watches to be genuine Rolex. Indeed, Gantos affirmatively told the agent that the watches were Rolex copies. Gantos was arrested on September 19, 1985 after the undercover agent arranged to buy a large quantity of imitation Rolex watches. Forty-eight watches bearing the counterfeit Rolex label were seized. Gantos was indicted for four counts of trafficking in counterfeit Rolex watches and the jury returned a verdict of guilty on each count.

Section 2320 provides criminal sanctions for anyone who "intentionally traffics or attempts to traffic in goods or services and knowingly uses a counterfeit mark on or in connection with such goods or services. . . ." 18 U.S.C. § 2320(a). Gantos argues that a defendant must possess a specific intent to violate this statute before he may be punished. The district court rejected this argument and refused to give Gantos' proposed specific intent jury instructions. The requirement that "a defendant must know that his act violates the law is ordinarily not an essential element of the offense." United States v. Dougherty, 763 F.2d 970, 974 (8th Cir. 1985). Gantos' argument that a fair reading of the statute coupled with the "vague" legislative history supports a specific intent instruction is uncompelling.

Gantos' proposed jury instructions read:

It is not necessary for the prosecution to prove that the defendant knew that a particular act was a violation of law. Unless and until outweighed by evidence in the case to the contrary, the presumption is that every person knows what the law forbids. However, evidence that the accused acted because of ignorance of the law is to be considered by the jury in determining whether or not the accused acted with specific intent, as charged.

The crimes charged in this case are serious offenses which require proof of specific intent before the defendant can be convicted.

"Specific intent" means more than general intent to commit an act. To establish specific intent the Government must prove that the defendant knowingly did an act which the law forbids, purposely intending to violate the law. Such an intent may be determined from all the facts.

See 1 E. Devitt C. Blackmar, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions §§ 14.10 14.03 (3d ed. 1977); Committee on Model Criminal Jury Instructions Eighth Circuit, Manual of Model Criminal Jury Instructions for the Eighth Circuit No. 3.12 (1986).

Subsection 2320(a) forbids intentional trafficking in goods or services when the defendant knows that the goods or services are counterfeit. Thus, the bill has two mental state requirements: First, that the defendant "intends" to traffic in goods or services, and second, that he or she "knows" that the goods or services are counterfeit.

S.Rep. No. 526, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 11, reprinted in 1984 U.S. Code Cong. Admin. News, 3182, 3627, 3637.

The required mental state is plainly set out in both § 2320(a) and the legislative history. Because Congress has explicitly spelled out the required mental state, see Liparota v. United States, 471 U.S. 419, 105 S.Ct. 2084, 2087, 85 L.Ed.2d 434 (1985) ("The definition of the elements of a criminal offense is entrusted to the legislature. . . ."); United States v. Bailey, 444 U.S. 394, 406, 100 S.Ct. 624, 632, 62 L.Ed.2d 575 (1980) ("[C]ourts obviously must follow Congress' intent as to the required level of mental culpability for any particular offense."), and that mental state is not specific intent as defined in Gantos' proposed jury instructions, the district court correctly refused to give those instructions. See United States v. Baker, 807 F.2d 427, 428 (5th Cir. 1986).

Gantos challenges two other omissions from the district court's instructions to the jury. Gantos' failure to make a timely and specific objection as to the omissions "results in a waiver of objection on appeal," Fed.R.Crim.P. 30; United States v. Young, 702 F.2d 133, 136 (8th Cir. 1983), and we will reverse only for plain error. United States v. McKnight, 799 F.2d 443, 447 (8th Cir. 1986). Plain error results when the omitted instructions affect the defendant's substantial rights resulting in a miscarriage of justice. Id. Gantos first complains that the jury should have been instructed that the term "counterfeit" includes an intent to deceive a purchaser. Therefore, the argument continues, because Gantos told the undercover agent that the watches were copies, he cannot be guilty of trafficking in counterfeit goods. This argument is specious. Section 2320(a) is "not just designed for the protection of consumers. [It is] likewise fashioned for the protection of trademarks themselves and for the prevention of the cheapening and dilution of the genuine product." United States v. Gonzalez, 630 F. Supp. 894, 896 (S.D.Fla. 1986); see also United States v. Tarkington, 812 F.2d 1347, 1348 (11th Cir. 1987). Gantos' intent, or lack thereof, to deceive his immediate customer is not critical here.

