Opinion ID: 1587246
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Redacted statements.

Text: During the Commonwealth's case-in-chief, Detective Lyons read to the jury the Bruton -redacted versions of Caudill's pre-trial statements made on March 15, 1998, November 11, 1998, and December 9, 1998, and Goforth's pre-trial statement made on December 8, 1998. Appellants do not claim that the statements were not sufficiently redacted in accordance with the requirements of Gray v. Maryland and Richardson v. Marsh, supra . Instead, they claim that the redactions (1) rendered the statements disjointed and (2) deleted appellants' respective defenses (I didn't do it; he/she did it.), essentially forcing them to forego their respective rights to remain silent by testifying in their own defense. The argument ignores the Commonwealth's right to present to the jury, whether at a separate or a joint trial, the self-inculpatory portions of each defendant's out-of-court statements so long as those portions do not violate a codefendant's right of confrontation. The hearsay aspect of the statement is satisfied by the exception for admissions, KRE 801A(b)(1). However, the rule only applies to admissions offered against the party that made the admission. Thus, even absent the Bruton issue, neither KRE 801A(b)(1) nor the rule of completeness, KRE 106, would have automatically authorized either of these defendants to introduce his or her own out-of-court statement(s) for the purpose of asserting a defense without subjecting that defendant to cross-examinationeven though the Commonwealth introduced those portions of the statements that were self-inculpatory. Gabow, 34 S.W.3d at 68 n. 2. Appellants could have jointly stood on their redacted statements in which each admitted only his/her presence at the crime scenes and neither admitted committing the crimes. The fact that both, instead, chose to testify and affirmatively assert their respective defenses affords no basis for reversal. As the appellants complain, the redacted versions of the statements were necessarily disjointed. For that reason, the trial judge told the jury prior to the reading of Caudill's November 11, 1998, statement that only portions of the statement will be read to you. We are unable to conclude that the jury must have assumed from that admonition that the omitted portions inculpated Goforth. Finally, appellants assert that the trial judge erred by not admonishing the jury that each statement could be considered only against the party who made it. No admonition was requested, Hall v. Commonwealth, Ky., 817 S.W.2d 228, 229 (1991), overruled on other grounds by Commonwealth v. Ramsey, Ky., 920 S.W.2d 526 (1996), Matthews v. Commonwealth, Ky., 709 S.W.2d 414, 418 (1985), and appellants are mistaken in their belief that the Constitution requires it. Prior to Bruton , it was held that the prejudicial effect of an out-of-court statement by a non-testifying codefendant that inculpated a defendant could be cured by giving the jury a limiting admonition that it should not consider the codefendant's statement in determining the guilt of the defendant. Delli Paoli v. United States, 352 U.S. 232, 77 S.Ct. 294, 1 L.Ed.2d 278 (1957). Bruton held that this limiting admonition was insufficient to cure the prejudice resulting from the defendant's inability to cross-examine his/her accuser. Despite the concededly clear instructions to the jury to disregard Evans' inadmissible hearsay evidence inculpating petitioner, in the context of a joint trial we cannot accept limiting instructions as an adequate substitute for petitioner's constitutional right of cross-examination. The effect is the same as if there had been no instruction at all. 391 U.S. at 137, 88 S.Ct. at 1628. By forbidding the use in a joint trial of a non-testifying codefendant's out-of-court statement that inculpates a defendant, Bruton eliminated the need for a limiting admonition. In Richardson, supra , the United States Supreme Court authorized the admission of a codefendant's confession that was redacted to omit all references to the defendant or to the fact that anyone other than the codefendant/declarant had participated in the crime. 481 U.S. at 211, 107 S.Ct. at 1709. In Richardson , a limiting instruction had been given, id., so the Court was not required to decide whether the absence of such an instruction, even if not requested, mandated reversal. We conclude now that it does not. If the non-testifying codefendant's out-of-court statement is so redacted that it does not inculpate the defendant in the commission of the crime, the limiting instruction might well be viewed as calling the jury's attention to the very fact that the redaction was intended to suppress, i.e., that the deleted portions of the codefendant's confession would have implicated the defendant in the commission of the crime. As in Hall, supra, at 229, we view this as a matter of trial strategy and decline to treat as automatic reversible error the failure to give an unrequested limiting admonition.