Opinion ID: 4207668
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Out-of-Circuit Authority

Text: 10 It is true that the judgment of conviction for Defendant’s prior felon-in-possession of ammunition charge did indicate that the conviction resulted from Defendant’s entry of a nolo plea. Under Morrow, that would normally constitute a ground for reversal. But this information was communicated to the jury only because Defendant refused the prosecutor’s offer to delete the reference to the nolo plea. As defense counsel noted, “Well, if it’s coming in over my objection, I’d rather it show nolo contendere rather than have them contemplating he pled guilty.” Accordingly, Defendant cannot fault the Government or the district court for the reference and he has waived any claim based on its inclusion in the judgment. See United States v. Mezzanatto, 513 U.S. 196 (1995) (holding that a defendant can waive Rule 410 protections, which the criminal defendant did when he agreed, as a condition to engaging in plea negotiations with the Government, that the latter could impeach him with such statements to the extent that they were inconsistent with any later trial testimony). 31 Case: 14-12830 Date Filed: 09/29/2017 Page: 32 of 47 Determining the circumstances under which a nolo conviction can be used as evidence in a federal court proceeding has been a work in progress, given the wording of Rule 410, which prohibits use of a nolo plea, but makes no mention of a nolo conviction. Cf. Sokoloff v. Saxbe, 501 F.2d 571, 574 (2d Cir. 1974) (“[T]he effect of a nolo plea is not governed entirely by logic; if it were, the plea might be abolished . . . . The only relevant question is what are the limitations which the law assures the accused that he will be entitled to invoke, if he files the plea. That is a mere question of what the courts have decided—one alternative is no more rational than the other . . . .”) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). We are aware of two courts of appeal that have considered the precise question before us. In United States v. Frederickson, 601 F.2d 1358 (8th Cir. 1979), where the defendant was charged with making a threat against the life of the President, the Eighth Circuit held that the district court did not err in admitting under Rule 404(b) the defendant’s prior nolo conviction for making a false bomb threat. Id. at 1364. Rejecting the defendant’s argument that a nolo conviction should not have been admitted, the court saw “no reason, for the purposes of admissibility under [Rule 404(b)], to distinguish between a judgment of conviction based on a plea of Nolo contendere and a judgment of conviction obtained in any other manner comporting with due process. It is well-settled that a plea of Nolo contendere constitutes an admission of ‘every essential element of the offense (that 32 Case: 14-12830 Date Filed: 09/29/2017 Page: 33 of 47 is) well pleaded in the charge.’” Id. at 1365 n.10 (citing Lott v. United States, 367 U.S. 421, 426 (1961)). Frederickson, however, did not discuss Rule 410. More recently, the Ninth Circuit has ruled to the contrary. In United States v. Nguyen, 465 F.3d 1128 (9th Cir. 2006), the court reviewed an appeal of a revocation of supervised release based on the federal offender’s violation of a condition of release prohibiting the commission of any crimes. To prove that violation, the Government introduced two convictions that the defendant had sustained based on a nolo plea during his supervision. The court acknowledged that Rule 410 barred only the admission of nolo pleas, not the convictions resulting from them. Id. at 1131. Nonetheless, the court concluded that admission of the nolo conviction should also be precluded because to do otherwise would “produce[] an illogical result”: “Rule 410’s exclusion of a nolo contendere plea would be meaningless if all it took to prove that the defendant committed the crime charged was a certified copy of the inevitable judgment of conviction resulting from the plea.” Id. As to Rule 803(22), which provides an exception to the hearsay rule for judgments of felony conviction resulting from guilty pleas, but not from convictions resulting from nolo pleas, the court noted that the Advisory Committee Notes explained that the rule’s carve-out of nolo convictions was intended to be “consistent with the treatment of nolo pleas in Rule 410.” Id. at 1131–32. Accordingly, absent the evidence provided by the nolo convictions, the 33 Case: 14-12830 Date Filed: 09/29/2017 Page: 34 of 47 court ruled that the Government had failed to prove that the defendant has committed a crime. Id. In Olsen v. Correiro, 189 F.3d 52 (1st Cir. 1999), the First Circuit echoed some of the same concerns articulated by the Ninth Circuit about the ramifications of a refusal to read Rule 410 as barring admission of a nolo conviction, just as it bars introduction of a nolo plea. Id. at 60 (the “reasons for excluding the nolo plea itself could well . . . be applicable to the conviction and sentence that result from the nolo plea”). Nonetheless, the court acknowledged that “[t]he evidentiary rules that exclude evidence of nolo pleas do not directly apply to the convictions and sentences that result from such pleas.” Id. at 58. Specifically, “[t]he text of [Rule 410] does not support Olsen’s argument. Only the nolo plea itself is barred by the relevant language of the rule.” Id. at 59. Ultimately, though, the court found it unnecessary to pick a winner in a contest between the policy goals and the text of Rule 410 because no policy goals were undermined by admitting Olsen’s nolo conviction. Specifically, in the § 1983 false prosecution claim brought by Olsen, his nolo conviction was introduced to show nothing more than the fact of a valid manslaughter conviction and sentence, not to prove that Olsen had actually committed the manslaughter that was the subject of the conviction. Accordingly, the court found “no reason here to expand Rule 410 beyond the scope of its plain language, which in relevant part 34 Case: 14-12830 Date Filed: 09/29/2017 Page: 35 of 47 encompasses only nolo pleas.” Id. at 62. Moreover, use of the nolo conviction for the above purpose was not inconsistent with Rule 803(22), because the conviction was not offered for the truth of the matter asserted. Id. Indeed, Rule 410’s prohibition of the admission of a nolo plea notwithstanding, courts have permitted admission of a nolo conviction where the proponent seeks admission of the judgment to show the fact of conviction or to show something other than that the defendant was actually guilty of the crime to which he entered a nolo plea. See, e.g., United States v. Adedoyin, 369 F.3d 337, 344 (3d Cir. 2004) (nolo conviction admissible where defendant was prosecuted for failing to disclose felony conviction in applying for entry into the country); Rose v. Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Co., 219 F.3d 1216, 1220 (10th Cir. 2000) (a civil plaintiff who was fired based on sustaining a criminal conviction in violation of company policy could not “affirmatively use the general rule against admission of nolo contendere pleas to prevent [Employer] from introducing the very evidence it relied upon in making the termination decision”); Brewer v. City of Napa, 210 F.3d 1093 (9th Cir. 2000) (civil plaintiff alleging excessive force could be impeached under Rule 609 with prior nolo convictions); Sokoloff v. Saxbe, 501 F.2d 571, 574 (2d Cir. 1974) (“Where, as here a statute (or judicial rule) attaches legal consequences to the fact of a conviction, the majority of courts have held that there is no valid distinction between a conviction upon a plea of nolo contendere and a 35 Case: 14-12830 Date Filed: 09/29/2017 Page: 36 of 47 conviction after a guilty plea or trial,” and hence the nolo conviction is admissible). See also United States v. Vasilios, 598 F.2d 387, 390 (5th Cir. 1979) (nolo plea may potentially be used in cross-examination to expose basis of alleged bias of witness).