United States v. Barry Bonds , 730 F.3d 890 ( 2013 )


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  •                 FOR PUBLICATION
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,               No. 11-10669
    Plaintiff-Appellee,
    D.C. No.
    v.                   3:07-cr-00732-SI-1
    BARRY LAMAR BONDS,
    Defendant-Appellant.             OPINION
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Northern District of California
    Susan Illston, District Judge, Presiding
    Argued and Submitted
    February 13, 2013—San Francisco, California
    Filed September 13, 2013
    Before: Mary M. Schroeder, Michael Daly Hawkins,
    and Mary H. Murguia, Circuit Judges.
    Opinion by Judge Schroeder
    2                   UNITED STATES V. BONDS
    SUMMARY*
    Criminal Law
    The panel affirmed Barry Bonds’s conviction of one
    count of obstruction of justice, in violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 1503
    , arising from Bonds’s testimony before a grand jury
    investigating whether the proceeds of the sales of
    performance enhancing drugs were being laundered.
    The panel held that § 1503 applies to factually true
    statements that are evasive or misleading.
    The panel held that there was sufficient evidence to
    convict Bonds because his statement describing his life as a
    celebrity child – in response to a question asking whether his
    trainer ever gave him any self-injectable substances – was
    evasive, misleading, and capable of influencing the grand jury
    to minimize the trainer’s role in the distribution of
    performance enhancing drugs.
    The panel rejected as foreclosed by precedent Bonds’s
    contention that § 1503 does not apply to a witness’s
    statements before a grand jury.
    The panel rejected Bonds’s contentions that the use of the
    word “corruptly” in § 1503 is unconstitutionally vague.
    The panel held that the indictment – which covered any
    false, misleading, or evasive statement Bonds made during
    *
    This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has
    been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.
    UNITED STATES V. BONDS                    3
    his grand jury testimony – was sufficient, and that narrowing
    the indictment via jury instructions listing the specific
    statements for which Bonds could be convicted – was
    permissible.
    The panel concluded that the district court properly
    rejected Bonds’s request to add the words “when considered
    in its totality” to the jury instructions.
    COUNSEL
    Dennis P. Riordan (argued) and Donald M. Horgan, Riordan
    & Horgan, San Francisco, California; Ted Sampsell Jones,
    William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, for
    Defendant-Appellant.
    Melinda Haag, United States Attorney, Barbara J. Valliere,
    Assistant United States Attorney, Merry Jean Chan (argued),
    Assistant United States Attorney, San Francisco, California,
    for Plaintiff-Appellee.
    OPINION
    SCHROEDER, Circuit Judge:
    Barry Bonds was a celebrity child who grew up in
    baseball locker rooms as he watched his father Bobby Bonds
    and his godfather, the legendary Willie Mays, compete in the
    Major Leagues. Barry Bonds was a phenomenal baseball
    player in his own right. Early in his career he won MVP
    awards and played in multiple All-Star games. Toward the
    end of his career, playing for the San Francisco Giants, his
    4                   UNITED STATES V. BONDS
    appearance showed strong indications of the use of steroids,
    some of which could have been administered by his trainer,
    Greg Anderson. Bonds’s weight and hat size increased, along
    with the batting power that transformed him into one of the
    most feared hitters ever to play the game. From the late-
    1990s through the early-2000s, steroid use in baseball fueled
    an unprecedented explosion in offense, leading some
    commentators to refer to the period as the “Steroid Era.”1 In
    2002, the federal government, through the Criminal
    Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, began
    investigating the distribution of steroids and other
    performance enhancing drugs (“PEDs”). The government’s
    purported objective was to investigate whether the
    distributors of PEDs laundered the proceeds gained by selling
    those drugs.
