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Notes -
I don't think that the failure to a d the word "willful" to the jury instructions on the Election Law claim is going to be enough to get a reversal. The defense was trying to elevate the mens rea of the object to the conspiracy which isn't how things work. New York criminal law is based on the Model Penal Code, which explicitly rejects any "willful" requirement for conspiracies that the Powell doctrine may require. As for protecting the record, the tendency is that appeals courts are more willing to look beyond preservation issues when there is clear error. If, as in this case, there's merely an argument to be made, then the court is likely to claim failure to preserve to avoid wasting time with losing arguments. My guess is that any appeals here are going to be limited to issues Merchan actually ruled on and not whether the addition of another word into the jury instructions would have conceivably gotten a different result.
You're right to say Powell has been largely rejected, including in New York, but its doctrine is a different question: whether conspiracies to acts that are malum prohibitum need prove evil motive even if the underlying laws or regulations have no special scienter requirements. The MPC notes merely say that conspiracy does not inherently require knowledge of the law or corrupt motive; it leaves open or encourages importing elements from underlying offenses (albeit 'as a matter for courts'), pretty explicitly as part of its disavowal of Powell.
In this case, two (FECA, federal tax) of the four possible underlying laws for the conspiracy had specific "willful" requirements.
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