Opinion ID: 450428
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Admission of the Check

Text: 71 Defendant Heckens assigns as error the district court's decision to admit the stolen Peat, Marwick and Mitchell check that Ruiz claimed Heckens gave him as payment for some renovation work and that led to the discovery of the conspiracy. When the Government began to elicit testimony concerning this check, defendant Gironda's counsel objected, and the judge then instructed the jury that they should only consider Ruiz' testimony as evidence against defendant Heckens and not as evidence against any of the other defendants. When the Government offered the check into evidence, defendants Balzano, Gironda, and Speiss again objected. On the other hand, defendant Heckens stated, when asked by the court, that he had no objection to the admission of the check. The court then admitted the check into evidence only against defendant Heckens. Even though he made no objection at trial, defendant Heckens now claims that the court erred in admitting the check because the admission violated rule 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, which limits the admissibility of evidence of other crimes. 72 Defendant's failure at trial to object to the admission of evidence operates as a waiver of that objection unless the admission constituted plain error. United States v. Hickerson, 732 F.2d 611, 613 (7th Cir.1984), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 159, 83 L.Ed.2d 95; United States v. Weed, 689 F.2d 752, 756 (7th Cir.1982). As discussed previously, the standard to prove plain error is a difficult one to meet. To find plain error, this court must determine that the district court's error was a serious and harmful error of constitutional magnitude. United States v. Jefferson, 714 F.2d 689, 693 (7th Cir.1983). A reviewing court should exercise its discretion to find plain error cautiously and only in exceptional circumstances. United States v. Jackson, 542 F.2d 403, 409 (7th Cir.1976). Accord United States v. Verkuilen, 690 F.2d 648, 658 (7th Cir.1982). 73 Even assuming that the district court should have excluded the check, its error in admitting the evidence would not amount to plain error. Upon review of the record in this case, this court finds that, considering all of the testimonial and documentary evidence establishing defendant Heckens' role in the conspiracy, any prejudice that Heckens suffered due to the admission of the check was inconsequential. Further, this court is reluctant to exercise its discretion to find plain error when defendant's failure to object at trial constituted a tactical decision. In United States v. Allain, 671 F.2d 248 (7th Cir.1982), this court refused to apply the plain error doctrine to the district court's decision to permit testimony concerning other criminal acts. Id. at 252. In that case, this court noted that defendant decided not to object, when asked by the court, because he wanted to use the evidence to impugn the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses, who were also involved in these crimes. Similarly, in this case, defendant Heckens presumably decided not to object to the admission of the check because he wanted to use that evidence to attack Ruiz' credibility. In essence, defendant Heckens argued that, because the Government never charged him in connection with the stolen check, the Government must not have believed Ruiz, and, therefore, the jury should not have considered him a credible witness. Under these circumstances, we refuse to assign plain error to the district court's decision.