[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

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No. 23-10272 ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus GRETCHEN BUSELLI, a.k.a. Gretchen Yarbrough,

Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 4:21-cr-00045-MW-MAF-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 23-10272 Document: 47-1 Date Filed: 07/11/2024 Page: 2 of 33

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Before JORDAN, LAGOA, and HULL, Circuit Judges. HULL, Circuit Judge: After a jury trial, Gretchen Buselli appeals her convictions for a murder-for-hire plot targeting her husband and for making false statements to a federal agent. Buselli challenges the jury instructions given on both convictions and the constitutionality of her false-statements conviction. After careful review of the record and the parties’ briefs, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm Buselli’s convictions. I. TRIAL EVIDENCE As recounted below, the trial evidence included, inter alia, recorded phone calls of Buselli hiring “Paul” to murder her estranged husband and pictures capturing Buselli leaving $5,000 in cash in a lunch box in a designated area for “Paul.” Here’s the sequence of events. A. Buselli’s Daughter In 2020, Buselli reported to authorities several times that her estranged husband, Bradley Buselli, was physically and sexually abusing their daughter. 1 Buselli and Bradley lived in Florida, were separated, and shared custody of their daughter. Buselli’s abuse allegations were investigated by the Tallahassee Police Department, the Children’s Home Society of

1 Throughout this opinion, we refer to Gretchen Buselli as “Buselli” and

Bradley Buselli as “Bradley.” USCA11 Case: 23-10272 Document: 47-1 Date Filed: 07/11/2024 Page: 3 of 33

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Florida, the Florida Department of Children and Families2, and the guardian ad litem appointed in Buselli and Bradley’s divorce proceedings to represent the interests of their daughter. Each concluded that no evidence supported Buselli’s abuse allegations. Notably, the guardian ad litem recommended that Bradley be granted majority custody of his daughter because the guardian believed Buselli was attempting to take her daughter and move to Oregon. B. The Murder-For-Hire Plot In June 2021, Christopher Colon, who lived in Montana, reported to the Hillsborough County, Florida Sheriff’s Department that Buselli asked him to murder Bradley. Buselli was Colon’s former high school girlfriend. Because Colon lived in Montana, Florida authorities contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) for assistance. An FBI agent contacted Colon in Montana and gave Colon a recorder to capture his calls with Buselli. On July 9, 2021, Colon recorded a call with Buselli. Buselli expressed her frustration with the failure of Child Protective Services and a stat