Opinion ID: 3035236
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Attempt to Substitute Rossellini

Text: [8] The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying this motion.4 As the district court expressed “Mr. Prime has 4 The three factors considered above do not comprise an exclusive list. See, e.g., Hudson v. Rushen, 686 F.2d 826, 829 (9th Cir. 1982) (“In evaluating trial court’s denial of a motion for new counsel, we consider a number of factors, including [timeliness, adequacy of inquiry, and degree of 16314 UNITED STATES v. PRIME already gone through two attorneys at public expense and did not choose to try to retain counsel until the very, very eve of trial.” In addition, the court noted that the government witnesses had already been brought from great distances at a considerable expense. The court also reminded counsel that the trial had been set for this time because, due to the court’s busy schedule, this was the only time available to try the case in a timely manner. Finally, as the court suggested, a strong inference could be drawn that this motion was brought for purposes of delay, as it was the second such eve-of-trial motions, accompanied, as before, by a request for a continuance. The district court’s decision was not, therefore, an abuse of discretion. V JURY EXPOSURE TO EXTRINSIC EVIDENCE As jury deliberations commenced, a problem arose when the jury was mistakenly provided access to 24 exhibits that had not been admitted into evidence. The extrinsic evidence included money orders and e-mail correspondence with aliases used to conduct fraudulent transactions, written reports by both the fingerprint and handwriting expert, and certified copies of prior convictions for both Prime and his friend Shawn Cahill. The court became aware of this mistake when the jury made a request to see Storer’s handwriting report, and shortly thereafter informed the court that they had found it. At this point, the court recognized that the jury had been given exhibcommunication breakdown].”) (emphasis added); United States v. Mills, 597 F.2d 693, 700 (9th Cir. 1979) (“In applying the rule developed in [Brown v. Craven, 424 F.2d 1166 (9th Cir. 1970) (concerning counsel substitution)], we consider a number of factors, including [timeliness, adequacy of inquiry, and degree of communication breakdown].”) (emphasis added). UNITED STATES v. PRIME 16315 its that had not been admitted into evidence and that it had to make a decision as to the impact of the evidence. After a brief review, the court concluded that Storer’s written report did not include anything that had not been testified to at trial, and that there was no harm given the brief period it was available to the jury. During this time, the prosecution also brought to the court’s attention that there may be other exhibits in the jury room that had not been admitted into evidence. The court then called the jury into the courtroom and informed them that “the report from Kathleen Storer . . . was never offered into evidence, and was never admitted into evidence. It should not have gone to the jury room. We have withdrawn the report and you should only consider the testimony of Kathleen Storer as you remember it at trial.” The court also requested that the jury refrain from reviewing any exhibits that were not on the master exhibit list, and inform the court if they came across such exhibits. The judge asked the jury foreperson if she had “come across any other exhibits so far that were not identified on the master list,” to which she responded “no.” The judge then stated “I’m going to ask this question of the entire jury, and if in [sic] anybody says, yes, please raise your hand.” The judge asked “[h]as anyone else come across an exhibit that was not on the master exhibit list.” The court noted that there was no response. All extrinsic evidence was then pulled from the exhibit boxes before the exhibits admitted into evidence were returned to the jury. Once more, the judge called the jury into the courtroom and admonished them that “[y]ou should not hold this mistake against Mr. Prime at all. Neither he nor Mr. Covell had anything to do with this, but it is so important that you decide this case strictly on those exhibits that have been admitted into evidence . . . . So, if you have any questions or doubts about anything, and you want to look back and make sure that it is an exhibit that has been admitted, I would urge you to be very, very careful in that regard.” Based on the availability of this extrinsic evidence to the jury, Prime filed a motion for mistrial, which was denied. 16316 UNITED STATES v. PRIME A. Standard of Review Ordinarily, we review the denial of a motion for mistrial for abuse of discretion. United States v. Mills, 280 F.3d 915, 921 (9th Cir. 2002). Where jurors are exposed to extrinsic evidence, however, we are to engage in an independent review of the entire record. United States v. Keating, 147 F.3d 895, 899 (9th Cir. 1998). B. Improperly Admitted Exhibits [9] “A defendant is entitled to a new trial when the jury obtains or uses evidence that has not been introduced during trial if there is ‘a reasonable possibility that the extrinsic material could have affected the verdict.’ ” Dickson v. Sullivan, 849 F.2d 403, 405 (9th Cir. 1988) (quoting United States v. Vasquez, 597 F.2d 192, 193 (9th Cir. 1979)). The prosecution bears the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that extrinsic evidence did not contribute to the verdict. Id. at 405-06. [10] In Dickson, we developed a five factor approach to determine whether the prosecution met this burden. Those factors are: 1) whether the material was actually received, and if so, how; 2) the length of time it was available to the jury; 3) the extent to which the jury discussed and considered it; 4) whether the material was introduced before a verdict was reached, and if so at what point in the deliberations; and 5) any other matters which may bear on the issue of the reasonable possibility of whether the extrinsic material affected the verdict. Id. at 406. The fifth factor includes consideration of the nature of the extrinsic evidence. Keating, 147 F.3d at 902. UNITED STATES v. PRIME 16317 In Jeffries v. Wood, we expanded upon the Dickson factors, and introduced several other factors that should impact our consideration of the extrinsic evidence in this case, including: whether the extraneous information was otherwise admissible or merely cumulative of other evidence adduced at trial; whether a curative instruction was given or some other step taken to ameliorate the prejudice; the trial context [including consideration of the Dickson factors]; and whether the statement was insufficiently prejudicial given the issues and evidence in the case. Jeffries v. Wood, 114 F.3d 1484, 1491-92 (9th Cir. 1997). [11] In this case, application of the Dickson and Jeffries factors suggests that the extrinsic evidence did not affect the verdict. Although the jury had access to the evidence for approximately three hours, jury review of the Storer report was not prejudicial, as it did not include anything that had not already been testified to at trial. The fingerprint exhibits were also cumulative of what had been testified to and admitted at trial. Likewise, the money order, checks, and e-mail correspondence were cumulative of evidence introduced at trial, and would have been admissible had the prosecution chosen to lay the proper foundation. As the judge stated during his attempt to resolve this problem, “if [money orders, or other items] had been incriminating, I’m sure the Government would have offered it . . . .” [12] Prime’s main concern relates to his and Cahill’s prior conviction reports. The court, however, after specifically inquiring of the jury, found that the jury had not reviewed the certified copies of convictions of either Cahill or Prime. Moreover, the court determined that even if the jury had seen the reports, they would not have affected the verdict. The only evidence in addition to the five felonies Prime admitted to during his testimony was a conviction for possession of an 16318 UNITED STATES v. PRIME incendiary device. If the jury had discovered this evidence, it would not have affected the verdict because evidence introduced at trial already established that Prime had in the past armed himself with weapons and had obtained stun guns. With regard to Cahill’s prior convictions, there is no possibility that that information would have affected the verdict because as the judge commented, “I’m not sure the jury would be surprised to find that Mr. Cahill had some prior convictions, since everyone else in the apartment seemed to . . . .” In addition to the lack of prejudice, the judge also issued two separate curative instructions, which under Jeffries, weighs in favor of finding that the government established, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the extrinsic evidence did not affect the verdict. Jeffries, 114 F.3d at 1491. [13] The extrinsic evidence given to the jury was cumulative and non-prejudicial, and the court gave proper curative instructions. Therefore, in light of the entire record, we conclude that the extrinsic evidence had no impact on the verdict. We affirm the denial of the motion for mistrial. [14] Because the defendant was sentenced under the thenmandatory Sentencing Guidelines, and because we cannot reliably determine from the record whether the sentence imposed would have been materially different had the district court known that the Guidelines were advisory, we remand to the sentencing court to answer that question, and to proceed pursuant to United States v. Ameline, 409 F.3d 1073, 1084 (9th Cir. 2005) (en banc). See also United States v. MorenoHernandez, 419 F.3d 906, 916 (9th Cir. 2005) (“[D]efendants are entitled to limited remands in all pending direct criminal appeals involving unpreserved Booker error, whether constitutional or nonconstitutional”). Conviction AFFIRMED; sentence REMANDED.