Can a district court's denial of a proposed jury instruction be reviewed de novo or abuse of abuse of power?
The following excerpt is from U.S. v. Vigoa, 968 F.2d 1222 (9th Cir. 1992):
A district court's denial of a proposed jury instruction may be reviewed de novo or for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Whitehead, 896 F.2d 432, 434 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 111 S.Ct. 342 (1990). Even under the more rigorous de novo standard, however, the district court did not err in declining to give the requested instruction.
A criminal defendant is entitled to have a jury instruction on any defense which provides a legal defense to the charge against him and which has some evidentiary foundation, even though the evidence may be weak or inconsistent. United States v. Yarbrough, 852 F.2d 1522, 1541 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 866 (1988). A defendant, however, is not entitled to any particular form of instruction, so long as the instruction given fairly and adequately covers his theories of defense. United States v. Faust, 850 F.2d 575, 583 (9th Cir.1988). The trial court has broad discretion in tailoring the precise language of jury instructions. Id.
The trial court delivered the following general possession instruction to the jury:
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