Opinion ID: 2972727
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Clark’s grand jury testimony

Text: 1. Admitting the transcript of Clark’s testimony as an exhibit Clark told the grand jury that he recognized the man who delivered the cocaine as “Pops Bishop,” but, when he was called to testify at Smith’s trial, Clark denied any such knowledge. He instead insisted that he had never heard the name “Pops Bishop” at the car wash and could not identify Smith as the driver of the red car. Under such circumstances, the admission of Clark’s grand jury testimony was appropriate. See United States v. Distler, 671 F.2d 954, 958 (6th Cir. 1981) (approving of the admission of grand jury testimony after “many of the witnesses forgot portions of their grand jury testimony or remembered it with less certainty of detail”). Smith does not argue that the district court erred in permitting the government to read excerpts of Clark’s grand jury testimony to the jury in the present case. Nor does he contend that this testimony may not be considered as substantive evidence of his guilt. Smith does insist, however, that the district court erred in admitting the transcript as an exhibit and thereafter providing a copy of the transcript to the jury. He argues that providing the testimony “in black and white” as an exhibit had the effect of encouraging the jury to place undue weight on the grand jury testimony relative to the other testimony offered at trial. See United States v. Walker, 1 F.3d 423, 430 (6th Cir. 1993) (“The potential for double exposure to selected testimony to improperly influence a jury has long been recognized.”). Because Smith preserved his objection to the district court’s admission of the transcript as an exhibit, we review its actions under the abuse-of-discretion standard. See United States v. West, 948 F.2d 1042, 1044 (6th Cir.1991) (holding that the decision to admit transcripts of taped testimony into evidence, or to send transcripts to the jury for their reference, falls within the sound discretion of the trial court). If the transcript of Clark’s grand jury testimony had been sent to the petit jury after the district court had determined that such action was necessary and after the court had given an appropriate limiting instruction, there can be little doubt that the district court would not have abused its discretion in permitting the deliberating jury to view the transcript. See United States v. Scaife, 749 F.2d 338, 347 (6th Cir. 1984) (“A district court has broad discretion to permit a jury to take to the jury room any tape recordings that have been admitted as exhibits during trial.”). Whether the transcript was properly admitted as an exhibit, however, is a closer question. This court was faced with an analogous situation in Engebretsen v. Fairchild Aircraft Corp., 21 F.3d 721 (6th Cir. 1994). There, the court warned that a “party’s right to admit prior statements in a document for rehabilitative purposes [does not] necessarily entitle[] that party to submit the document as an exhibit to the jury. Permitting the document to go to the jury room could unduly prejudice the cross-examining party.” Id. at 730 n.2. The Engebretsen court advised that the district court should instead “consider admitting the statements in the document through testimony or by having the document read to the jury.” Id. Only where “the court determines that admitting the document as an exhibit is necessary” should the document be admitted, and then only with an appropriate instruction regarding “the limited purpose of the exhibit.” Id. The district court in the present case offered no justification for its decision to eschew the established practice of simply reading the transcript of the testimony aloud to the jury. It made no finding with regard to whether the admission of the transcript as an exhibit was necessary, nor did the court explain its decision to provide the deliberating jury with a copy of the transcript. The failure of the district court to explain its actions regarding the grand jury transcript was an abuse of No. 04-1476 United States v. Smith Page 6 discretion. See Geier v. Sundquist, 372 F.3d 784, 791 (6th Cir. 2004) (“At times, we have found an abuse of discretion where a district court fails to explain its reasoning adequately or to consider the competing arguments of the parties.”). Nevertheless, because Smith has failed to show that the jury’s consideration of the transcript prejudiced his defense (see Part II.B.2.below), any error by the district court would necessarily be harmless. See Scaife, 749 F.2d at 347 (ruling that the district court’s “technical error” in permitting the deliberating jury to listen to a tape that had not been admitted into evidence was harmless because “the defendants ha[d] not even attempted to show prejudice”). 