Opinion ID: 15662
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Use of redacted confessions

Text: 47 At trial, the Government offered the confessions of Limbrick, McCray and Hickman. Those confessions mentioned the other co-defendants, including Gasaway and McCray. The Government redacted the confessions, blacking out all names except the confessing party but leaving clear references to the fact that other people had participated in the crimes which were the subject of the confessions. Gasaway and McCray moved for severance on the basis of Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968), which held that the admission of incriminating statements by a co-defendant who is not subject to cross-examination can violate the confrontation rights of the non-confessing defendant. Both Gasaway and McCray contend that despite the redactions, it still would have been possible for the jury to infer the identity of the missing names. 48 Under precedents as they existed at the time of the trial, appellants' Bruton arguments fail. This Circuit has held that only statements that directly implicate the defendant create Bruton problems. See United States v. Jimenez, 77 F.3d 95, 98 (5th Cir.1996). Statements of co-defendants are properly admitted so long as those statements, standing alone and without reference to other evidence, do not identify or implicate the defendant. See United States v. Espinoza-Seanez, 862 F.2d 526, 533-34 (5th Cir.1988). 49 However, after the trial and after this case was fully briefed, the Supreme Court, in Gray v. Maryland, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 1151, 140 L.Ed.2d 294 (1998), held that introducing, during a joint trial, a confession of a nontestifying co-defendant which has been redacted violated Bruton and the Constitution. Gray found that redactions that replace a proper name with an obvious blank, the word delete, a symbol, or similarly notify the jury that a name has been deleted are similar enough to Bruton 's unredacted confessions as to warrant the same legal results. See Gray, --- U.S. at ----, 118 S.Ct. at 1156. The confessions admitted in this case, having been redacted by blacking out the co-defendants names with a marker, are exactly the type of evidence found unconstitutional by Gray. Therefore, we find that the admission of the confessions was error. 50 However, Gray does not undercut this Circuit's holding that Bruton error may be considered harmless when, disregarding the codefendant's confession, there is otherwise ample evidence against a defendant. See United States v. Kelly, 973 F.2d 1145, 1150 (5th Cir.1992)(recognizing harmless error standard); United States v. Bobo, 586 F.2d 355 (5th Cir.1978)(applying harmless error standard to Bruton problems arising out of redacted co-defendant's confession). [B]efore a federal constitutional error can be held harmless, the court must be able to declare a belief that it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). We must determine whether, absent the Bruton-tainted confessions, there was a reasonable probability that the defendants would be acquitted. See United States v. Lewis, 786 F.2d 1278, 1286 n. 11 (5th Cir.1986). If the statement's impact is insignificant in light of the weight of other evidence against the defendant, the error is harmless. See United States v. Basey, 816 F.2d 980, 1005 (5th Cir.1987). 51 After our own review of the record and after consideration of what seems to have been the probable impact of the confessions on the minds of a jury, we find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the evidence was harmless; that is, that it did not prejudicially contribute to the convictions. See Chapman, 386 U.S. at 24, 87 S.Ct. 824. The jury heard Mouton testify from personal knowledge about McCray's and Gasaway's involvement. They also heard various pieces of circumstantial evidence linking them to their counts of conviction. Moreover, McCray himself confessed to the Hardee's robbery. We therefore hold that the admission of the redacted confessions, while error, was harmless error. 52