    The government’s investigation focused on the
    distribution of steroids by the Bay Area Laboratory
    Co-operative (“BALCO”), which was located in the San
    Francisco Bay Area. The government raided BALCO and
    obtained evidence suggesting that Anderson distributed
    BALCO manufactured steroids to Bonds and other
    professional athletes. The government convened a grand jury
    in the fall of 2003 to further investigate the sale of these
    drugs in order to determine whether the proceeds of the sales
    were being laundered. Bonds and other professional athletes
    were called to testify. Bonds testified under a grant of
    immunity and denied knowingly using steroids or any other
    PEDs provided by BALCO or Anderson. The government
    1
    See Buster Olney, Steroid Allegations Overshadow Achievements,
    http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&
    id=2011727 (last visited July 22, 2013) (“[H]istory is destined to recall
    th[e] period [from 1988 to 2004] as baseball’s Steroid Era.”).
    UNITED STATES V. BONDS                      5
    later charged Bonds with obstructing the grand jury’s
    investigation. After a jury trial, Bonds was convicted of one
    count of obstruction of justice in violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 1503
    . He now appeals. We affirm the conviction.
    BACKGROUND
    Our earlier opinion provides the background of the
    government’s investigation into BALCO and Bonds. See
    United States v. Bonds, 
    608 F.3d 495
    , 498–99 (9th Cir. 2010).
    Because Bonds’s grand jury testimony is central to this
    appeal and was not at issue in the earlier opinion, we below
    briefly describe his grand jury testimony and the resulting
    criminal trial.
    On December 4, 2003, Bonds testified before the grand
    jury under a grant of immunity pursuant to 
    18 U.S.C. § 6002
    .
    The immunity order stated that “the testimony and other
    information compelled from BARRY BONDS pursuant to
    this order . . . may not be used against him in any criminal
    case, except a case for perjury, false declaration, or otherwise
    failing to comply with this order.” Before Bonds testified, the
    government informed him that the purpose of the grand jury
    was to investigate any illegal activities, including the
    distribution of illegal substances, that Anderson and Victor
    Conte (the founder of BALCO) engaged in. The government
    also explained the scope of the immunity grant under which
    Bonds would testify.
    Bonds testified before the grand jury that Anderson never
    offered him, supplied him with, or administered to him any
    human growth hormone, steroids, or any substance that
    required injection. A portion of Bonds’s testimony, referred
    to as “Statement C,” formed the basis for the later criminal
    6                UNITED STATES V. BONDS
    charge of obstruction of justice. It is the underlined portion
    of the following grand jury excerpt:
    Question: Did Greg ever give you anything
    that required a syringe to inject yourself with?
    Answer: I’ve only had one doctor touch me.
    And that’s my only personal doctor. Greg,
    like I said, we don’t get into each others’
    personal lives. We’re friends, but I don’t –
    we don’t sit around and talk baseball, because
    he knows I don’t want – don’t come to my
    house talking baseball. If you want to come
    to my house and talk about fishing, some
    other stuff, we’ll be good friends, you come
    around talking about baseball, you go on. I
    don’t talk about his business. You know what
    I mean?
    Question: Right.
    Answer: That’s what keeps our friendship.
    You know, I am sorry, but that - you know,
    that – I was a celebrity child, not just in
    baseball by my own instincts. I became a
    celebrity child with a famous father. I just
    don’t get into other people’s business because
    of my father’s situation, you see.
    Shortly after that exchange, the government returned to the
    subject of drugs and asked whether Anderson provided Bonds
    any drugs that required self-injection. Bonds answered with
    a somewhat indirect denial:
    UNITED STATES V. BONDS                    7
    Question: And, again, I guess we’ve covered
    this, but – did [Anderson] ever give you
    anything that he told you had to be taken with
    a needle or syringe?
    Answer: Greg wouldn’t do that. He knows
    I’m against that stuff. So, he would never
    come up to me – he would never jeopardize
    our friendship like that.
    Question: Okay. So, just so I’m clear, the
    answer is no to that, he never gave you
    anything like that?
    Answer: Right.
