Opinion ID: 779593
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cross examination of Swick.

Text: 37 Lowe argues that the district court abused its discretion when it refused to let Lowe's counsel use an officer's affidavit to impeach Stuart Swick during cross examination. In this case, an affidavit by law enforcement agent John White had a first paragraph that was virtually identical to an affidavit made by Swick, purportedly from memory. At trial, Swick testified that he created his statement entirely from his own recollection, and in his own words, and that he did not use any notes or other materials to compose his statement. Lowe's counsel wanted to impeach Swick with the White affidavit to demonstrate that Swick was being untruthful about the originality of his statement. The larger point he was attempting to make was that Swick, a member of the drug conspiracy, was motivated to lie about the conduct of other defendants in order to obtain a more favorable plea bargain. 38 Ordinarily, a district court's evidentiary rulings are reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Aldaco, 201 F.3d 979, 985 (7th Cir.2000). However, when the restriction implicates the criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him, which Lowe alleges here, the standard of review becomes de novo. United States v. Cavender, 228 F.3d 792, 798 (7th Cir.2000); United States v. Sasson, 62 F.3d 874, 882 (7th Cir.1995). 39 In general, the district court has wide latitude to impose limitations on cross examination. Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986); Sasson, 62 F.3d at 882. Limitations on cross examination rise to the level of a Sixth Amendment violation when they prevent the exposure of a witness's bias and motivation to lie. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. at 678-79, 106 S.Ct. 1431. So long as the accused is given the opportunity to expose bias, further cross examination is at the discretion of the district court. Sasson, 62 F.3d at 882 (stating that a core goal of cross examination is to expose bias); United States v. Nelson, 39 F.3d 705, 708 (7th Cir.1994) (stating that if the defendant is given the opportunity during cross examination to expose a motive to lie, it is of peripheral concern to the Sixth Amendment how much opportunity defense counsel gets to hammer that point home to the jury); United States v. Robinson, 832 F.2d 366, 373 (7th Cir.1987) (ruling that district court may preclude cumulative and confusing cross examination into areas already sufficiently explored to permit the defense to argue personal bias and testimonial unreliability); see also Cavender, 228 F.3d at 798 (ruling that the district court can limit cross examination to prevent, among other things, repetitive or marginally relevant interrogation). 40 Here, Lowe was given ample opportunity to expose bias. Swick repeatedly testified that his written statement was entirely his own. During Lowe's defense case, Lowe was able to call Agent White to the stand and elicit from him that, except for names, the same boilerplate language that Swick claimed as his own was included in Rivas' May 18, 1999, statement, Petrow's grand jury statement and Agent White's December 1997 affidavit. The court also permitted Lowe to argue to the jury that Swick lied about the preparation of the statement. Because Lowe was given ample opportunity to present issues of credibility and potential bias to the jury, further cross examination of Swick on the content of Agent White's affidavit was unnecessary. Further, the point of similarity applied only to the introductory paragraph of the two statements, not to its remaining substance. Hence, it was of only marginal significance. The district court's ruling is sustainable on either a de novo or an abuse of discretion standard. 41