United States v. Hoflin
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
880 F.2d 1033 (1989)
- Written by Sharon Feldman, JD
Facts
Douglas Hoflin (defendant) was the director of a city public-works department. Hoflin was responsible for supervising road maintenance and a sewage-treatment plant. Hoflin instructed an employee to take paint drums left over from road maintenance and bury them at the treatment plant. Hoflin was charged with disposing of paint without a permit in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The district court instructed the jury that to find Hoflin guilty, it had to find Hoflin knowingly disposed of or caused others to dispose of chemical wastes, that Hoflin knew the wastes were potentially harmful to others or the environment, that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified the wastes as hazardous, and that Hoflin had not obtained a permit authorizing the disposal. On appeal, Hoflin argued that the government (plaintiff) did not prove he knew the city lacked a permit and that the jury should have been instructed that it had to find Hoflin knew the paint was hazardous.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Thompson, J.)
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