2. Failing to give the jury a cautionary instruction Smith also argues that the district court erred in failing to give a proper cautionary instruction before providing the deliberating jury with a copy of Clark’s grand jury testimony. See United States v. Rodgers, 109 F.3d 1138, 1141 (6th Cir. 1997) (taking the “opportunity to explicitly announce the rule that a district court must give cautionary instructions to the jury when allowing the jury to review trial testimony, and [warning that] a failure to do so may be reversible error”). This court has recognized that there are “two inherent dangers” in permitting a jury to review testimony offered at trial during its deliberations. United States v. Padin, 787 F.2d 1071, 1076 (6th Cir. 1986). First, the jury may accord “undue emphasis” to the testimony it reviews. Id. And second, “the limited testimony that is reviewed may be taken out of context by the jury.” Id. “[T]hese concerns are escalated after the jury ha[s] reported its inability to arrive at a verdict.” Id. at 1077. The reported cases addressing when it is appropriate for a deliberating jury to review testimony do not distinguish between a district court’s rereading of trial testimony to the jury and providing the jury with transcripts of the testimony. Compare United States v. Tines, 70 F.3d 891, 897 (6th Cir. 1995) (applying the two concerns expressed in Padin to the district court’s decision to read back testimony), with Rodgers, 109 F.3d at 1143 (evaluating, in light of Padin, the district court’s decision to provide the jury with a transcript of testimony). Smith also argues that transcripts of grand jury testimony should be treated differently than transcripts of trial testimony, but the relevant caselaw with respect to this issue does not support such a distinction. See Distler, 671 F.2d at 958-59 (permitting the jury to consider both trial testimony and grand jury testimony as substantive evidence of the defendant’s guilt). The district court’s primary error, however, was its failure to issue a cautionary instruction before providing the petit jury with a transcript of Clark’s grand jury testimony. Such an instruction is necessary “to guard against the dangers of undue emphasis and context.” Tines, 70 F.3d at 897 (approving the district court’s decision to issue a cautionary instruction “[t]wice before and once after the testimony was re-read”). The district court therefore abused its discretion in failing to give an appropriate instruction with regard to the proper use of Clark’s grand jury testimony. See Rodgers, 109 F.3d at 1141 (holding that a district court commits error when it does not give a cautionary instruction before permitting a deliberating jury to review testimony). Setting aside the judgment and remanding for a new trial is required, however, only if Smith can show that he was prejudiced by the district court’s error. Smith asserts that the jury’s request to see the transcript of Clark’s grand jury testimony, in the absence of a similar request to review Clark’s trial testimony, demonstrates that the jury placed “undue emphasis” on the grand jury testimony. Padin, 787 F.2d at 1076. The record reveals, however, that the jury asked to see the grand jury testimony of several witnesses, including that of Clark, just after it began its deliberations. When the court informed the jury that some of the testimony requested did not exist because the witnesses had not all testified before the grand jury, the jury then asked for all of the exhibits in the case to be sent to the jury room. The jury’s blanket request to see all of the exhibits at this early stage of its deliberations can hardly be said to constitute strong evidence that the jury No. 04-1476 United States v. Smith Page 7 placed undue emphasis on this one exhibit. See Rodgers, 109 F.3d at 1144 (concluding that the district court’s error in failing to issue a cautionary instruction was harmless where “there [wa]s no indication the jury was having great difficulty agreeing on a unanimous verdict”). Smith further argues that the petit jury necessarily viewed the transcript of Clark’s testimony “out of context” because the district court neglected to explain to the jury the ex parte nature of grand jury proceedings. Id. at 1143. But the jury in Smith’s case had the benefit of seeing Clark testify at trial, which is not always the case when grand jury testimony is admitted as substantive evidence in a criminal trial. See United States v. Barlow, 693 F.2d 954, 961 (6th Cir. 1982) (admitting the grand jury testimony of a witness who was unavailable to testify at trial). When testifying at Smith’s trial, Clark insisted that he did not know the identity of the person who delivered the cocaine. Clark even accused the prosecutor of twisting his grand jury testimony and said: “You’re putting two people’s names together. I did not say Pops Bishop.” Clark’s interpretation of his own grand jury testimony helped to put the testimony in context for the jury. Furthermore, Clark’s willingness to verbally spar with the prosecutor at trial undercuts Smith’s contention that Clark was a “young and impressionable witness” who was “spoon fed answers” during his grand jury appearance. Finally, there was substantial additional evidence introduced at trial, including Smith’s numerous recorded telephone calls to his coconspirators, upon which the jury could have properly based its guilty verdict. We therefore conclude that the district court’s error in failing to issue a cautionary instruction was harmless because “it appears beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained.” Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 15 (1999) (finding that an improper jury instruction was a harmless error that did not require reversal of the conviction) (citation and quotation marks omitted); see also United States v. Pugh, 405 F.3d 390, 400 (6th Cir. 2005) (“In determining whether an error is harmless, the reviewing court must take account of what the error meant to the jury, not singled out and standing alone, but in relation to all else that happened.”) (citation and quotation marks omitted).