Opinion ID: 758679
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Voir Dire Instruction About Guilty Pleas

Text: 215 During voir dire Watson's counsel told the jury panel that a guilty plea was not evidence of a crime. The next morning, outside of the presence of the jury panel, the government objected that the statement was misleading. The district court agreed and instructed the jury panel: 216 Yesterday, also, Mr. DeGeurin mentioned that it is possible for an individual to plead guilty to a crime and that person not actually been guilty, and that's true, that is the law, but I want you to know that it is not the policy nor the practice of this court to accept a plea of guilty from anyone who tells me he or she is not guilty of the crime to which he is pleading guilty. 217 During the trial the government elicited testimony from Wonda Cortes that she had pled guilty before Judge Harmon. Defendants objected and moved for a mistrial. Although the court denied the motion for mistrial, the court promptly instructed the jury: 218 Ladies and Gentlemen, the last questions and answer are stricken and you are instructed to disregard it. To whom Ms. Cortes pled guilty in this case is totally irrelevant to this case and you are instructed to disregard the last statement of the witness. 219 In the jury charge the court instructed the jury that [t]he fact that the alleged accomplice has entered a plea of guilty to the offense charged is not evidence, in and of itself, of the guilt of any other person. (Court's Instructions to the Jury at page 12) 220 Parada and Mena argue that the court's initial instruction and the government's subsequent questions to Wonda Cortes prejudiced them by implying to the jury that since Cortes had pled guilty, the district judge who was presiding over the case must have found that a conspiracy existed before accepting Cortes's plea. A district court has broad discretion under Fed.R.Crim.P. 24 in conducting the voir dire examination of the jury panel, and absent an abuse of discretion and a showing that the rights of the accused have been prejudiced thereby, the scope and content of voir dire will not be disturbed on appeal. United States v. Black, 685 F.2d 132, 134 (5th Cir.1982). In light of the comment to the jury panel by counsel for Watson, the court's initial instruction was proper to cure any misimpression by the jury panel that the court would allow innocent people to plead guilty. Any prejudice to Parada or Mena that resulted from the instruction or from the government's subsequent question to Cortes was cured by the district court's later instructions.