US-CA6 · jury_instructions
6th Cir. Pattern Crim. Jury Instr. 3.11A
WITHDRAWAL AS A DEFENSE TO CONSPIRACY
(1) One of the defendants, _______, has raised the defense that he withdrew from the agreement before any overt act was committed. Withdrawal can be a defense to a conspiracy charge. But _______ has the burden of proving to you that he did in fact withdraw.
(2) To prove this defense, _______ must prove each and every one of the following things:
(A) First, that he completely withdrew from the agreement. A partial or temporary withdrawal is not enough.
(B) Second, that he took some affirmative step to renounce or defeat the purpose of the conspiracy. An affirmative step would include an act that is inconsistent with the purpose of the conspiracy and is communicated in a way that is reasonably likely to reach the other members. But some affirmative step is required. Just doing nothing, or just avoiding the other members of the group, would not be enough.
(C) Third, that he withdrew before any member of the group committed one of the overt acts described in the indictment. Once an overt act is committed, the crime of conspiracy is complete. And any withdrawal after that point is no defense to the conspiracy charge.
(3) If _______ proves these three factors by a preponderance of the evidence, then you must find him not guilty. Preponderance of the evidence is defined as “more likely than not.” In other words, the defendant must convince you that the three factors are more likely true than not true.
(4) The fact that _______ has raised this defense does not relieve the government of its burden of proving that there was an agreement, that he knowingly and voluntarily joined it, and that an overt act was committed. Those are still things that the government must prove in order for you to find _______ guilty of the conspiracy charge.
Use Note
This instruction should be used when there is some evidence that a defendant withdrew before any overt act was committed, and withdrawal has been raised as a defense to the conspiracy charge itself.
This instruction does not appear to be appropriate when the conspiracy charged does not require proof of an overt act.
Provenance
- Source
- ca6.uscourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-19
- Edition
- 2026-08-19
- Content hash
e2d4dfd93246482e745de57ca8b0eb8c62909bc1664c9c9266525ceca86cc6b5
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.