The following excerpt is from United States v. Bonds, 784 F.3d 582 (9th Cir. 2015):
Bonds was convicted of obstructing justice by offering a misleading or evasive statementStatement Cto the grand jury. The Government expressly declined to seek a conviction on the grounds that Statement C was false.1 When evaluating whether the evidence was sufficient to show that Statement C violated 1503, we must determine whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). This standard of review requires us to determine whether the jury could draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. Id. In this particular case, we must determine whether a single truthful but evasive or misleading answer could constitute evidence of obstruction of justice under 1503. It cannot.
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