Opinion ID: 770552
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Motion for a Mistrial on The Substantive Offenses

Text: 25 A trial judge has broad discretion in deciding whether, in the context of the entire trial, a defendant's motion for a mistrial should be granted. United States v. Mealy, 851 F.2d 890, 902 (7th Cir. 1988). The reason for conferring this broad discretion on the judge is that he is in the best position to determine the seriousness of the incident in question, particularly as it relates to what has transpired in the course of the trial. Id.; see also United States v. Miller, 199 F.3d 416, 421 (7th Cir. 1999); United States v. Lomeli, 76 F.3d 146, 149 (7th Cir. 1996). As a result, we will reverse a decision denying a mistrial only if the district court has abused its discretion, Miller, 199 F.3d at 421; Lomeli, 76 F.3d at 149, which means that we must affirm unless we have a strong conviction that the district court erred. United States v. Cheska, 202 F.3d 947, 950 (7th Cir. 2000). The ultimate focus of our inquiry is whether the defendant was deprived of a fair trial. United States v. Brack, 188 F.3d 748, 759 (7th Cir. 1999); United States v. Evans, 994 F.2d 317, 324-25 (7th Cir. 1993). In this regard, we have long upheld a trial court's exercise of discretion in issuing a cautionary instruction, rather than declaring a mistrial, to cure any potential prejudice. Mealy, 851 F.2d at 902; see also Miller, 199 F.3d at 421; Lomeli, 76 F.3d at 149. 1 26 Clarke argues that because the jury heard a significant amount of conspiracy evidence that had little if anything to do with the drug distribution and gun possession charges, the district court should have declared a mistrial on these offenses, too. He argues that while a limiting instruction would normally prevent him from suffering any undue prejudice from the jury hearing such evidence, the instruction here was not only ineffective; it was improper as a matter of law because it asked the jury to make a determination about relevancy (it was not to consider evidence that was relevant to only the conspiracy charge), which, under the Federal Rules of Evidence, is a legal question for the court. See Fed. R. Evid. 104(a) and 401. Clarke argues that this determination is particularly difficult because the jurors were in effect instructed to consider some of the conspiracy evidence (that which also pertained to the substantive offenses) without the court telling them precisely what that evidence was. According to Clarke, the only way to avoid unfair prejudice was to instruct the jury to disregard all of the conspiracy evidence (but according to him, it is doubtful the jury could do that either). 27 As an initial matter, some of the conspiracy evidence that the jury heard was in fact also relevant to the distribution charge. To be guilty of cocaine distribution, a person not only has to distribute cocaine; he has to knowingly and intentionally distribute cocaine and know that the substance he was distributing was a controlled substance. See 21 U.S.C. sec. 841(a)(1); see also United States v. Johnson, 127 F.3d 625, 628 (7th Cir. 1997). Clarke emphasized that while he was present for the drug transactions with Hart, he did not know that it was cocaine that was being sold. Gosha's testimony that Clarke and he were actively involved in obtaining cocaine which was then delivered to Hart was not only relevant to the conspiracy, then, it was also relevant to the distribution charge by rebutting Clarke's claimed lack of knowledge as to the nature of the transaction in which he was involved. Cf. United States v. Hughes, 213 F.3d 323, 329 (7th Cir. 2000) (witness' testimony about defendant's drug activity was directly relevant to establishing the personal knowledge of the government's witnesses). 28 The question then becomes whether the court's instruction was so confusing and the task it assigned the jury so difficult that it rendered the instruction ineffective. Jury instructions must be examined as a whole. United States v. Thornton, 197 F.3d 241, 254 (7th Cir. 1999). An instruction is not ineffective unless there is an 'overwhelming probability' that the jury will be unable to follow the court's instructions and a strong likelihood that the effect will be 'devastating' to the defendant. United States v. Humphrey, 34 F.3d 551, 556-57 (7th Cir. 1994). Here, the instruction not to consider evidence relevant to only the conspiracy charge immediately followed the admonition to the jury that its verdict had to be based solely upon evidence that related to the remaining charges against Mr. Clarke. Thus, the directive that one clearly gets is that the jury cannot convict Clarke of the gun possession and drug distribution charges based on his alleged activities in the conspiracy that had nothing to do with carrying a gun or distributing drugs. This general parameter was confirmed by the remaining instructions, which told the jury that a separate drug distribution or gun possession crime was charged in each count and that each crime, as well as the evidence pertaining to it, had to be considered separately; and, moreover, the evidence that pertained to those separate crimes concerned what transpired on three dates when Clarke allegedly sold drugs and on one of those occasions when he allegedly carried a gun. Thus, the jury was instructed not to consider evidence apart from what transpired on those occasions. 