Opinion ID: 450560
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Comparable Contingent Plea Agreements

Text: 26 The general rule allowing an accomplice who has pled guilty to testify certainly recognizes that a risk of perjury is created by the plea agreement itself. In United States v. Meinster, 619 F.2d 1041, 1045 (4th Cir.1980), for example, the court declared it obvious that promises of immunity or leniency premised on cooperation in a particular case may provide a strong inducement to falsify in that case. Nonetheless, the jury is entrusted with these matters even in cases where there is a plea agreement and the accomplice's background is most questionable. Thus, for example, in United States v. Miceli, 446 F.2d 256, 258-59 (1st Cir.1971), we held that it was proper to admit the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice who had a long list of convictions, was a thief by profession, had committed perjury in another case, and was the beneficiary of a generous plea agreement with the government. As another court stated in general terms, a conviction may be based on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice ... even though the accomplice is in a position to gain favors from the government by his testimony ... and even though there are inconsistencies in his story ... so long as it is not 'incredible or unsubstantial on its face.'  Lyda v. United States, 321 F.2d 788, 794-95 (9th Cir.1963). 27 Courts have followed this rule even when confronted with an agreement that leaves an accomplice's sentence open until after he has testified. In United States v. Insana, 423 F.2d at 1168-69, for example, the court rejected a due process challenge to the admission of testimony from two accomplices who had yet to be sentenced. The court stated that the mere fact that a witness hopes to receive a reduced sentence or some other form of leniency does not disqualify him as a witness but affects only the weight of his testimony. Id. at 1168; see also United States v. Borman, 437 F.2d 44, 45-46 (2d Cir.1971) (where jury was properly instructed and credibility issue fully argued, trial court committed no error by allowing testimony of unsentenced accomplice who had pled guilty). So firmly established is the policy of allowing unsentenced accomplices to testify that we find one court, in rejecting the exclusion of one such accomplice's testimony, declaring, We are not disposed to fashion a rule heretofore unknown in the jurisprudence of criminal prosecutions. Neither are we impressed that the testimony of an unsentenced accomplice deprives one who stands trial of due process or fair treatment. United States v. Vida, 370 F.2d 759, 767 (6th Cir.1966). 28 Even more directly on point is United States v. Kimble, 719 F.2d 1253 (5th Cir.1983). There an accomplice pled guilty and agreed to testify with the understanding that he would be sentenced to 20 years imprisonment if his cooperation was considered adequate by the government. Approving the admission of his testimony after the fact, the appellate court explained: 29 [The accomplice] was subjected to rigorous cross-examination, including extensive questioning about the precise nature of his plea arrangement, his personal background and his crime-studded record. [He] acknowledged that he had repeatedly lied, including lies under oath, to save his own skin. He admitted to intimate participation in the criminal activity set forth in the indictment and candidly stated that he was testifying only because of the lenient sentence he was to receive in return for his cooperation. In particular he spoke of the contingent nature of his sentence, which had not yet been imposed, and that he fully understood his cooperation would have to be deemed acceptable before the agreement would be operative. Id. at 1255 (emphasis added). 30 The accomplice there was every bit as likely to give unreliable testimony as are the accomplices here. The nature of the contingency in his agreement was very similar to that found in the agreements of Frappier, Minnig, and Tindall: there the contingency was vaguely defined as the acceptability of the accomplice's cooperation; here it is the value or benefit of such cooperation. Yet, the Kimble court refused to hold that the accomplice's testimony was per se incredible or that it should have been excluded. Instead, the court ruled that the plea agreement, the accomplice's admitted prior lying, and his prior criminal record all went to the weight of his testimony, not to its admissibility. Id. at 1257; see also United States v. Evans, 697 F.2d 240, 245 (8th Cir.1983). 31 Similarly, courts have allowed the testimony of informants who agree to work undercover and testify in exchange for either leniency, money or both. For example, in United States v. Tapia, 738 F.2d 18, 20 (1st Cir.1984), we upheld the admission of testimony from an informer who had agreed to undertake an unmonitored controlled buy of drugs and to testify about that buy in exchange for a government promise concerning leniency. The risk of developing unreliable evidence there was easily as great as the risk of obtaining unreliable testimony here; yet, we ruled that the risk was not great enough to require anything more than the standard procedural safeguards. Id. Likewise, in United States v. Valle-Ferrer, 739 F.2d 545, 549 (11th Cir.1984), the court held that an informant's anticipated receipt of $1,000 if his testimony resulted in a conviction did not render him incompetent to testify. In Heard v. United States, 414 F.2d 884, 886 (5th Cir.1969), the court approved the admission of testimony from an informant who was a convicted felon and who had been