    Bonds was later indicted on the basis of his grand jury
    testimony. The third superseding indictment charged him
    with four counts of making false statements before a grand
    jury in violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 1623
    (a), and one count of
    obstruction of justice in violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 1503
    . With
    respect to the obstruction of justice charge, the indictment
    read as follows:
    On or about December 4, 2003, in the
    Northern District of California, the defendant,
    Barry Lamar Bonds, did corruptly influence,
    obstruct, and impede, and endeavor to
    corruptly influence, obstruct and impede, the
    due administration of justice, by knowingly
    giving material Grand Jury testimony that was
    intentionally evasive, false, and misleading,
    including but not limited to the false
    statements made by the defendant as charged
    8                UNITED STATES V. BONDS
    in Counts One through Four of this
    Indictment. All in violation of Title 18,
    United States Code, Section 1503.
    Bonds’s criminal trial began on March 22, 2011, but was
    interrupted when the government appealed an adverse
    evidentiary ruling. The district court had excluded on hearsay
    grounds evidence the government contended linked Bonds to
    steroid use. We affirmed the district court’s decision to
    exclude the evidence. Bonds, 
    608 F.3d at 508
    . The trial then
    continued.
    At the close of its case-in-chief, the government
    dismissed one of the false statement charges. On April 13,
    2011, the trial jury returned its verdict. The jury convicted
    Bonds of the obstruction of justice charge, finding on the
    verdict form that Statement C was misleading or evasive. It
    was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining three false
    statement counts. The district court sentenced Bonds to 30
    days home confinement and two years probation.
    Bonds now appeals the judgment of conviction. He
    asserts five principal challenges. First, he asserts that the
    obstruction of justice statute, 
    18 U.S.C. § 1503
    , does not
    apply to statements that are misleading or evasive, but
    nevertheless factually true, and even if § 1503 does apply,
    there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction.
    Second, he claims that § 1503 does not cover a witness’s
    testimony to a grand jury. Third, he contends that the use of
    the word “corruptly” in § 1503 is unconstitutionally vague.
    Fourth, he maintains that the indictment did not provide him
    with sufficient notice of the obstruction of justice charge.
    Fifth and finally, he argues that the trial court should have
    UNITED STATES V. BONDS                     9
    granted his request to modify the jury instructions. We affirm
    the conviction.
    DISCUSSION
    I.
    Bonds claims that he could not have been convicted of
    obstructing the grand jury’s investigation with an answer that
    was misleading or evasive, no matter how far removed that
    answer was from the question asked, unless the answer was
    false. According to Bonds, because his response in Statement
    C that he was a “celebrity child” was factually true, his
    conviction should be reversed. The problem is that while
    Bonds was a celebrity child, that fact was unrelated to the
    question, which asked whether Anderson provided Bonds
    with any self-injectable substances. When factually true
    statements are misleading or evasive, they can prevent the
    grand jury from obtaining truthful and responsive answers.
    They may therefore obstruct and impede the administration
    of justice within the meaning of the federal criminal statute,
    
    18 U.S.C. § 1503
    , a statute that sweeps broadly.
    The obstruction of justice statute provides in relevant
    part:
    Whoever . . . corruptly or by threats or force,
    or by any threatening letter or communication,
    influences, obstructs, or impedes, or
    endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede,
    the due administration of justice, shall be
    punished as provided in subsection (b).
    
    18 U.S.C. § 1503
    (a).
