Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/766/37/302846/
Timestamp: 2020-06-03 04:23:16
Document Index: 563225351

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1623', '§ 1623', '§ 1623', '§ 1623', '§ 1623', '§ 659']

United States of America, Appellee, v. Alfred Scivola, Jr., Defendant, Appellant, 766 F.2d 37 (1st Cir. 1985) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › First Circuit › 1985 › United States of America, Appellee, v. Alfred Scivola, Jr., Defendant, Appellant
United States of America, Appellee, v. Alfred Scivola, Jr., Defendant, Appellant, 766 F.2d 37 (1st Cir. 1985)
US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit - 766 F.2d 37 (1st Cir. 1985) Argued May 9, 1985. July 2, 1985
Fed. R. Crim. P. 8(a). Joinder was proper under Rule 8(a) because, under the Government's theory, both defendant's perjury and the attempt to persuade William Smith to commit perjury were parts of a common scheme or plan. The Government's theory was that the hoped-for false testimony of Smith was designed to corroborate the false testimony given by defendant, and therefore the subornation of Smith's perjury together with defendant's perjury were part of one plan to commit a fraud upon the court. Certainly, the Government's theory is plausible, even though the jury ultimately found that there was insufficient evidence to implicate defendant in the attempt to suborn Smith's perjury. Thus, the joinder of the two counts was justified.
It is within the sound discretion of the district court to deny a motion to sever pursuant to Rule 14. On review, this court may reverse a district court's denial of such a motion only if the court has abused its discretion. United States v. O'Connell, 703 F.2d 645, 649 (1st Cir. 1983); United States v. Ciampaglia, 628 F.2d 632, 643 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 956, 101 S. Ct. 365, 66 L. Ed. 2d 221 (1980). Reversal of a conviction on the ground that a district court abused its discretion by denying a motion to sever is extremely rare. United States v. Barrett, 505 F.2d 1091, 1106 (7th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 964, 95 S. Ct. 1951, 44 L. Ed. 2d 450 (1975).
In order for defendant to successfully challenge the district court's refusal to sever counts I and II, he must make a strong showing that he was prejudiced at trial. United States v. Bautista, 731 F.2d 97, 100 (1st Cir. 1984); United States v. Arruda, 715 F.2d 671, 679 (1st Cir. 1983); United States v. Thomann, 609 F.2d 560, 564 (1st Cir. 1979). Generally, there are three types of prejudice that may result from trying a defendant for several different offenses at one trial: (1) the defendant may become embarrassed or confounded in presenting separate defenses, Drew v. United States, 331 F.2d 85, 88 (D.C. Cir. 1964); (2) proof that defendant is guilty of one offense may be used to convict him of a second offense, even though such proof would be inadmissible in a separate trial for the second offense, Baker v. United States, 401 F.2d 958, 974 (D.C. Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 965, 91 S. Ct. 367, 27 L. Ed. 2d 384 (1970); and (3) a defendant may wish to testify in his own behalf on one of the offenses but not another, forcing him to choose the unwanted alternative of testifying as to both or testifying as to neither, Cross v. United States, 335 F.2d 987 (D.C. Cir. 1964).
As authority for his position, defendant relies principally on Cross v. United States, 335 F.2d 987 (D.C. Cir. 1964), a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In Cross, the court held that the defendant was entitled to a new trial because he had been prejudiced by the joinder of two separate counts of robbery in the same trial. As in this case, the defendant in Cross sought a severance of the two counts because he wished to testify as to one robbery--that of a tourist home--but not as to the other--that of a church. Following the district court's refusal to grant defendant's motion to sever, the defendant chose to take the witness stand anyway, thereby subjecting himself to questioning on the church-robbery count, the one about which he did not want to testify. The defendant's answers on cross-examination were damaging as to the church robbery and he was ultimately convicted on that count. He was acquitted, however, on the count charging him with robbing a tourist home. On appeal, the court in Cross held that defendant should be awarded a new trial on the church-robbery count because the district court's refusal to sever the two counts was prejudicial within the meaning of Rule 14. Id. at 991.
Moreover, the court that decided Cross has subsequently narrowed its view of what constitutes prejudice within the meaning of Rule 14. In Baker v. United States, 401 F.2d 958 (D.C. Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 965, 91 S. Ct. 367, 27 L. Ed. 2d 384 (1970), the District of Columbia Circuit clarified its decision in Cross, stating that the mere election of a defendant to testify as to one count in an indictment but not as to another was insufficient to justify a Rule 14 severance. Id. at 976. The court stated that a defendant must make a convincing showing that "he has both important testimony to give concerning one count and strong need to refrain from testifying on the other." Id. at 977; see United States v. Bronco, 597 F.2d 1300, 1303 (9th Cir. 1979). It is essential, therefore, that a defendant present to the court enough information to demonstrate that the joinder of charges will cause prejudice so that the court may weigh intelligently the considerations of judicial economy against defendant's freedom to choose whether to testify regarding a particular charge against him. Baker, 401 F.2d at 977.
Defendant's next contention on appeal is that the district court erred in denying both his motion to dismiss the perjury count and his motion for reconsideration on the same grounds. Defendant contends that his prosecution for perjury under 18 U.S.C. § 1623(a)5 was barred as a matter of law.
