Opinion ID: 167150
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: additional issues raised by mr. lavallee

Text: 110 Mr. LaVallee argues that Mr. Blumberg engaged in several instances of prosecutorial misconduct that fatally infected his trial. During trial, Mr. Blumberg made several references to Mr. LaVallee's attorney, Thomas Hammond. Mr. LaVallee argues that these references permitted the jury to draw an adverse inference from the fact he exercised his Sixth Amendment right to counsel and that therefore his conviction should be reversed. See United States v. Liddy, 509 F.2d 428, 442-445 (D.C.Cir.1974). 111 Allegations of prosecutorial misconduct are mixed questions of law and fact which we review de novo. Duckett v. Mullin, 306 F.3d 982, 988 (10th Cir.2002). When the defendant makes a timely motion for a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct, we review the district court's decision for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Meienberg, 263 F.3d 1177, 1180 (10th Cir.2001). We will not reverse a conviction on the basis of a prosecutor's improper statement to the jury unless there is reason to believe that it influenced the jury's verdict. Meienberg, 263 F.3d at 1180. In assessing whether the misconduct had such an impact, we look to the curative acts of the district court, the extent of the misconduct, and the role of the misconduct within the case as a whole. Id. Mr. Blumberg first made reference to Mr. Hammond during redirect examination of Ms. Gutierrez. During the exchange, Mr. Blumberg elicited testimony from her that she had previously met Mr. Hammond at a meeting in the company of the other defendants. Mr. Hammond objected, and the judge held a sidebar conference. During the conference, Mr. Blumberg proffered that Ms. Gutierrez would testify that after the meeting, certain defendants had a discussion about not telling their attorneys the truth about the beatings. 16 The District Court excused the jury, and Mr. Blumberg questioned Ms. Gutierrez on the issue. After her testimony, the District Court found that Mr. Blumberg's proffer at the sidebar was contrary to what Ms. Gutierrez had just testified. The court therefore disallowed the testimony to be relayed to the jury and sanctioned the Government by prohibiting it from eliciting evidence about a conversation that Ms. Gutierrez had with Mr. Schultz in which he told her not to tell her lawyer the truth about what went on in the prison. The court, however, denied Mr. Hammond's motion for a mistrial based on the testimony Mr. Blumberg had succeeded in eliciting in front of the jury — namely, that there had been a meeting among some defendants and Mr. Hammond — because it found that testimony admissible since six of the seven defense attorneys had asked Ms. Gutierrez on cross-examination whether she had ever met with them before. Even so, when redirect examination resumed, the District Court gave the jury a cautionary instruction to disregard any testimony it had heard about that meeting. We conclude that because the jury only heard unobjectionable testimony and was, in any event, instructed not to consider it, the District Court did not abuse its discretion in denying Mr. Hammond's motion for a mistrial. 112 Mr. Blumberg again made reference to Mr. Hammond during cross-examination of Mr. LaVallee. Mr. Blumberg asked whether Mr. LaVallee knew that several murders took place at USP-Florence while he worked there, to which Mr. LaVallee responded that he had no personal knowledge of such murders. Mr. Blumberg asked, Was that because you didn't prepare for that [question] with Mr. Hammond? Mr. Hammond objected, arguing that the question was improper, but he did not move for a mistrial. The District Court overruled the objection. Mr. Blumberg later commented that defense counsel were peddling defenses. Two attorneys objected to the question based on its characterization and that it was argumentative. No defendant moved for a mistrial. 17 113 We need not tarry on whether these remarks constituted prosecutorial misconduct because we are satisfied that they did not affect the trial's outcome. These two flippant remarks must be evaluated in the context of an eight-week trial. This conduct, even if improper, was not flagrant enough to influence the jury to convict on grounds other than the evidence presented. See Meienberg, 263 F.3d at 1180 (quotations omitted). As such, we conclude that any misconduct was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.