    10                UNITED STATES V. BONDS
    That portion of the statute, known as the omnibus clause,
    is comprehensive. We have described it as being “designed
    to proscribe all manner of corrupt methods of obstructing
    justice.” United States v. Rasheed, 
    663 F.2d 843
    , 851–52
    (9th Cir. 1981). The essence of the statute is that it
    criminalizes conduct intended to deprive the factfinder of
    relevant information. See United States v. Ashqar, 
    582 F.3d 819
    , 822–23 (7th Cir. 2009); see also United States v. Brady,
    
    168 F.3d 574
    , 577–78 (1st Cir. 1999) (“It is settled . . . that
    ‘the due administration of justice’ includes the operation of
    the grand jury, and that depriving the grand jury of
    information may constitute obstruction under [
    18 U.S.C. § 1503
    ]”). The language of the statute does not differentiate
    between obstructive statements that are false, and obstructive
    statements that are not false. It requires only that the
    defendant make his statement with the intent to obstruct
    justice.
    We can easily think of examples of responses that are true
    but nevertheless obstructive. Consider a situation where a
    prosecutor asks a grand jury witness if the witness drove the
    getaway car in a robbery. The witness truthfully responds, “I
    do not have a driver’s license.” This response would be
    factually true, but it could also imply that he did not drive the
    getaway car. If the witness did in fact drive the getaway car,
    his answer, although not in itself false, would nevertheless be
    misleading, because it would imply that he did not drive the
    getaway car. It could also be deemed evasive since it did not
    answer the question.
    The cases interpreting § 1503 support our conclusion that
    misleading or evasive testimony that is factually true can
    obstruct justice. Several courts have noted the material
    similarity between evasive or misleading testimony and false
    UNITED STATES V. BONDS                     11
    testimony. In United States v. Griffin, the Fifth Circuit
    observed that there was no material difference between an
    evasive answer that deliberately conceals information and a
    false answer, because both block the flow of truthful
    information. 
    589 F.2d 200
    , 204 (5th Cir. 1979). The
    Eleventh Circuit in United States v. Perkins grouped evasive
    and false statements together when it stated that “a reasonable
    jury could have found that [the defendant’s] answers were
    evasive or false in an effort to obstruct the grand jury’s
    investigation.” 
    748 F.2d 1519
    , 1527–28 (11th Cir. 1984).
    The Second Circuit quoted with approval the district court in
    United States v. Gambino (Thomas), No. 89-CR-431
    (E.D.N.Y.), in which Judge Jack Weinstein said that “literally
    true but evasive and misleading testimony would support
    prosecution of [the defendant] for obstruction of justice.”
    United States v. Remini, 
    967 F.2d 754
    , 755 (2d Cir. 1992).
    Accordingly, we hold that § 1503 applies to factually true
    statements that are evasive or misleading. Bonds cannot
    escape criminal liability under § 1503 by contending that his
    response that he was a “celebrity child” was true.
    Bonds next asserts that even if the obstruction of justice
    statute can apply to factually true statements, the evidence at
    trial did not establish that Statement C was evasive,
    misleading, or material. We must view the evidence in the
    light most favorable to the prosecution, Jackson v. Virginia,
    
    443 U.S. 307
    , 319 (1979), and we conclude that there was
    sufficient evidence to convict Bonds of obstructing justice.
    The jury instructions provided that the government had to
    prove that Bonds, “(1) for the purpose of obstructing justice,
    (2) obstructed, influenced, or impeded, or endeavored to
    obstruct, influence, or impede the grand jury proceeding in
    which [he] testified, (3) by knowingly giving material
    12               UNITED STATES V. BONDS
    testimony that was intentionally evasive, false, or
    misleading.” Bonds does not challenge the instructions as to
    these elements.
    Bonds made Statement C in response to a question that
    asked whether Greg Anderson ever gave Bonds any self-
    injectable substances. Bonds responded that he and Anderson
    did not discuss each other’s “business.” Bonds stated:
    That’s what keeps our friendship. You know,
    I am sorry, but that – you know, that – I was
    a celebrity child, not just in baseball by my
    own instincts. I became a celebrity child with
    a famous father. I just don’t get into other
    people’s business because of my father’s
    situation, you see.