paid for results rather than for information. Finally, in United States v. Crim, 340 F.2d 989, 900 (4th Cir.1965), the testimony of undercover agents was found admissible even though the amount of their compensation was to be determined after trial on the basis of an appraisal of the extent and quality of [their] work.... 32 Although Dailey cites Williamson v. United States, 311 F.2d 441 (5th Cir.1962), as an analogous contingent fee case in which the conviction was overturned, Williamson has no applicability here. It involved an agreement under which the agent was to be paid $200 for successfully helping the government catch a particular person in the act of committing a crime which was to be set up, at least in part, by the agent. The case presented a serious question of entrapment, which is not present in this case. The court was disturbed by the fact that the agreement called for the conviction of a particular person even though the government appeared to lack any grounds for believing that the person was engaging in criminal activity. Id. at 444. In subsequent cases, the Fifth Circuit has carefully limited Williamson to its facts. See, e.g., United States v. Gray, 626 F.2d 494, 499 (5th Cir.1980) (testimony of two informants allowed even though they received $37,000 and $25,000, respectively, since payment was not made contingent upon conviction of a particular person); United States v. Edwards, 549 F.2d 362, 365 (5th Cir.1977) (allowing testimony of informant whose receipt of a reward was made contingent upon the final results of his undercover work); Hill v. United States, 328 F.2d 988, 989 (5th Cir.1964) (Williamson applies only if government lacks prior knowledge of suspect's unlawful activity). In United States v. Jett, 491 F.2d 1078, 1081 (1st Cir.1974), we too distinguished Williamson, stating that payment of an informant on the basis of the value of the services rendered is a permissible contingent fee arrangement. 33 The Sixth Circuit has gone even further. In United States v. Jones, 575 F.2d 81, 85-86 (6th Cir.1978), it explained its rationale for refusing to follow Williamson by quoting extensively from an earlier decision: 34  '[There is no overriding policy to exclude the testimony of an informant if he is paid under] a contingent fee agreement for the conviction of specified persons for crimes not yet committed. Although it is true that the informant working under this type of arrangement may be prone to lie and manufacture crimes, he is no more likely to commit these wrongs than witnesses acting for other, more common reasons.... Rather than adopting an exclusionary rule for a particular factual situation, ... we prefer the rule that would leave the entire matter to the jury to consider in weighing the credibility of the witness-informant. (Citation omitted). In our view this approach provides adequate safeguards for the criminal defendant against possible abuses since the witness must undergo the rigors of cross-examination.'  Id. at 86 (quoting United States v. Grimes, 438 F.2d 391, 395-96 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 989, 91 S.Ct. 1684, 29 L.Ed.2d 155 (1971)). 35 Whether or not we would go as far as the Sixth Circuit with respect to the testimony of informants, we find ourselves in agreement with the general policy and reasoning of Jones. The agreements in the instant case and the risk of perjury that they entail are not significantly different from or greater than those described in the cases above. There is therefore no reason to treat these accomplices any differently than were the accomplices and informants in those cases. 7 D. Conclusion 36 Accordingly, we hold that Frappier, Minnig, and Tindall should be allowed to testify against Dailey. The standard procedural safeguards that were employed in the Caruana proceedings should be employed here as well. The agreements should be read to the jury and made available during its deliberations; defense counsel may cross-examine the accomplices at length about the agreements; and the jury should be given the standard cautionary instruction concerning the testimony of accomplices and a special cautionary instruction concerning the nature of each accomplice's contingent agreement and the risk that it creates, particularly in instances where the accomplice's testimony cannot be corroborated. 8 37 Finally, with respect to any future plea agreements that the government may strike, we suggest that they should contain a clear statement that the giving of false information or testimony will be considered a failure to fully cooperate and will vitiate any contingent provision in the agreement. In addition, we recommend that such agreements specify as precisely as possible those factors which the government is to take into accountin determining the degree to which the contingent condition has been satisfied. It is the government's duty to evaluate carefully whether and why a contingency agreement is necessary, as well as to insure that all parties have a clear understanding of what each contingency provision means and what it does not mean. Also, we note that at present we can think of no instance in which the government would be justified in making a promised benefit contingent upon the return of an indictment or a guilty verdict. 9 Finally, we note that contingency agreements should be reserved for exceptional cases, such as this one, where the value and extent of the accomplice's knowledge is uncertain but very likely to be great. 38 The district court's decision to exclude the testimony of the three government witnesses is vacated and the case is remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.