Opinion ID: 572467
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prosecutor's Misleading Comments During Final Argument

Text: 35 The defense claims that the district court erred when it failed to correct a purported prejudicial mistake in the government's rebuttal to defense's closing argument. In closing, defense counsel argued that while appellants may have committed substantive drug offenses in other judicial districts, they were not guilty of the charged conspiracy. In effect, the defense was claiming that the defendants should be acquitted here (since they did not purposefully avail themselves of the Southern District of Illinois in the commission of their misdeeds) and instead should be charged with criminal offenses in the areas of the country where the bulk of their illegal conduct occurred. 36 In this rebuttal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carr said: 37 Let them be charged in Pennsylvania. Mr. Malkin said, let them be charged in Pennsylvania. Mr. Sheppard [Marcum's attorney] said, let them be charged in Florida or Pennsylvania but not here. Well this is it, folks. The plea agreements that they have talked about where they say they can be charged in all these other counts (sic) [It should read courts], there is a section in the plea agreement that they didn't read out loud that's underlined. It says to the extent that the double jeopardy clause applies. 38 Well what does that mean? That means this is the trial. You only have to go to trial once for the charge. It's right here. The idea let them be charged in Philadelphia or Florida, that's gone. The double jeopardy clause applies. It's in all the plea agreements. Those other people can't be charged for some offense in Missouri that this same conspiracy is charged. It's unconstitutional and they know it. 39 The defense accuses Attorney Carr of trying to misinform the jury that if appellants were acquitted of the conspiracy charge, the doctrine of double jeopardy would bar prosecution for substantive acts, such as possession with intent to distribute marijuana or distribution of marijuana, in other districts. Based on their interpretation of Attorney Carr's statement, the defendants objected to what they thought was a misstatement of the law since double jeopardy does not bar successive trials on conspiracy and the underlying substantive counts. Pereira v. United States, 347 U.S. 1, 11, 74 S.Ct. 358, 364, 98 L.Ed. 435 (1954); United States v. Craig, 573 F.2d 455, 485 (7th Cir.1977); United States v. Cortwright, 528 F.2d 168, 176 (7th Cir.1975). The defense thus made a request for a curative instruction. The district court declined to give a curative instruction. The defense claims on appeal that they were prejudiced when the prosecutor's erroneous remarks were allowed to stand, giving the jury an added sense of urgency to convict the defendants in the present proceeding notwithstanding the applicable legal standards. 40 The prosecutor's statement, in its context, was not an erroneous statement of the law. Drug offenses committed in Pennsylvania constituted the basis of the conspiracy charged in the Southern District of Illinois. If the government brought a subsequent conspiracy charge in Pennsylvania, then the Double Jeopardy Clause would intervene because in that case defendants would be prosecuted for the same offense. The prosecutor's comment, on its face, cannot seriously be understood to mean that charges concerning the lesser-included offenses constituting a conspiracy in this case could never be brought against the defendants if they are acquitted. The prosecutor only acknowledged the well-understood rule that the government could not charge another conspiracy against the defendants based on the same conduct used to prove this conspiracy. 41 If we thought that the prosecutor's statement could be construed as the defendants construe it, a question arises as to whether the prosecutor accurately described what the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits. In Grady v. Corbin, 495 U.S. 508, 110 S.Ct. 2084, 109 L.Ed.2d 548 (1990), the Supreme Court held that 42 the Double Jeopardy Clause bars any subsequent prosecution in which the government, to establish an essential element of an offense charged in that prosecution, will prove conduct that constitutes an offense for which the defendant has already been prosecuted.... The critical inquiry is what conduct the state will prove, not the evidence the state will use to prove that conduct. 43 Id. 110 S.Ct. at 2093. Two circuits have construed this language broadly, essentially holding that the Double Jeopardy Clause bars successive prosecutions not only for the same offense but also for the conduct or actions that contributed to that offense. United States v. Felix, 926 F.2d 1522 (10th Cir.1991); United States v. Calderone, 917 F.2d 717 (2d Cir.1990). This approach would probably bar subsequent prosecutions for the substantive crimes underlying the conspiracy in this case. Other circuits have construed Grady in a way that probably would allow subsequent prosecutions for the substantive crimes here. United States v. Clark, 928 F.2d 639 (4th Cir.1991); United States v. Gonzalez, 921 F.2d 1530 (11th Cir.1991); see also Felix, 926 F.2d at 1532-35 (Anderson, J., dissenting). We do not need to take sides in this dispute, 2 however, since we have held that the jury was unlikely to construe the prosecutor's statement in context as referring to anything other than a subsequent prosecution for the conspiracy charged in this case. 44 Even if it was error for the court to refuse a curative instruction or an explanation to the jury concerning the various remaining criminal charges which could be brought against the defendants and the remaining suitable jurisdictions for prosecutions, the error is harmless. Under Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, any error which does not affect substantial rights should be disregarded, and designated as harmless. In considering whether a non-constitutional error is harmless, [o]ur task is to gauge 'what effect the error had or reasonably may have had upon the jury's decision.'  United States v. Zapata, 871 F.2d 616, 622 (7th Cir.1989) (quoting United States v. Shepherd, 576 F.2d 719, 723 (7th Cir.1978). Only if we are convinced that the error did not influence the jury or had only a very slight effect, and can so say with fair assurance, should we hold the error as harmless. United States v. Shackleford, 738 F.2d 776, 783 (7th Cir.1984); see also United States v. Beasley, 809 F.2d 1273, 1280 (7th Cir.1987) (error is harmless unless it results in actual prejudice or  'had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict'  (quoting United States v. Lane, 474 U.S. 438, 449, 106 S.Ct. 725, 732, 88 L.Ed.2d 814 (1986))). Here an examination of the rebuttal, together with the rest of closing arguments and the evidence at trial, convinces us that any error was harmless. The jury was properly instructed as to the nature of the charged offenses and the requirements for conviction. The government's proof satisfactorily supports, and perhaps compels, a jury finding of guilt as to the charged violations without the government's purportedly ambiguous double jeopardy assertion. In light of the strength of the government's case, even if there was error the court's failure to issue a curative instruction referring to the prosecutor's double-jeopardy characterization would have been harmless. We find no prejudicial error in the prosecutor's remarks nor an abuse of trial court discretion in denying the defense's motion for a curative instruction.