    Bonds’s description of his life as a celebrity child had
    nothing to do with the question, which asked whether
    Anderson provided him with self-injectable substances. The
    statement served to divert the grand jury’s attention away
    from the relevant inquiry of the investigation, which was
    Anderson and BALCO’s distribution of steroids and PEDs.
    The statement was therefore evasive.
    The statement was also at the very least misleading,
    because it implied that Bonds did not know whether
    Anderson distributed steroids and PEDs. Yet, the jury at trial
    heard testimony from the Giants former team athletic trainer
    who testified about a conversation he had with Bonds before
    Bonds’s grand jury testimony. According to the trainer,
    Bonds stated in this conversation that he knew that Anderson
    distributed steroids. Bonds also told the trainer about
    techniques Anderson used to conceal the identities of players
    UNITED STATES V. BONDS                       13
    taking steroids. This evidence at trial showed that Bonds’s
    statement to the grand jury was misleading. It is irrelevant
    that Bonds eventually provided a direct response to the
    question about self-injectable substances. Section 1503
    punishes any “endeavor” to obstruct. Obstruction occurred
    when Bonds made Statement C.
    With respect to materiality, we have said that a statement
    is material so long as it had “a natural tendency to influence,
    or was capable of influencing, the decision of the decision-
    making body to which it was addressed.” United States v.
    McKenna, 
    327 F.3d 830
    , 839 (9th Cir. 2003) (internal
    quotation marks omitted). The question asking whether
    Anderson provided Bonds with injectable substances was
    well within the scope of the grand jury’s investigation, since
    many steroids and PEDs are injectable. Bonds’s evasive and
    misleading “celebrity child” response was capable of
    influencing the grand jury to minimize Anderson’s role in the
    distribution of illegal steroids and PEDs. The statement was
    material.
    II.
    Bonds next asks us to hold that even if § 1503 applies to
    evasive or misleading statements that are factually true, the
    statute does not apply to statements a witness makes to the
    grand jury. Established Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court
    precedent, however, holds that § 1503 does apply to a
    witness’s testimony before the grand jury. The omnibus
    clause of the statute is just that. It “proscribe[s] all manner of
    corrupt methods of obstructing justice.” Rasheed, 
    663 F.2d at 852
    ; see also United States v. Aguilar, 
    515 U.S. 593
    , 598
    (1995) (noting that the “‘[o]mnibus [c]lause’ serves as a
    14                UNITED STATES V. BONDS
    catchall, prohibiting persons from endeavoring to influence,
    obstruct, or impede the due administration of justice”).
    Consistent with the broad scope of the omnibus clause,
    we have held that a witness can be convicted under § 1503 on
    the basis of statements made under oath before a judge.
    United States v. Gonzalez-Mares, 
    752 F.2d 1485
    , 1491–92
    (9th Cir. 1985); see also Griffin, 
    589 F.2d at
    205–06
    (rejecting the argument that the legislative history of § 1503
    militates against applying the statute to a witness’s in-court
    statements).
    Bonds cites an early case in which we described the
    statute as applying to threatening conduct occurring outside
    of the courtroom. We once said that § 1503 “seem[ed] to be
    limited to intimidating actions” against witnesses and jurors.
    United States v. Metcalf, 
    435 F.2d 754
    , 757 (9th Cir. 1970).
    This court and the Supreme Court, however, have
    subsequently recognized that § 1503 applies to a witness’s
    in-court testimony. In Rasheed, we clarified Metcalf and
    ruled that § 1503’s scope was not limited to “intimidating
    actions.” 
    663 F.2d at 852
     (“The use of the word ‘corruptly’
    in the statute is a clear indication that not every violation of
    [§] 1503 involves threats or intimidation.”). Later in
    Gonzalez-Mares we made it clear that § 1503 applies to false
    statements a defendant makes under oath to a judge.
    
    752 F.2d at 1491
    . The Supreme Court confirmed our
    interpretation of § 1503 when it concluded that one who
    delivers false testimony or documents directly to the grand
    jury violates § 1503, because such conduct “all but assures
    that the grand jury will consider the material in its
    deliberations.” Aguilar, 
    515 U.S. at 601
    .
