In United States v. Becerra, --- F.3d ---, No. 17-30050 (9th Cir. 2019), the Court vacated the defendant's drug-related convictions because the district court plainly erred in failing to give oral jury instructions. Although the court provided written instructions, and confirmed the jurors read them, this was insufficient.
The Court held: "Our circuit held nearly thirty years ago that oral
instructions to the jury as to the law they must apply are an
essential feature of a jury trial. Guam v. Marquez, 963 F.2d
1311, 1314–15 (9th Cir. 1992). A trial court does not satisfy
its duty to instruct jurors in a criminal case just by providing
those jurors with a set of written instructions to use during
deliberations. Id. We further determined that when a trial
court abdicates its responsibility to charge the jury orally as
to the elements of the charged crimes, it commits structural
error. Id. at 1315–16. We are bound by those holdings and
so reverse the conviction in this case."