The second omission was the district court's failure to include the element that Gantos had to intend to traffic in goods in the verdict directing instructions. Gantos, however, made no appropriate timely objection as contemplated by Fed.R.Crim.P. 30. When a defendant sits idly by while an alleged element of the offense is omitted, we are not prone to reverse absent a conclusion that the omission is plain error resulting in a miscarriage of justice. To do so would encourage sharp practices. A defendant could choose not to raise errors in instruction on points where the evidence is overwhelming in order to ensure a new trial on appeal. Here, the evidence of Gantos' intent to traffic is overwhelming and his guilt is clear.

We have considered Gantos' arguments that § 2320 is unconstitutional and that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict and find them to be without merit.

The judgment of the district court is affirmed.

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Read U.S. v. Gantos, 817 F.2d 41, see flags on bad law, and search Casetext's comprehensive legal database

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Jack had previously worked in a hospital part time. The physician agreed since his last one not to long ago tried hoping the fence. This meant that Jack would be able to keep his private cell were he could stay safe. Jack would help take X-rays of the prisoners if they were involved in fights or were just coming in. He was also allowed to help close up wounds since he practice on chicken skin. Jack also took vital signs, he walked around the prison filling out charts, and took care of changing people's bandages. Time passed by and 5 months went by. This is when he would see the parole board since it could determine how much Jack would really serve. The judge wasn't having it with any of Jacks stuff. He ended up leaving feeling that it didn't go to well. Every once in a while people would ask Jack for a list of people who sold drugs so that they could trade back. But Jack wanted to stay away from any drugs so always denied. Sometimes from his cell Jack would look out the window and see all the houses lined up with people walking, playing, or having picnics. Jack missed his youth. (pages 163-176)

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The federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky were Jack Gantos was held for his sentence.

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Jack never kept track of how much time he had spent in the prison but he would just think of a time he had left in his head and go by that. Jack counted the days in units of seven. He was torn on how he had to spend another week of his life in prison. He realized though that nobody would say when their release date would come up. One of the days Jack was cleaning Mr. Akers room which is one of the head people when he realized that didn't fully lock the file cabinet that held the main records. These records could tell Jack how much time he had left. When he looked at his though it didn't have much. It just talked about how he was doing and whether or not he was dealing with jail fine. He couldn't sleep that well that night from all the things he read. . One of the days Jack had a visit which he hasn't gotten one visit from anybody the whole time he was serving. It was his dad and uncle who both seem to have a few drinks before they headed down to see him. The appearance of his dad showing up like that made Jack upset. But Jack realized he had way more things he could write about. He had experiences. (pages 176-186)

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This would be something like the double fence that Gantos is talking about where nobody would be able to get out of.

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Jack witness a kid try to escape the prison once. His name was Quentin. The kid knew he had a lot of charges he was going to face against. One time he was heading to one of the cop cars when he fully bolted. He ended up coming back. Jack talked about how the prison had a twelve feet high fence that had rows of razor wire, which behind that there was another fence. There were also snipers and watch towers all over so he knew people could never escape the jail. Jack discovered that he might be able to convince the parole board to give him a early release if he got accepted into a school. He searched for small school and found one in New York. Jack sent his application. He was accepted in and sent his request to the parole board. Mr. Casey which was the person helping Jack brought him the news of December 18th he would be able to leave. (pages 187-193)

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It is now December 18th and Jack is getting ready to leave. He had said his goodbyes to Mr. Bow and Mr. Casey from all the help they provided for him. Jack filled his brown cardboard suit case with anything from his cell and headed down to get discharged. When he was getting ready to leave one of the security guards had to check his items, which one of them was a book. A book that help all of Jacks prison experience, all of his emotions. The Guard wouldn't let him take it at all and Jack wouldn't say anything about it. He left it there and didn't go back. Jack took a bus ride to Gabe Virgilio's mother which he would be staying with. He was happy staying with them. Jack got a job selling X-man trees. People were nice to Jack which made him happy. He was happy that he was finally free, out in the world again doing what he wants. When January rolled around Jack got his money back from Newman and attended school. In his class he would write about his prison experiences which he didn't think was important, but realized it was the important stories to his of all. He wonders if anybody would check out the book eh wrote in and read his stories or they would end up writing their own. It was the greatest lost of writing he ever suffered. (pages 194-199