Opinion ID: 710921
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: District Court's Failure to Grant a Mistrial

Text: 13 Flores contends that the district court abused its discretion by denying his motion for a mistrial after prosecution witness Jaime Trevino gave certain testimony. At trial, the following exchange took place on direct examination between the prosecutor and Trevino: 14 MR. FAGAN (prosecutor): Can you describe your relationship with [Flores]? 15 MR. TREVINO (witness): We have been friends. 16 We have--I have sold marijuana to him, and he has sold marijuana to me. 17 We have done several drug deals. 18 (Trial Tr. at 5-177.) At this point, Flores' counsel objected and a sidebar conference ensued. Flores claimed that this testimony was prior bad acts evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), 3 and that the prosecution had failed to comply with the notice requirements of that provision. Flores strenuously demanded that the district court immediately declare a mistrial. 19 The prosecutor responded that, although he knew of the existence of this evidence, the government had not intended to introduce it at trial, and in fact, the prosecutor stated that he had expressly instructed the witness not to go into these matters. Thus, according to the prosecutor, he had no duty to disclose this information in advance of trial. The district court determined that the government's explanation was credible and declined to grant a mistrial. The court stated that it felt that an admonition to the jury to disregard the testimony would only serve to highlight it, and accordingly, gave no admonition to the jury. The court also stated that it would give the jury a curative instruction if Flores so desired, and the court extended the invitation to Flores' counsel to submit such an instruction to the court for consideration. Flores' counsel initially indicated that he would submit a proposed instruction to the court but then later indicated that a curative instruction would not be sufficient to cure the prejudice and that a mistrial was the only satisfactory remedy. In any event, Flores' counsel never submitted a proposed instruction, and the district court did not give one specifically tailored to Trevino's testimony. 20 Flores argues that this testimony was inadmissible prior bad acts evidence under Rule 404(b) or, in the alternative, even if the evidence was properly admissible under that rule, the government's failure to comply with the notice requirements of that provision prejudiced him. In either event, Flores contends that the district court should have granted a mistrial. 21  'We will affirm a district court's ruling on a motion for a mistrial absent an abuse of discretion.'  United States v. Fregoso, 60 F.3d 1314, 1328 (8th Cir.1995) (quoting United States v. Adams, 37 F.3d 383, 384 (8th Cir.1994)). The district court is in a far better position to measure the effect of an improper question on the jury than an appellate court which reviews only the cold record. United States v. Nelson, 984 F.2d 894, 897 (8th Cir.) (internal quotations omitted), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 2945, 124 L.Ed.2d 693 (1993). Finally, we have observed that measures less drastic than declaring a mistrial, for instance giving the jury a curative instruction, ordinarily alleviate any prejudice flowing from improper testimony. See id. ([t]he admission of allegedly prejudicial testimony is ordinarily cured by an instruction to the jury to disregard the testimony.). 22 In the present case, the district court offered to give the jury a curative instruction and indicated that it would consider any instruction submitted by defense counsel. Because such an instruction would ordinarily be sufficient to cure the alleged prejudice, Flores' position at trial of a mistrial-or-nothing precludes us from finding in his favor on this issue. Given the district court's vantage point, we afford that court wide latitude in determining whether a mistrial is the appropriate remedy in these circumstances or whether other measures will be sufficient. Accordingly, we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to grant a mistrial in this case. We note that the court did, in its final instructions, give the jury an instruction which told them that any evidence they had heard about Flores having committed a similar act in the past could not be used to determine whether he committed the acts charged in this case. (See Jury Inst. 11, Trial Tr.Vol. 12 at 180-81.) Although the court gave this instruction because of Rule 404(b) testimony given by one Jesus Riojas which, if believed, showed that Flores had been involved in attempting to provide his Michigan customer, Jackson, a large quantity of marijuana approximately one year prior to the events in this case, the language of the instruction was broad enough to encompass Jaime Trevino's volunteered statements about his prior drug dealings with Flores as well. 23 In any event, assuming an error occurred, such error was harmless. See United States v. DeAngelo, 13 F.3d 1228, 1233 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 2717, 129 L.Ed.2d 842 (1994). As we pointed out in DeAngelo, trial errors that do not affect constitutional rights are subject to Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(a)'s harmless error standard, under which  '[a]n error is harmless if the reviewing court, after reviewing the entire record, determines that no substantial rights of the defendant were affected, and that the error did not influence or had only a slight influence on the verdict.'  Id. (quoting United States v. Flenoid, 949 F.2d 970, 973 (8th Cir.1991)). [W]e determine the prejudicial effect of any allegedly improper testimony on the defendant's right to a fair trial by examining the trial context of the error, and the prejudice created thereby as juxtaposed against the strength of the evidence of the [defendant's] guilt. Nelson, 984 F.2d at 897. 24 After carefully reviewing the record, we believe that Jaime Trevino's testimony about Flores' past drug activities would have had, at most, only a slight influence on the verdict, particularly in view of Riojas's properly admitted 404(b) testimony. The challenged Trevino testimony was brief and given in the middle of a lengthy, twelve-day, multi-defendant drug conspiracy trial. After this testimony was given, it appears that no further reference was made to these matters by the government or any witness during the remainder of the trial. On the other hand, the evidence of Flores' guilt was very strong: Three co-conspirators testified regarding Flores' direct involvement in the conspiracy; Flores traveled approximately a thousand miles from south Texas to Cape Girardeau with the Trevinos and stayed in a hotel with the Trevinos while they distributed and attempted to distribute large quantities of marijuana; and finally, when Flores was arrested, he possessed $4900, which matches almost dollar-for-dollar the profit he would have reaped from his transaction with Jackson. Given this state of the record, with the evidence of Flores' guilt substantiated, corroborated, and essentially uncontradicted, any error that occurred was harmless. 25 Flores also seems to complain that he was prejudiced because the district court did not admonish the jury to disregard Jaime Trevino's volunteered statements. As noted above, the district court declined to give the jury an admonition because the court believed that such a measure would only highlight the allegedly improper testimony. Flores made no objection to the court's course of action and, in fact, during counsel's zealous argument in favor of a mistrial, appeared to agree, at least tacitly, that an admonition would not be appropriate. Again, Flores' stance at trial contradicts the position he takes on appeal and precludes us from ruling in his favor. 26 This testimony was simply one of those unexpected developments that occurs in the course of a trial which, as many trial judges and lawyers will attest to, is not an infrequent occurrence. [I]nstances occur in almost every trial where inadmissible evidence creeps in, usually inadvertently. Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 135, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 1627, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968). However, the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear that a criminal defendant is entitled to  'a fair trial, not a perfect one.'  Id. (quoting Lutwak v. United States, 344 U.S. 604, 619, 73 S.Ct. 481, 490, 97 L.Ed. 593 (1953)). That right was not violated in this case.