Opinion ID: 781722
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Charge Jury on Intent to Retaliate

Text: 186 Nor does § 2332 unconstitutionally remove an element of the offense from the jury. Although a criminal defendant has the right to a jury determination of every element of the crime, see Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 477, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), an analysis of the text and structure of § 2332 demonstrates that subsection (d) does not comprise an element of the offenses proscribed by § 2332. First, subsection (d) follows three self-contained subsections each of which defines the elements of a distinct offense. See 18 U.S.C. § 2332(a)(d). 51 In particular, each subsection of (a) through (c) imposes an attendant level of intent, and none of these subsections makes reference to § 2332(d). Second, subsection (d) is expressly designated as a limit on prosecution rather than as an element of the offenses set forth in § 2332. We conclude, therefore, that the District Court did not err by failing to charge an intent to retaliate against the United States Government or its citizens. Even if the Court had erred in this regard, any error would have been harmless, given the overwhelming evidence that the defendants specifically intended the aircraft bombings to serve as retaliation against the United States Government and its citizens for United States foreign policy. 187 III. District Court Failure to Sua Sponte Voir Dire the Jury Mid-Trial Regarding the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church 188 During the January 7, 1995 search of the Manila apartment that uncovered extensive bomb-making materials, Philippine National Police also discovered photographs of Pope John Paul II, Bibles, and confession materials. Because the Pope was due to arrive in the Philippines five days later, law enforcement authorities in the Philippines feared that an attack was planned against the Pope and began an extensive investigation into the matter. 189 Prior to the airline bombing trial, the Government agreed that it would not elicit testimony regarding the Pope in its direct case. Some of the Government's witnesses, however, did refer to the religious artifacts found in the apartment on cross-examination. 190 Yousef claims that the District Court erred because, following this testimony, it did not sua sponte conduct a mid-trial voir dire of the jury with respect to its views on the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. He contends that because the defendants were originally investigated in the Philippines for their alleged attempt to assassinate the Pope, the Court should have questioned the jury about whether this alleged plot would affect its ability to render an impartial verdict. Yousef Br. at 228. 191 Yousef argues that defense counsel made numerous requests that the Court voir dire the jury regarding the Pope and the Catholic Church. Yousef Br. at 230. However, close inspection of the record reveals that, while the defendants made requests for dismissal of the indictment, see, e.g., ATr. 2064, a severance, see, e.g., ATr. 1205, 1247, 2412-13, a mistrial, see, e.g., ATr. 1247, 1948, and jury instructions, see, e.g., ATr. 5084-86, and made other assorted objections, see, e.g., ATr. 2249 (general objection), ATr. 5090 (objection to proposed charge); ATr. 1783 (continuing objection), ATr. 2433 (same); ATr. 1452-53 (general objection), they never specifically requested that the jury be examined regarding the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. Accordingly, we need only decide whether the District Court erred in failing to voir dire the jury on this issue sua sponte. 192 The trial court has ample discretion to determine how best to conduct voir dire. Rosales-Lopez v. United States, 451 U.S. 182, 189, 101 S.Ct. 1629, 68 L.Ed.2d 22 (1981) (plurality opinion); United States v. Taylor, 92 F.3d 1313, 1324 (2d Cir.1996); cf. Turner v. Murray, 476 U.S. 28, 38 n. 12, 106 S.Ct. 1683, 90 L.Ed.2d 27 (1986) (concluding in a habeas context that [w]hat we held in Ristaino [ v. Ross, 424 U.S. 589, 96 S.Ct. 1017, 47 L.Ed.2d 258 (1976)], and reaffirm today, is that absent `special circumstances' that create a particularly compelling need to inquire into racial prejudice, the Constitution leaves the conduct of voir dire to the sound discretion of state trial judges). In Rosales-Lopez, we were warned that questioning the jury about its views on race or ethnicity may create the impression that justice in a court of law may turn upon the pigmentation of skin [or] the accident of birth[,] [and] [t]rial judges are understandably hesitant to introduce such a suggestion into their courtrooms. 451 U.S. at 190, 101 S.Ct. 1629 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). It is in part for this reason that the Supreme Court has concluded that it is usually best to allow the defendant to ... mak[e] the determination of whether or not he would prefer to have the inquiry into racial or ethnic prejudice. Id. at 191, 101 S.Ct. 1629; see also Ristaino, 424 U.S. at 597 n. 9, 96 S.Ct. 1017 (the wiser course generally is to propound appropriate questions designed to identify racial prejudice if requested by the defendant). 193 We discern no error in the District Court's failure to conduct a mid-trial voir dire of the jury sua sponte on these issues. The defendants were fully aware that they could request a mid-trial voir dire of the jury. Indeed, the defendants requested and were granted such a mid-trial voir dire after TWA Flight 800 crashed off Long Island, New York, and after some members of the media speculated that the crash was in retaliation for the Government's prosecution of Yousef. Furthermore, there was an explicit discussion on the record in the middle of the trial that indicated that the defendants were aware of the availability of a voir dire regarding the plot against the Pope. ATr. 2064. Shah's attorney told the Court that if he had been aware before trial of the testimony that would be elicited about the Pope, he would have requested that the Court ask questions about the Pope as part of the pre-trial voir dire. ATr. 2063-64. Nevertheless, the defendants did not make such a mid-trial request for voir dire on this issue. 194 In fact, a review of the record indicates that the defendants made a tactical choice not to request voir dire on the Pope. For example, when the Court mentioned to Shah's attorney that a cautionary instruction on evidence regarding the Pope might, on balance, be damaging to the defense case, Shah's attorney responded that he did not necessarily disagree. ATr. 2065. We have held that decisions made to obtain tactical advantage waive any later right to claim error. See United States v. Yu-Leung, 51 F.3d 1116, 1122 (2d Cir. 1995) (holding that strategic choice not to object to admission of evidence waives defendant's right to appeal the admission). 52 195 Nor did the District Court appear to believe that a voir dire regarding the Pope was necessary. The Court suggested that, in light of the severity of the charged crimes, references to a plot against the Pope were, in comparison, not very highly charged. ATr. 1705. Moreover, the Court indicated its concern that highlighting the issue for the jury might cause more damage than anything else. ATr. 2065. As discussed in Rosales-Lopez, appellate courts are in a poor position to second-guess a trial court's determination that a voir dire is not warranted, 451 U.S. at 188, 101 S.Ct. 1629, and we decline to do so here where the defendants did not even request such a voir dire during trial. 196 For all of the above reasons, we conclude that there was no error in the District Court's failure to conduct sua sponte a voir dire of the jury regarding the Pope or the Roman Catholic Church.