Opinion ID: 572467
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Flynn's Objections

Text: 106 Defendant John G. Flynn raises four issues on appeal in hopes of reversing his conviction or reducing his sentence. Flynn charges the district court erred by: (a) denying Flynn's request for a bill of particulars; (b) allowing the prosecutor's allegedly prejudicial cross-examination of Flynn's wife; (c) improperly sentencing him; and (d) applying an enhanced sentence in violation of the ex post facto clause. The charges will be reviewed sequentially.
107 Rule 7(f) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure allows, in conjunction with the issuance of an indictment, for the filing of a bill of particulars--a more specific expression of the activities defendant is accused of having engaged in which are illegal. The decision whether to require a bill of particulars is within the sound discretion of the trial court, and that decision will not be overturned without a showing of an abuse of discretion. United States v. Serola, 767 F.2d 364 (7th Cir.1985). The standard is whether the government's indictment sufficiently apprises the defendant of the charges to enable him to prepare for trial. United States v. Kendall, 665 F.2d 126, 134 (7th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1021, 102 S.Ct. 1719, 72 L.Ed.2d 140 (1982). 108 In United States v. Dempsey, 806 F.2d 766 (7th Cir.1986), this court held that an indictment for conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a) and 846 need only allege the conspiracy to distribute drugs, the time frame in which it allegedly was operated, and the statute violated. No specific overt acts need be alleged. Id. at 769. Furthermore, a bill of particulars is not required when information necessary for a defendant's defense can be obtained through some other satisfactory form. See Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure: Crim.2d, § 129, pp. 436-38 (1982). The defendant needs to know what the government intends to prove. Id. 109 The government maintained an open-file discovery policy which provided the defendants with complete and open discovery of all evidence assembled and revealed in the government's investigation. The open-file policy, by court order, permitted defense counsel, with proper notice, to make inspection of all files and testimony in the government's possession. The nature and operations of the open-file policy is an adequate satisfactory form of information retrieval, making the bill of particulars unnecessary. Cf. United States v. Stephenson, 924 F.2d 753, 761-62 (8th Cir.1991); United States v. Kramer, 711 F.2d 789, 796 (7th Cir.1983); United States v. Schembari, 484 F.2d 931, 935 (4th Cir.1973); United States v. Kilroy, 523 F.Supp. 206, 211 (E.D.Wis.1981). Since the defendant was sufficiently aware of the charges against him, and of what he was going to have to defend himself against at trial, the district court did not abuse its discretion in not ordering a bill of particulars.
110 Flynn claims that his wife was improperly questioned by the government on cross-examination about her husband's infrequent filing of tax returns. Flynn believes that questioning on this topic, which was not discussed on direct examination, is in violation of the rules of evidence and resulted in juror prejudice. 111 Federal Rule of Evidence 611(b) governs the scope of cross-examination. While the rule specifically limits cross-examination to the subject matter of direct examination and to matters affecting witness credibility, it also provides: [t]he court may, in the exercise of discretion, permit inquiry into additional matters as if on direct examination. 112 The record shows that the government's questioning and emphasis on the peripheral tax issue was brief and inconclusive--Mrs. Flynn's answer to the government's question concerning whether she was aware that her husband had not filed tax returns since 1980 was that she was unaware of her husband's filing habits. The relative insignificance of Mrs. Flynn's answer and the government's question does not compel us to assign error in this regard. See United States v. DeGeratto, 876 F.2d 576 (7th Cir.1989) ([o]rdinarily error is found only when a prosecutor dwells at great length and in further detail on the particulars of prior crimes. Id. at 583).
