Opinion ID: 47945
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Police Statements Challenging Finley's Truthfulness

Text: 37 Finley contends that the district court abused its discretion by denying his request for a limiting instruction regarding a witness's comment on his veracity.
38 During the course of Finley's post-arrest interview at Brown's residence, Finley initially denied that he had ever distributed methamphetamine. Special Agent Cook and Sergeant Russell confronted Finley with a text message on his phone that read, Call Mark I need a 50. Finley told them that 50 referred to an ounce (fifty dollars' worth) of marijuana, not methamphetamine. Special Agent Cook and Sergeant Russell challenged Finley's assertion that an ounce of marijuana costs fifty dollars. The following exchange then occurred: 39 Sgt Russell: I'll tell you what, you better start telling the truth. 40 Finley: I'm telling the truth, sir. 41 Sgt Russell: No you['re] not. 42 SA Cook: No you['re] not telling us the truth. 43 A recording of the interview and a transcript of the recording were admitted at trial. 44 At the charge conference, Finley requested that the court instruct the jury to disregard Special Agent Cook's and Sergeant Russell's comments about Finley's veracity. The district court denied Finley's request, reasoning that the officers were simply trying to get the most accurate statement possible from their interview of Finley and that the statements were not being offered to bolster the evidence or to accuse Finley at trial.
45 We review a properly preserved challenge to jury instructions for abuse of discretion. United States v. Daniels, 281 F.3d 168, 183 (5th Cir.2002) (citing United States v. Huynh, 246 F.3d 734, 738 (5th Cir.2001)). But when the issue was not properly raised before the district court, our review is for plain error. Id. (citing United States v. Caucci, 635 F.2d 441, 447 (5th Cir. Unit B Jan.1981)). 46 At the time the recording and transcript were admitted into evidence, Finley did not object on the basis that the statements improperly permitted one witness to opine on the veracity of another. The government argues that our review is consequently for plain error only. But Finley did request later at the charge conference that the jury be instructed to disregard any comments about Finley's veracity. We need not resolve, however, whether Finley preserved his argument because, as we explain below, even under an abuse-of-discretion standard we discern no reversible error.
47 Relying on United States v. Freitag, Finley maintains that a limiting instruction was necessary because the transcript of the interview involved a witness discussing the veracity of the accused. See 230 F.3d 1019, 1024 (7th Cir.2000) (Because credibility questions are for the jury, it is improper to ask one witness to comment on the veracity of the testimony of another witness. (citing United States v. Cole, 41 F.3d 303, 308 (7th Cir.1994); United States v. Sullivan, 85 F.3d 743, 749-50 (1st Cir. 1996))). Finley also relies on United States v. Dotson, 799 F.2d 189 (5th Cir. 1986), which discusses the propriety of offering opinion evidence to impeach the credibility of a witness at trial. But these cases are inapposite because the challenge to Finley's truthfulness occurred in a pretrial interview, not at trial during a witness's testimony. 9 48 The district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Finley's request to instruct the jury to disregard Special Agent Cook's and Sergeant Russell's remarks. Special Agent Cook and Sergeant Russell certainly accused Finley of being untruthful, but it was done in the context of police questioning, and the jury was permitted to hear the comments in their context. The jury would certainly have understood that the officers investigating Finley would not have believed him, and the jury would not have afforded those officers' remarks in the context of the interview any more weight than they would have afforded the fact that the government also disbelieved him and decided to prosecute him. Cf. Dubria v. Smith, 224 F.3d 995, 1001-02 & n. 2 (9th Cir.2000) (en banc) (concluding in habeas review that trial court did not err by refusing to redact portions of a tape and transcript wherein a detective, inter alia, made statements of disbelief of the defendant's story in the context of pretrial police questioning because the questions and comments placed the defendant's answers in context, there was nothing in the detective's statements that suggested evidence or theories of the case that were not presented at trial, and the jury would give the statements no more weight than they would the fact [the defendant] was charged by the prosecutor with murder or that the prosecutor clearly also disbelieved [the defendant]). 10