Opinion ID: 358983
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: issues

Text: 13 As we have noted, the central issue in this case is whether the district court properly allowed the credit cards to be admitted as extrinsic offense evidence going to the issue of Beechum's intent to possess the silver dollar unlawfully. We hold that the credit cards were properly admissible. The case, however, presents several additional and substantial issues that we must address. 14 First, the defense contends that the Government was improperly allowed to question Beechum concerning the credit cards because the issue of the cards was without the scope of cross-examination. Since Beechum took the stand to establish the innocence of his intent by testifying that he intended to turn in the coin and since Beechum's possession of the cards was relevant to the issue of his intent, we hold that the Government's questions were within the scope of proper cross-examination. 15 Second, the defense asserts that the court below impermissibly allowed the Government repeatedly to question Beechum concerning the cards, knowing that he would invoke the fifth amendment in response. That Beechum was forced repeatedly to assert the amendment, the defense claims, created undue prejudice before the jury. We find this contention meritless. When Beechum took the stand to establish that his intent was blameless, he waived his fifth amendment privilege with respect to cross-examination relevant to that issue. Therefore the district court incorrectly allowed Beechum to rely on the fifth amendment and to refuse to answer the Government's inquiries. The defense can hardly argue undue prejudice when the Government was entitled to responses that undoubtedly would have been more damaging than the assertion of the fifth amendment. 16 We think it profitable to address first the contention that the Government's inquiries concerning the cards were outside the scope of cross-examination. A discussion of the propriety of the prosecutor's repeated evocation of Beechum's claim of fifth amendment privilege will follow naturally. Our discourse on these issues will provide a valuable prologue to our disposition of the extrinsic offense problem; many of the policies undergirding the implication of fifth amendment waiver as to matters within the scope of proper cross-examination when the defendant takes the stand are present when he testifies to assert the lack of criminal intent. We conclude that the credit cards were highly probative of Beechum's intent and therefore properly admissible to attack the plausibility of his exculpatory testimony. 17 Before we move to the analysis of these issues, we must briefly address an issue noted, but not passed upon, by the panel. On direct examination, the Government elicited from the arresting inspector testimony indicating that Beechum gave no explanation for his possession of the silver dollar at the time of his arrest. In closing argument, the prosecutor made the following remarks concerning Beechum's conduct after his arrest. Mr. Beechum gave no explanation for his possession of the silver dollar. In fact, he told (the inspector), 'You have all the answers, and I don't have any for you.'  1st Supp. Record at 5. 18 The issue, apparently raised for the first time by the panel, is whether the witness's testimony and the prosecutor's remark constituted impermissible comments on Beechum's right to remain silent. See United States v. Warren, 578 F.2d 1058, 1064, 1072-74 (5th Cir. 1978) (en banc). Had Beechum in fact remained silent at the time of his arrest, we might entertain doubts as to the propriety of the testimony and comment. See Doyle v. Ohio,426 U.S. 610, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91 (1976); See also Chapman v. United States, 547 F.2d 1240, 1247-50 (5th Cir.), Cert. denied, 431 U.S. 908, 97 S.Ct. 1705, 52 L.Ed.2d 393 (1977). Beechum, however, chose to speak. After the inspector had informed him about the test letter and after Beechum had been read his rights, he chose to reply to the inspector's initial inquiry with the remark that the only credit cards he possessed were his own. When confronted with the Sears cards found in his wallet, he explained that they had never been used. His final response to the questioning was that the inspector could answer any other questions himself because he had all the answers. In context, the latter two of these remarks are tantamount to admissions of guilt. Beechum knew that he was the subject of an investigation for rifling the mails because the inspectors had told him that they had planted a test letter. He was caught red-handed with the coin and the credit cards. All that he could say was, You have all the answers. 19 The prosecutor's statement, therefore, is not a comment on Beechum's silence but rather an appraisal of what Beechum said. In effect, the prosecutor was saying, Beechum did not explain his possession of the silver dollar. In fact, he admitted that he had no explanation for it, because they already had all the answers. Under these circumstances, neither the witness's testimony nor the prosecutor's remarks were improper. United States v. Mireles, 570 F.2d 1287, 1291-93 (5th Cir. 1978); United States v. Berdick, 555 F.2d 1329 (1977), Cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1010, 98 S.Ct. 721, 54 L.Ed.2d 753 (1978).