United States v. Khoury

Appellants Sokoloff, Hoover, Marden and Cuthel appeal their convictions for violations of the federal narcotics laws. Appellants claim reversible error from (1) the failure of the district judge to conduct a post-verdict investigation of alleged jury misconduct; (2) alleged prosecutorial misconduct regarding a potentially exculpatory witnesss invocation of the fifth amendment; (3) allegedly prejudicial opening remarks of the prosecutor; and (4) allegedly improper wording of the jury instruction on the elements of conspiracy. We find no merit to these claims and affirm the convictions. We discuss two of the contentions in some detail.