    UNITED STATES V. BONDS                     15
    Bonds’s contention that his conviction should be reversed
    on the ground that § 1503 does not apply to a witness’s
    statements before the grand jury is therefore foreclosed by
    established precedent.
    III.
    Bonds next argues that the use of the word “corruptly” in
    § 1503 is unconstitutionally vague and failed to put him on
    notice that his conduct was criminal. The word “corruptly”
    in the omnibus clause of § 1503 provides the mens rea of the
    statute and means that the obstructive conduct “must be done
    with the purpose of obstructing justice.” Rasheed, 
    663 F.2d at 852
    .
    Bonds relies on the D.C. Circuit’s opinion in United
    States v. Poindexter, 
    951 F.2d 369
     (D.C. Cir. 1991), to
    support his claim that the term “corruptly” is
    unconstitutionally vague. Poindexter, however, involved an
    as-applied challenge to a different statute, 
    18 U.S.C. § 1505
    ,
    that proscribes corruptly obstructing or impeding a
    congressional or agency proceeding. The court ruled that
    § 1505’s use of the term “corruptly” was “too vague to
    provide constitutionally adequate notice that [§ 1505]
    prohibits lying to Congress.” Id. at 379. Even though the use
    of “corruptly” in § 1505 was borrowed from § 1503, the
    Poindexter court itself cautioned other courts against finding
    that the term as used in § 1503 was unconstitutionally vague.
    Id. at 385. The court noted that § 1503 and § 1505 are so
    “materially different” that the interpretation of § 1505 should
    not guide the interpretation of § 1503. Id.
    The courts examining this issue, including the D.C.
    Circuit that decided Poindexter, have thus refused to extend
    16               UNITED STATES V. BONDS
    Poindexter’s holding to § 1503. See, e.g., United States v.
    Russo, 
    104 F.3d 431
    , 435–36 (D.C. Cir. 1997); United States
    v. Watt, 
    911 F. Supp. 538
    , 545–47 (D.D.C. 1995); see also
    Griffin, 
    589 F.2d at
    206–07 (rejecting the argument that the
    term “corruptly” in § 1503 is unconstitutionally vague).
    Bonds cannot cite any case reversing a § 1503 conviction on
    the theory that the term “corruptly” in § 1503 is
    unconstitutionally vague. The most he can cite is a footnote
    in which an en banc panel of this court noted that Poindexter
    raised an issue of whether the term “corruptly” in § 1503 was
    unconstitutionally vague. United States v. Aguilar, 
    21 F.3d 1475
    , 1486 n.8 (9th Cir. 1994) (en banc), aff’d in part, rev’d
    in part, 
    515 U.S. 593
    , 606 (1995). The Supreme Court
    reviewed Aguilar, but the majority resolved the case without
    addressing the vagueness argument. See Aguilar, 
    515 U.S. at
    600 & n.1.
    Although the majority in Aguilar did not reach the
    vagueness issue, the dissenters did. Justice Scalia, joined by
    Justices Kennedy and Thomas, dissented and expressly
    rejected the contention that the term “corruptly” in § 1503 is
    unconstitutionally vague.       Id. at 616–17 (Scalia, J.,
    dissenting). The dissent noted that it is “well-accepted” that
    the term “corruptly” means “[a]n act done with an intent to
    give some advantage inconsistent with official duty and the
    rights of others . . . . It includes bribery but is more
    comprehensive; because an act may be corruptly done though
    the advantage to be derived from it be not offered by
    another.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted) (omission in
    original).
