Opinion ID: 541736
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Motion for a New Trial Based On Newly Discovered Evidence

Text: 64 Following the first trial, Parker and Moon moved pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 33 for a new trial on the ground that newly discovered evidence would exculpate them. In support of their motions, they presented statements by one Dwayne Williams, an inmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), that Higgs, while at MCC awaiting trial, had told Williams that Parker and Moon had nothing to do with the robbery and that Smith had lied about their involvement in order to conceal the fact that Smith's role had been that of gunman, not merely lookout. 65 Prior to sentencing Higgs, who had pleaded guilty on the morning of the first day of trial, Judge Haight allowed defense counsel to interview Higgs twice with respect to these allegations. Higgs denied making the statements attributed to him and said he had nothing to say that would exculpate Parker or Moon. Defense counsel, arguing that the prospect of sentencing might be inhibiting Higgs's willingness to speak freely, urged the court to proceed with Higgs's sentencing and then allow them to interview him a third time. The court sentenced Higgs the same day. After he was sentenced, however, Higgs told the court that he had already told defense counsel all he knew and that he did not wish to be interviewed further. 66 Judge Haight refused to order Higgs to submit to further interviews and denied the motions for a new trial. He found that the statements of Williams would be hearsay and would not be admissible at trial since they did not fall within the exception in Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(3) for statements against the penal interest of an unavailable witness. He also concluded that given the extent to which defendants already had impeached the testimony of Smith with evidence of his history of, inter alia, drug abuse, drug dealing, and prevarication, there was little likelihood that the statements attributed to Higgs would lead the jury to find Parker and Moon not guilty. Memorandum Opinion and Order dated September 5, 1989, at 7-10. We agree. 67 In order to obtain a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence, the moving defendant must show, inter alia, that the new evidence would probably lead to an acquittal. United States v. Alessi, 638 F.2d 466, 479 (2d Cir.1980); see United States v. Stofsky, 527 F.2d 237, 243 (2d Cir.1975) (new evidence generally does not entitle defendant to a new trial unless it is likely to produce a different verdict), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 819, 97 S.Ct. 65, 50 L.Ed.2d 80 (1976). This principle presupposes, of course, that the proffered new evidence would be admissible at the new trial. See United States v. Mackin, 561 F.2d 958, 962-63 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 959, 98 S.Ct. 490, 54 L.Ed.2d 319 (1977). 68 Consideration of a motion for a new trial is committed to the sound discretion of the district court, and we will not overturn the denial of such a motion in the absence of an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Zane, 507 F.2d 346, 347-48 (2d Cir.1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 910, 95 S.Ct. 1563, 43 L.Ed.2d 775 (1975). We find no such abuse here. 69 Rule 804(b)(3) provides, in pertinent part, that the hearsay statement of an unavailable witness may be admitted if it is 70 [a] statement which was at the time of its making ... so far tended to subject the declarant to civil or criminal liability ... that a reasonable person in the declarant's position would not have made the statement unless believing it to be true. A statement tending to expose the declarant to criminal liability and offered to exculpate the accused is not admissible unless corroborating circumstances clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement. 71 Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(3). As Judge Haight found, Williams's statements as to what Higgs said to him would not have been admissible under this Rule. Even if Higgs were unavailable to testify, and the court found he was not, the statements attributed to him did not tend to subject him to further criminal liability with respect to the robbery; they merely shifted the blame among his codefendants. 72 Nor did defendants advert to any corroborating circumstances to indicate that the statements attributed to Higgs were trustworthy. Indeed, the sequence of events strongly tended to contradict any suggestion that Smith had fabricated the involvement of Parker and Moon, for Parker and Moon were arrested before the authorities had any contact with Smith. 73 In all the circumstances, we find no abuse of discretion in the court's denial of the motions for a new trial.