U.S. v. Anderson

Keith Anderson and Byron Carlisle (defendants) were active-duty sergeants in special-forces units in the United States Army. Anderson and Carlisle conspired with each other and other unknown military personnel to steal and resell large quantities of military arms, explosives, and ammunition. Anderson and Carlisle began selling this material to an undercover agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). Over a few months, Anderson and Carlisle provided literally tons of stolen military munitions, including firearms, mines, grenades, dynamite, rockets, and plastic explosives, to the ATF agent in exchange for money and drugs. Anderson and Carlisle were arrested and charged with multiple conspiracy counts and substantive federal crimes. At trial, Anderson and Carlisle sought to assert that they believed the ATF agent was a United States intelligence officer who needed their assistance to gather military material for covert actions and that they reasonably relied on his apparent authority in undertaking the illegal actions. The trial court instructed the jury that this alleged reliance was not a valid defense to the charges. Anderson and Carlisle were convicted, sentenced to 40 years in prison each, and fined. Anderson and Carlisle appealed, alleging that the court had erred in refusing to instruct the jury on their claimed reliance on the purported authority of the undercover agent as a defense.