To be punishable under section 1623(a), a false statement must be "material" to the court proceeding in which it is made. United States v. Goguen, 723 F.2d 1012, 1019 (1st Cir. 1983); United States v. Finucan, 708 F.2d 838, 848 (1st Cir. 1983). Materiality is a legal question to be decided by the trial court. United States v. Kehoe, 562 F.2d 65, 68 (1st Cir. 1977); United States v. Romanow, 509 F.2d 26, 28 (1st Cir. 1975). In this case, the district court determined, as a matter of law, that defendant's statement regarding the number of chairs he had purchased was "material" to the proceeding.6
Defendant argues that the court's determination was error because the difference between the number of chairs he admitted to having received and the number alleged by the Government was irrelevant to any element of the stolen-property offense for which he was indicted.7 Nevertheless, the test for materiality is a broad one. United States v. Byrnes, 644 F.2d 107, 111 (2d Cir. 1981); United States v. Giarratano, 622 F.2d 153, 156 (5th Cir. 1980). A statement is material if it is "capable of influencing the tribunal on the issue before it." Giarratano, 622 F.2d at 156. The statement need not be material to any particular issue in the case, but rather may be material to any proper matter of the jury's inquiry, id., including the issue of credibility. United States v. Allen, 409 F. Supp. 562, 565 (E.D. Va. 1975), aff'd, 541 F.2d 278 (4th Cir. 1976).
United States v. Goguen, 723 F.2d 1012, 1018 (1st Cir. 1983).8
Even if defendant's guilty plea had satisfied the requirements for an effective recantation, defendant made such recantation too late to benefit from section 1623(d)'s bar to prosecution for perjury. The section lists two temporal requirements that must be satisfied in order for a recanting witness to avoid prosecution for perjury: (1) the recantation must be made before the prior false testimony has substantially affected the relevant proceeding, and (2) it must be made before it has become manifest that the falsity of the prior testimony has been or will be exposed. 18 U.S.C. § 1623(d) (1982). Section 1623(d) uses the word "or," implying that only one of the two requirements need be satisfied for a person to take advantage of the section's defense to a perjury charge. Nevertheless, the courts of appeals that have focused on the issue have determined that both requirements must be satisfied in order for the section's defense to apply. United States v. Denison, 663 F.2d 611, 615 (5th Cir. 1981); United States v. Moore, 613 F.2d 1029, 1043 (D.C. Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 954, 100 S. Ct. 2922, 64 L. Ed. 2d 811 (1980); United States v. Crandall, 363 F. Supp. 648, 654-55 (W.D. Pa. 1973), affirmed, 493 F.2d 1401 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 852, 95 S. Ct. 94, 42 L. Ed. 2d 83 (1974). We agree with these courts that, in order for a recantation to effectively bar a prosecution for perjury pursuant to section 1623(d), it must be made both before the false testimony has substantially affected the proceeding and before it has become manifest.10
Once it becomes manifest to a witness that his false testimony has been or will be exposed, he may no longer take advantage of the recantation defense of section 1623(d). United States v. Denison, 663 F.2d 611, 617 (5th Cir. 1981); United States v. Swainson, 548 F.2d 657, 663 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 937, 97 S. Ct. 2649, 53 L. Ed. 2d 255 (1977); see United States v. Clavey 578 F.2d 1219, 1222 n. 5 (7th Cir.) (in banc) (per curiam) (Swygert, J., dissenting), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 954, 99 S. Ct. 351, 58 L. Ed. 2d 345 (1978). In this case, defendant chose to plead guilty after he learned that the Government was prepared to introduce into evidence tape recordings of the meeting between his codefendant Marrapese and William Smith, which tended to prove defendant's involvement in the crime for which he was charged. At that point, it had become manifest to defendant that the falsity of his trial testimony had been exposed. The recantation defense was then no longer available to him. We therefore hold that the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to dismiss and post-trial motion to reconsider on the grounds that prosecution was barred under section 1623(d).
In this appeal, defendant argues that his prosecution for perjury should have been barred because, by pleading guilty to the charge of receiving stolen property before the conclusion of trial, he had admitted to having given false testimony in time to take advantage of the recantation defense of 18 U.S.C. § 1623(d). See infra part III
Defendant was indicted for committing perjury, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1623(a). That section states:
18 U.S.C. § 1623(a) (1982).
Defendant was indicted for violating 18 U.S.C. § 659, which punishes the receipt of stolen property whose value exceeds $100. Defendant argues that, because the value of 35 La-Z-Boy chairs easily exceeded $100., it made little difference in the case whether the jury found that he had received 35 chairs as he had testified to or 100 chairs as the Government had maintained
Section 1623(d) was modeled after section 210.25 of the New York Penal Code, which established a recantation defense to the charge of perjury. See H.R.Rep. No. 1549, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 47-48, reprinted in 1970 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 4007, 4023-24; S.Rep. No. 617, 91st Cong., 1st Sess. 150 (1969). The New York Court of Appeals has limited this recantation defense to situations in which the recantation is made "before the body conducting the inquiry has been deceived or misled to the harm and prejudice of its investigation, and when no reasonable likelihood exists that the witness has learned that his perjury is known or may become known to the authorities." People v. Ezaugi, 2 N.Y.2d 439, 161 N.Y.S.2d 75, 78, 141 N.E.2d 580, 583 (1957) (emphasis added). Congress has never deviated from its original position that the New York law of recantation was to be incorporated into section 1623(d). United States v. Moore, 613 F.2d 1029, 1042 (D.C. Cir. 1979)