Opinion ID: 2779689
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: reference to invocation of right to counsel

Text: Defendant Jorge Macli challenges the district court’s denial of his motion for mistrial, arguing that the government intentionally elicited testimony about his invocation of his right to counsel. On direct examination by the government, Health and Human Services Special Agent John Mejia testified that he interviewed Jorge Macli after his arrest. He testified that Jorge Macli waived his rights and agreed to be interviewed without his attorney present. The prosecutor asked: “And at any point did Mr. Macli say he wanted his lawyer to be present?” Agent Mejia answered: “Not initially.” Jorge Macli objected, and the district court struck the testimony. Defendant Jorge Macli then moved for a mistrial on the basis that the government had elicited an impermissible comment on his right to silence. The prosecutor apologized, stating that “the question was meant to be did he invoke his right to counsel at that time?” The district court denied the mistrial motion, but offered to give a “more strongly worded curative instruction.” Jorge Macli denied this offer, along with the district court’s offer to poll the jury about the effect of the remark, stating he did not want to “reemphasize” the testimony. The district court stated it would take the mistrial motion “under advisement” until it was able to determine “whether the evidence [was] overwhelming or not.” 42 Case: 12-16056 Date Filed: 02/17/2015 Page: 43 of 85 The government made no further reference to it. “A single, inappropriate reference to a defendant’s post-arrest silence that is not mentioned again is too brief to constitute a Fifth Amendment violation.” Reeves, 742 F.3d at 505. And, as the district court later found at the conclusion of the government’s case, because the evidence of Jorge Macli’s guilt was “overwhelming,” any unintentional error the government made by eliciting that he had invoked his right to counsel at a different time was harmless.13