Opinion ID: 506169
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Strickland's Guilty Plea

Text: 84 Strickland testified at trial that he had pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy counts for which the defendants were being tried. Tarantino contends that the trial court should have informed the jury that they should not consider Strickland's guilty plea in assessing the defendants' guilt or innocence. 85 A government witness' guilty plea obviously may not be used as substantive evidence of the guilt of defendants, but the plea is equally obviously admissible to show the witness' acknowledgement of his role in the offense and to reflect on his credibility. United States v. Roth, 736 F.2d 1222, 1226 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1058, 105 S.Ct. 541, 83 L.Ed.2d 429, 433 (1984). In some instances--most obviously where there is a serious risk that the plea itself may be taken by the jury to support the defendants' guilt--a limiting instruction may be necessary to avoid prejudice. Wallace v. Lockhart, 701 F.2d 719, 725-26 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 934, 104 S.Ct. 340, 78 L.Ed.2d 308 (1983). At trial, however, Tarantino's counsel neither requested limiting instructions nor objected to the court's failure to give such instructions. Therefore, we could reverse only if the omission were plain error. DeBango, 780 F.2d at 84; FED.R.CRIM.P. 30; FED.R.CRIM.P. 52. See also supra at 1402. 86 Here the defendants were not disadvantaged in any significant way by the omission of the instructions. The government never attempted to argue or even hint that Strickland's guilty plea had any bearing on the defendants' guilt or innocence. Wallace v. Lockhart, 701 F.2d at 726; cf. United States v. Fleetwood, 528 F.2d 528, 532-33 (5th Cir.1976) (government's emphasis on witness' guilty plea was prejudicial). Moreover, the overwhelming evidence of Tarantino's involvement in the conspiracy negates any possible harm from Strickland's statement. Failure to instruct on the issue was not plain error. United States v. Martin, 790 F.2d 1215, 1219 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 231, 93 L.Ed.2d 157 (1986); United States v. Smith, 790 F.2d 789, 793-94 (9th Cir.1986); Roth, 736 F.2d at 1226-27.