Opinion ID: 413409
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Acquittal of Davila's Original Co-Defendants

Text: 19 Davila next argues that his conviction is invalid because his original co-defendants were later acquitted of the conspiracy to suborn perjury charge. Specifically, the issue is whether the guilty plea to misprision of a felony can stand independently of the underlying conspiracy violation. 20 Davila claims that his conviction for misprision is precluded by extrapolation of the common law rule that the conviction of only one defendant in a single conspiracy prosecution cannot be upheld if all other alleged co-conspirators in the same trial are acquitted. See Herman v. United States, 289 F.2d 362, 368 (5th Cir.1961) cert. denied, 368 U.S. 897, 82 S.Ct. 174, 7 L.Ed.2d 93; United States v. Sheikh, 654 F.2d 1057, 1062 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 991, 102 S.Ct. 1617, 71 L.Ed.2d 852 (1982). 2 While this traditional rule is the current law of this Circuit, United States v. Albert, 675 F.2d 712, 713 (5th Cir.1982), recent decisions of both this Court and the Supreme Court have limited reliance on the rule except in its narrowest application. It is not applicable here. 21 In Standefer v. United States, 447 U.S. 10, 100 S.Ct. 1999, 64 L.Ed.2d 689 (1980), the Supreme Court held that a defendant accused of aiding and abetting in the commission of a federal offense could be properly convicted despite the acquittal of the principal. The government was held not to be foreclosed from putting a defendant on trial simply because another jury had determined that his principal was not guilty of the offenses charged. See also United States v. Musgrave, 483 F.2d 327, 331 (5th Cir.1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1023, 94 S.Ct. 447, 38 L.Ed.2d 315. Aiders and abetters are at least somewhat analogous to co-conspirators, and this Court has applied Standefer to uphold a conspiracy conviction obtained in a separate trial even though the defendant's named co-conspirators had each been acquitted earlier. United States v. Espinoza-Cerpa, 630 F.2d 328 (5th Cir.1980). In Espinoza-Cerpa, the Court questioned the rationale of the traditional conspiracy rule, and in any case, refused to extend its scope. The Court observed: 22 The notion that the acquittal of one's alleged co-conspirators concludes the fact of their non-complicity misapprehends the true nature of an acquittal in the scheme of trial by jury in the American criminal justice system. It has long been recognized that criminal juries in the United States are free to render 'not guilty' verdicts resulting from compromise, confusion, mistake, leniency or other legally and logically irrelevant factors. 23 Id. at 332 (citations omitted). 24 We find, therefore, that the applicability of the traditional rule is limited to the narrow circumstances envisioned by the common law. We find no justification to extend it to negate Davila's conviction, obtained after a thorough hearing and under a plea bargain agreement, prior to the acquittal of his charged co-conspirators. As the Supreme Court has said: [w]hile symmetry of results may be intellectually satisfying, it is not required. Standefer v. United States, supra 100 S.Ct. at 2009.