State v. Haas

In State v. Haas, 138 Ariz. 413, 420, 675 P.2d 673, 680 (1983) the Arizona Supreme Court used substantially the same language in affirming the defendant real estate agent's convictions on five counts of fraudulent scheme and artifice arising from various real estate transactions. In challenging his convictions, the defendant argued that, although his purchasers may have been involved in an underlying scheme to defraud the sellers, he was not aware of the fraudulent nature of their scheme, and he denied that he intentionally participated in it. Id. The supreme court characterized the "issue of whether defendant acted knowingly and intentionally as a judgment of his credibility." Id. In determining the evidence was sufficient to support the jury's verdict, the court stated: "The jury could easily have concluded that even if defendant had no actual knowledge of the fraud, he was aware of the high probability that the scheme was fraudulent and deliberately shut his eyes to avoid learning the truth. Such a conclusion justifies the ultimate inference of knowing participation." Id. at 420, 675 P.2d at 680.