Opinion ID: 439958
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Significant impeachment evidence

Text: 107 We hold that the Wille immunity agreement was significant impeachment evidence, and that the prosecutor had a sufficient basis for appreciating this fact before and during trial. The government had already conferred immunity on two prosecution witnesses and extended substantial benefits to them. The disclosure of yet a third immunity agreement, and of the extension of additional benefits, gave the prosecutor a sufficient basis for concluding that the Wille immunity agreement was significant impeachment evidence. The prosecutor should have appreciated that the disclosure of the existence of substantial benefits conferred on all of the government's principal incriminatory witnesses might have led the jury to doubt their truthfulness. This gave rise to a substantial basis for claiming materiality. Therefore, the question whether the Wille immunity agreement was Brady material should at least have been submitted to the trial court for a pre-trial Brady ruling. 108 (ii) Harmless beyond a reasonable doubt 109 We have held that due process required that the government bring the Wille agreement to the attention of the trial court at least. A new trial is required, however, only if the non-disclosure of the Wille immunity agreement was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). This determination requires an overview of the totality of the case against Pflaumer. 110 Aside from Jock's strong testimony about the initial meeting, his testimony about the commissions paid to Oxman and McCullough, and his testimony about Pflaumer's interest in concealment, there is very little direct evidence of Pflaumer's involvement. The testimony of Jock's son Michael corroborated WHP's involvement, but tended to inculpate Pflaumer only in an ambiguous passage referring to a price increase to cover federal excise taxes. 15 Peter Cordua, Michael Jock's accountant, also testified to an ambiguous conversation with Pflaumer concerning an audit of fuel deliveries in Pennsylvania. App. at 567. In closing, the government argued that because Pflaumer expressed no surprise at Cordua's reference to Pennsylvania deliveries, the jury might infer that Pflaumer knew some deliveries had falsely been reported as having occurred outside of Pennsylvania. App. at 1324. 16 111 John Luciano also testified to one conversation with Pflaumer. Luciano stated that he had falsified invoices at the direction of Ray Hill, whom the jury acquitted. Asked about a conversation with Pflaumer, Luciano responded: 112 A. He asked me if I worked everything out with Ray [Hill] and I said I did. 113 He said to make sure the stuff was good because he did not want any crap going into his trucks creating a lot of problems for him. 114 I told him we bought most of it from Exxon. 115 He said, keep your nose clean and don't f--- up. We have a good arrangement. 116 App. at 597. The jury might have inferred from Pflaumer's allusion to Hill and to a good arrangement that Pflaumer was aware of the tax scheme. Luciano testified as well that Oxman once told him he had spoken to Billy--referring to Pflaumer--and [that] everything looked fine. App. at 591. 117 Lastly, a WHP accountant testified that Pflaumer's signature appeared on several falsified tax returns. App. at 875-79. The accountant did not, however, indicate that he was aware of Pflaumer's knowledge of the scheme or his role in preparing the returns. And a Pennsylvania tax auditor testified to conversations with Pflaumer in 1980 in which Pflaumer had stated that the auditor had in his possession all of the available fuel invoices. App. at 951. In fact, many invoices had been destroyed. These conversations could be taken as evidence of concealment by Pflaumer. 118 This evidence, coupled with the foregoing testimony of Frank Jock and Wille, constituted the principal evidence of Pflaumer's involvement. 17 We do not agree that in light of this evidence, the error regarding Wille's immunity agreement was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. First, as we noted earlier, had Pflaumer's defense counsel been in possession of the immunity letter, he would have been able to argue that Jock had received valuable benefits in exchange for testimony, that Luciano, who corroborated Jock, had also received benefits, and that Wille, who rebutted Pflaumer's defense, had received benefits as well. Consequently, the jury would have perceived Wille as the third government witness whose testimony the prosecution had obtained in exchange for beneficial treatment. The jury, which in acquitting Hill had apparently discredited Luciano, who most directly incriminated Hill, might well have been influenced by the fact that the principal witnesses who incriminated Pflaumer all were the beneficiaries of prosecutorial largess. 119 Second, Pflaumer's impeachment of Frank Jock invited the jury to seek corroboration from other witnesses. Wille was one such corroborating witness, and--in light of the weakness of the corroborating testimony of Michael Jock, Cordua, and Luciano--an important one. Wille was the only witness who testified that Pflaumer exerted day-to-day control over the financial affairs of WHP, thereby affording a basis for inferring that Pflaumer must have known of the scheme. The government's suggestion that Wille's testimony did not suggest that Pflaumer was aware of the fraudulent scheme, Br. at 21, is simply erroneous. Effective impeachment of Wille might have undermined this impression. 120 Of course, the district court's assessment of the likelihood of the impact of non-disclosure on the outcome of the trial is entitled to great weight. United States v. Provenzano, 615 F.2d 37, 49 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 953, 100 S.Ct. 2921, 64 L.Ed.2d 810 (1980). Agurs requires that we give deference to the trial court's firsthand appraisal of the record when that appraisal is thorough and reasonable. 427 U.S. at 114, 96 S.Ct. at 2402. The district court's analysis, however, does not satisfy this standard. The entirety of the court's assessment of the weight of the evidence consists of the following paragraph: 121 Frank Jock testified that he entered into a conspiracy with Mr. Pflaumer. John Luciano also testified as to Mr. Pflaumer's involvement. Indeed, defendants' memorandum in support of motion for judgment of acquittal acknowledges the inculpatory nature of their combined testimony. Defendants' memorandum states Mr. Luciano does not directly inculpate Mr. Pflaumer to the same degree that Mr. Jock does.... (Memorandum of Defendants, In support of Motion for Judgment of Acquittal, pp. 7 and 8). Clearly, therefore, even if the defendants had been able to impeach Wille by virtue of the immunity agreement, there was sufficient other evidence implicating Mr. Pflaumer. 122 App. at 1672-73. This analysis is not adequate. First, unlike the trial court in Agurs, the district court did not remain[ ] convinced of [Pflaumer's] guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 427 U.S. at 114, 96 S.Ct. at 2402 (emphasis added). We cannot ascertain whether the court applied the Chapman standard of constitutionally harmless error. Second, the only testimony of Luciano inculpating Pflaumer was the single oblique suggestion that Pflaumer might have known of Hill's role and believed it a good arrangement, and that Oxman had spoken to Pflaumer and believed that everything looked fine. The court's notation that John Luciano testified to Mr. Pflaumer's involvement is not an informed assessment of the impact of this testimony. Rather than canvassing all of the relevant testimony and examining Wille's role in light of it, the district court relied on an inference from a statement in the defendants' post-trial memorandum. Such an inference does not substitute for an informed appraisal of the evidence in its totality. Because we cannot say that the trial court's firsthand appraisal of the record was thorough and entirely reasonable, Agurs, 427 U.S. at 114, 96 S.Ct. at 2402, we are unable to defer to its assessment in this case. For these reasons, we cannot find the error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. 123 Because the prosecutor withheld specifically requested information that might have been used to impeach significantly a witness who incriminated Pflaumer, and because the non-disclosure is not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Pflaumer is entitled to a new trial. 124