jewell instruction
Jewell instruction (joo-w[schwa]l).Criminal procedure. A court’s instruction to the jury that the defendant can be found to have the requisite criminal mental state despite being deliberately ignorant of some of the facts surrounding the crime. • If a defendant claims ignorance of some fact essential to the crime, such as not knowing that a particular bag contained drugs, but the surrounding circumstances would put a reasonable person on notice that there was a high probability of illegality, as when the defendant has taken the bag from a known drug-dealer and has noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the bag, then the court may instruct the jury that it is entitled to infer the defendant’s guilty knowledge if the defendant deliberately avoided knowledge of the critical facts. United States v. Jewell, 532 F.2d 697 (9th Cir. 1976). — Also termed deliberate-indifference instruction. [Cases: Criminal Law 772(5). C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1312.]