29 Furthermore, the jury was capable of performing this task without the court specifically telling them what that evidence was. Juries are often asked to separate or exclude evidence as pertaining only to certain charges or certain defendants without courts spelling out exactly what that evidence is. See United States v. Cusimano, 148 F.3d 824, 829-30 (7th Cir. 1998) (instruction which directed jury to consider evidence only for the conspiracy alleged in indictment and not for other conspiracies that the evidence established was not plainly erroneous). In United States v. Canino, 949 F.2d 928, 936-37 (7th Cir. 1991), as in this case, we affirmed the denial of a mistrial in a drug distribution conspiracy as to certain defendants after granting a mistrial for a co-defendant. In rejecting the remaining defendants' requests for a general mistrial due to the absence of their co-defendant, we noted that the jury was instructed not to concern itself with the absence of [the co-defendant], and to decide the case against each defendant based on the evidence introduced against the individual defendant. Id. at 937. In this case, we agree with the district judge that the evidence about Clarke distributing drugs and carrying a gun was discrete from the conspiracy evidence, and that the jurors were capable of excluding evidence that had nothing to do with Clarke possessing a gun or distributing drugs. Their ability to do so is particularly likely given the court's guidance that the evidence about these two offenses concerned what occurred on three dates, not at other times. See Cusimano, 148 F.3d at 830 (jury instruction that was allegedly confusing because it told jurors to consider all criminal activity was not plainly erroneous when it later referred to the specific crime at issue). In sum, while it would have been better if the court had not used the term relevant, and it might have been clearer if the court had not said only, we do not think that, in context, there is an overwhelming probability, Humphrey, supra, that these two words so confused the jury as to render the instructions ineffective or erroneous, thereby depriving Clarke of a fair trial. Thornton, 197 F.3d at 254 (We will not overturn a conviction merely because the addition or subtraction of a few words might have improved a defendant's chance of acquittal, but only if the instructions so misguided the jury as to prejudice the defendant.). 2 30 Finally, we disagree with Clarke that no matter what instruction the district court would have given, a mistrial would have been required because the jury could not disregard the mountain of irrelevant conspiracy evidence. Juries are presumed to follow instructions. Humphrey, 34 F.3d at 556; United States v. Ferguson, 935 F.2d 1518, 1527 (7th Cir. 1991). Here, the court promptly instructed the jury not to consider Officer Harris's car-jacking comment (which did not pertain to Clarke anyway) or evidence of the conspiracy that had nothing to do with the substantive offenses. Clarke has not persuaded us that the normal presumption should not apply here. Although in the three days of trial before a mistrial was declared the jury heard a lot of evidence about the conspiracy, little of it was tied to Clarke. In this mountain of evidence, the lone reference to Clarke's involvement is contained in less than one-half of one page of the trial transcript. See Humphrey, 34 F.3d at 557 (in considering whether an instruction cured improper testimony and ensured a fair trial, the court should consider the efficacy of the instruction and the record as a whole); Ferguson, 935 F.2d at 1527-28 (immediate curative instruction and addressing improper testimony in final instruction adequately addressed single isolated statement). Clarke's concern that there is a strong likelihood that the jury attributed to him a series of acts is unfounded. If anything, the evidence presented shows he did not commit most of the acts alleged concerning the conspiracy. 31 On the contrary, Clarke was convicted because the evidence was sufficiently strong that he distributed drugs and carried a handgun while doing so. Gosha and Hart's testimony as to Clarke's involvement on these transactions was specific and substantial. Although Clarke points out that they are questionable sources, the jury (as we will next see) took this into account. But it also took into account the fact that their testimony corroborated each other's and was in turn corroborated by the presence of the hand- held scale and the 9mm handgun. In short, Clarke was not unfairly convicted by virtue of conspiracy evidence that was not tied to him; rather, he was convicted because of the testimony and physical evidence that he was a drug dealer who carried a gun while at work. See Thornton, 197 F.3d at 250 (not an abuse of discretion to deny mistrial based on allegedly false testimony that comprised a tiny fraction of a witness' testimony that went on for 147 transcript pages, and when other witnesses and physical evidence showed defendant's extensive role in cocaine distribution conspiracy); see also Ferguson, 935 F.2d at 1528-29 (jury convicted defendant of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute because of strong evidence that he committed the offense, not because of one witness' improper remark); United States v. Miroff, 606 F.2d 777, 782 (7th Cir. 1979) (improper testimony on three occasions in a 350 page transcript did not unfairly prejudice the defendant). As a result, we are not close to being firmly convinced that he was deprived of a fair trial. 32