113 Flynn raises four issues which he claims improperly led to his receiving the harshest sentence of any of the non-cooperating defendants in the conspiracy[ ]. First, Flynn claims that he was given an inadequate amount of time before sentencing to review the presentence report required by Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(3). Because he had no time to make proper review and necessary objections to the presentence report contributing to his sentence, Flynn feels he must be resentenced. 114 Rule 32(c)(3) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that a defendant be given a reasonable time prior to sentencing to review his presentence report. At his disposition hearing, the court asked Flynn's counsel whether he desired additional time to discuss and review the report with his client. Counsel responded, No, I don't think so. I think my client is satisfied. We believe it is disingenuous of Flynn to now argue that he was prejudiced by an inadequate opportunity to review the presentence report after turning down an offer from the court for more time. 115 Second, Flynn charges that the district court failed to make written findings on the disputed matters that appear in the presentence report. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32 provides that when the defendant alleges factual inaccuracies in the presentence report, the court shall as to each matter controverted, make (i) a finding as to the allegations or (ii) a determination that no such finding is necessary because the matter controverted will not be taken into account in sentencing. A written record of such findings and determinations shall be appended to and accompany any copy of the presentence investigation report.... Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(3)(D). Rule 32(c)(3)(D) serves a dual purpose. First, it protects a defendant's due process right to fair sentencing procedures, particularly the right to be sentenced on the basis of accurate information. United States v. Montoya, 891 F.2d 1273, 1279 (7th Cir.1989). The second purpose of Rule 32(c)(3)(D) is to provide a clear record of the disposition and resolution of controverted facts in the presentence report. Montoya, 891 F.2d at 1279; United States v. Perez, 858 F.2d 1272, 1276 (7th Cir.1988). In United States v. Eschweiler, 782 F.2d 1385, 1389 (7th Cir.1986), we held that resentencing is required if the defendant proves a violation of Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(3)(D) by showing that (1) allegations of the presentence report's inaccuracy were before the court, and (2) the court failed to make findings regarding the controverted matters or a determination that the disputed information would not be used in sentencing. 116 Flynn did challenge a few factual aspects of the presentence investigation report. Flynn maintained that he was not in New Orleans for the conspiracy's 1985 import of marijuana, and he contested the quantity of drugs associated in past convictions (unrelated to the tried conspiracy). The district court made oral findings with respect to each objection that it would accept the prosecutor's version of the presentence report as prepared unless further corroborating testimony for Flynn was available. In United States v. Slaughter, 900 F.2d 1119 (7th Cir.1990), this court held that even if a judge's oral rulings did not meet the requirements of Rule 32, this error would be harmless where the defendant fails to prove that the sentencing hearing failed to serve the purposes underlying Fed.R.Crim.P. 32. Id. at 1123; see United States v. Montoya, 891 F.2d 1273, 1279-81 (7th Cir.1989). In Slaughter, the district court made oral, on-the-record determinations concerning most (not all) of the defendant's objections to facts in the presentence report. Any difference between the judge's actual methodology and Rule 32 requirements was deemed harmless in that case where the defendant could not prove that his sentence was based on erroneous information. In this case, the district court ruled on all of Flynn's objections, orally and for the record. The court was wisely reluctant to depart from the presentence report without credible corroboration of Flynn's suggested factual scenarios. The purposes of Rule 32 have been satisfied. We have a record from which the propriety of Flynn's sentence can be analyzed and a sentence based on evidence which has not been sufficiently impeached. Any error in the court's failure to make written findings regarding Flynn's objections is harmless. 117 Third and fourth, Flynn claims that the judge improperly relied on uncounselled juvenile adjudications when imposing sentence, and that he improperly relied on evidence he heard in other related trials over which he presided. Both these contentions have little factual support. 118 At Flynn's disposition, the prosecutor diminished the relevance of Flynn's youthful crimes and focused on his history of adult drug convictions. In addition, the fact that a judge has presided over a prior or collateral trial (in this case Kramer's) has been held non-prejudicial. See Cardillo v. Zyla, 486 F.2d 473, 475 n. 1 (1st Cir.1973). Flynn only speculates that the judge could have used information from another trial, and has not provided any facts to show that the judge relied on any improper evidence at sentencing. Therefore, we find no error. 119
120 Flynn and Marcum claim that the ex post facto clause requires proof that the defendant personally committed conspiratorial acts after the effective date of an amendment increasing the minimum sentence for violations of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846. 10 121 On October 27, 1986, penalty enhancement provisions for 21 U.S.C. §§ 841, 846, and 848 violations went into effect. Flynn and Marcum claim that they should not be sentenced at the enhanced levels because their personal involvement in the conspiracy stopped before the penalty enhancement became effective, even though the conspiracy continued beyond that date. 122 In United States v. Pace, 898 F.2d 1218 (7th Cir.1990), this court did not condition the application of enhancement penalty provisions to a particular conspirator upon evidence of personal involvement of the particular conspirator--but instead conditioned the application of such a penalty upon a showing that the conspiracy endured beyond the effective date of the new penalty. Citing United States v. Todd, 735 F.2d 146, 150-51 (5th Cir.1984), we said in Pace, a statute increasing the penalty for conspiracy does not violate the ex post facto clause [of the Constitution] when applied to a conspiracy begun before the increase that continued on after the increase. Pace, 898 F.2d at 1238. The government need not prove the defendant's involvement after the effective date of the enhanced penalty provision. The government must only prove that the defendant was involved in the conspiracy and that the conspiracy continued past that date. The burden of proving withdrawal is on the defendant. United States v. Patel, 879 F.2d 292, 294 (7th Cir.1989). For withdrawal to limit a conspirator's liability, 123 mere cessation of activity is not enough ...; there must also be affirmative action, either the making of a clean breast to the authorities, or communication of the abandonment in a manner calculated to reach co-conspirators. And the burden of withdrawal lies on the defendant. United States v. Borelli, 336 F.2d 376, 388 (2d Cir.1964) (Friendly, J.) (citation omitted). 124 Patel, 879 F.2d at 294. 125 Flynn and Marcum did not try to overcome either of these conditions. The government proved the existence of the conspiracy beyond 1986 and the defendants did not prove that they made themselves completely unavailable for the conspiracy's purposes during that time.