    Therefore, the only opinions discussing vagueness
    challenges to the use of the term “corruptly” in § 1503 have
    rejected such challenges. Their analysis is sound, and there
    UNITED STATES V. BONDS                       17
    is no basis for holding that Bonds lacked notice that he could
    be punished under § 1503 for providing the grand jury with
    misleading or evasive testimony. Grand jury testimony
    “intended to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due
    administration of justice [is] obviously wrongful, just as [it is]
    necessarily ‘corrupt.’” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
    IV.
    Bonds also contends that the indictment was insufficient
    because Statement C was not explicitly referenced or quoted
    in the indictment. An indictment is sufficient if it contains all
    of the elements of the offense charged so that it informs the
    defendant of the charge, and enables the defendant to use the
    indictment to prevent “future prosecutions for the same
    offense.” Hamling v. United States, 
    418 U.S. 87
    , 117 (1974).
    The obstruction of justice count read in relevant part as
    follows:
    On or about December 4, 2003, in the
    Northern District of California, the defendant,
    Barry Lamar Bonds, did corruptly influence,
    obstruct, and impede, and endeavor to
    corruptly influence, obstruct and impede, the
    due administration of justice, by knowingly
    giving material Grand Jury testimony that was
    intentionally evasive, false, and misleading,
    including but not limited to the false
    statements made by the defendant as charged
    in Counts One through Four of this
    Indictment. All in violation of Title 18,
    United States Code, Section 1503.
    18               UNITED STATES V. BONDS
    The indictment put Bonds on notice that he could be
    convicted of violating § 1503 for any material false,
    misleading, or evasive statement he made during his grand
    jury testimony. During the pre-trial stage of the case, the
    district court limited the statements the jury could actually
    consider, and the government proposed jury instructions
    identifying eleven separate statements that could constitute an
    obstruction of justice. Then, before the jury was instructed,
    the number of obstructive statements was further reduced by
    the court. The jury was instructed correctly that to convict,
    it had to agree unanimously on which statement or statements
    qualified as intentionally evasive, false, or misleading.
    Bonds argues that the listing of specific statements
    somehow, and improperly, expanded the indictment. A
    listing of statements might be problematic if the original
    indictment charged a few specific obstructive statements, and
    the jury instructions later added other statements. See United
    States v. Shipsey, 
    190 F.3d 1081
    , 1086–87 (9th Cir. 1999)
    (jury instructions are improper if they permit the jury to
    convict under a theory not included in the indictment).
    That scenario, however, did not occur in Bonds’s case.
    The indictment here covered any false, misleading, or evasive
    statement he made during his grand jury testimony. The
    listing of specific statements in the jury instructions,
    therefore, narrowed the statements for which Bonds could be
    convicted. Narrowing an indictment via jury instructions is
    permissible. United States v. Wilbur, 
    674 F.3d 1160
    , 1178
    (9th Cir. 2012). The indictment was sufficient.
    UNITED STATES V. BONDS                     19
    V.
    Bonds last challenges the district court’s rejection of his
    request to modify the jury instructions. Bonds requested that
    the instructions for the obstruction count contain the words
    “when considered in its totality,” such that the instructions
    would have read “by knowingly giving material testimony
    that, when considered in its totality, was intentionally
    evasive, false, and misleading.”
    The district court correctly rejected Bonds’s proposed
    addition because it added little or nothing to the instructions
    given, and was covered adequately by those instructions. See
    United States v. Thomas, 
    612 F.3d 1107
    , 1120 (9th Cir.
    2010). The jury knew it had to consider statements in context
    because it was instructed to “consider[] all the evidence,” and
    was instructed that a statement was material “if it had a
    natural tendency to influence, or was capable of influencing,
    the decision of the grand jury.” To the extent Bonds’s
    proposed language deviated from the given instructions by
    implying that the jury had to find that Bonds’s entire
    testimony was evasive or misleading in order to convict him,
    Bonds’s proposed language was incorrect. The indictment
    and the jury instructions made clear that Bonds could be
    convicted on the basis of individual statements that were
    evasive or misleading.
    CONCLUSION
    The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.