Opinion ID: 458714
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: doyle issue

Text: 18 Martin further argues that his fourteenth amendment due process rights under Doyle were violated by the prosecutor's elicitation of testimony that he was silent during the search for the blue Ford and the prosecutor's later use of this testimony during arguments on petitioner's motion for a directed verdict and during closing arguments. Although Martin did not object to this evidence, the cause and prejudice standard is inapplicable because the state courts reached the merits in deciding this issue and did not rely on the procedural default. See Hockenbury v. Sowders, 620 F.2d 111, 115 (6th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 933, 101 S.Ct. 1395, 67 L.Ed.2d 367 (1981). 19 Although the prosecutor's use of petitioner's silence following the reading of his Miranda rights, at the very least, approached the outer limits of fundamental fairness, see Anderson v. Charles, 447 U.S. 404, 100 S.Ct. 2180, 65 L.Ed.2d 222 (1980) (per curiam ), we decline to reach this question because any error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Numerous cases have held that a Doyle error may be harmless. See, e.g., United States v. Blankenship, 746 F.2d 233, 238 (5th Cir.1984); Young v. Rees, 707 F.2d 935, 935-36 (6th Cir.1983) (per curiam ); Chapman v. United States, 547 F.2d 1240, 1248 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 908, 97 S.Ct. 1705, 52 L.Ed.2d 393 (1977); Meeks v. Havener, 545 F.2d 9, 10 (6th Cir.1976) (per curiam ), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 911, 97 S.Ct. 2980, 53 L.Ed.2d 1096 (1977). The truly incriminating part of the transaction was the police officers' inability to find the blue car in the second floor area Martin indicated. Also, the presence of Martin's identification (after Martin had told police he had left it at home) in the van containing the coveralls, handcuffs, sharpened screwdrivers and a gun, along with the presence of the murder weapon in the 1966 blue or turquoise Ford all are strongly probative of guilt. Thus, any isolated Doyle violation is harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt.