Opinion ID: 411723
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Defendant's Failure to Preserve His Right

Text: 86 Finally, the clear causal connection between the misinformation conveyed by the judge's and prosecutor's remarks and the failure of Robinson to testify is weak; thus, we cannot be sure that the Rule 11 violation infringed Blackwell's constitutional right. This concern tilts our decision against a finding of plain error in this case. As the government points out, Blackwell himself abandoned the right to call Robinson to the witness stand. 87 This circumstance serves to distinguish the case from the usual one in which the witness succumbs to intimidation by the trial judge or the prosecutor and refuses to testify. See, e.g., Webb v. Texas, 409 U.S. 95, 93 S.Ct. 351, 34 L.Ed.2d 330; United States v. Simmons, 670 F.2d 365; United States v. Smith, 478 F.2d 976; United States v. MacCloskey, 682 F.2d 468; United States v. Hammond, 598 F.2d 1008; United States v. Thomas, 488 F.2d 334; Berg v. Morris, 483 F.Supp. 179. While we would be reluctant to rule that the same constitutional protections that apply against prosecutorial and judicial acts that directly intimidate a defense witness have no application to acts that motivate a defendant to refuse to expose a particular witness to risk, especially one with whom he has an intimate family relationship, the peculiar circumstances surrounding Robinson's failure to be called to the stand make us reluctant to reverse the conviction because she did not testify. 88 We all recognize a potential for abuse if a defendant is allowed to forego calling a key witness solely on his assertion that he is protecting her welfare. It is always possible that the defendant is really refraining from calling a witness because the testimony might not be favorable to him or because the witness intended to raise the privilege on grounds other than the mistaken fear that the charges in a plea bargain could be reinstated. In this case, all we know is that the defendant took the stand immediately after the trial judge's warnings to the witness and testified he would not call her, although he had previously intended to, because of the threat of renewed prosecution on the gun charge and of possible prosecution on a state gun charge. The witness, on the other hand, had only minutes before stated her continued intention to testify. In short, we have no way of knowing what would have actually happened if Blackwell had called Robinson as a defense witness. We have obvious concerns about allowing a defendant to decide for himself when legal risks to another person will suffice to permit him to waive his constitutional right to a defense witness and still assign it as plain error on appeal. Where, as here, the witness herself never refuses to testify, the nexus between the error and the loss of her testimony to the defendant is inevitably attenuated and the substantiality of the harm attributable to the error less than manifest. 24 While on balance, if it had been objected to at trial, we might have concluded that the misinformation constituted harmful and reversible error, under this scenario we cannot find that it meets the significantly higher standard required for plain error. 89 In sum, the error was plain to no one at trial and had not been ruled on previously by this court; it also involved the interpretation of a relatively recent federal rule, rather than a well-established constitutional or common law right. More important, however, is the lack of a direct nexus between the judge's and prosecutor's remarks and Blackwell's loss of Robinson's testimony. On balance, despite the violation of Rule 11 and the sixth amendment interest implicated, we find no plain error sufficient to require reversal of the conviction. 90 Affirmed. 91