US v. Bilis
Case Date: 03/10/1999
Court: United States Court of Appeals
Docket No: 98-1895
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For the First Circuit ____________________ No. 98-1895 UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. JOHN BILIS, Defendant, Appellant. ____________________ APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Nathaniel M. Gorton, U.S. District Judge] ____________________ Before Torruella, Chief Judge, Aldrich and Cudahy, Senior Circuit Judges. _____________________ Roger A. Cox, with whom Cox & Cox, was on brief, for appellant. Heidi E. Brieger, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney, was on brief, for appellee. ____________________ March 10, 1999 ____________________ TORRUELLA, Chief Judge. On September 18, 1997, a grand jury returned an indictment charging defendant-appellant John Bilis with violating 21 U.S.C. 856 (a)(2) by knowingly and intentionally managing and controlling a building for the purpose of the unlawful distribution and use of controlled substances. A trial commenced on April 6, 1998 and the jury ultimately returned a guilty verdict. The district court sentenced Bilis to a twenty- one month term of imprisonment, to be followed by twenty-four months of supervised release. On appeal, Bilis claims that the district court erred in giving a willful blindness jury instruction. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND We recite the facts in the light most favorable to the verdict. United States v. Cunan, 152 F.3d 29, 32 (1st Cir. 1998) (quotations omitted). In the fall of 1996, the Webster Police Department (the "WPD") received information about narcotics trafficking at the High Street Caf |