Opinion ID: 745088
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Chart exclusion

Text: 4 Barocio contends that the district court abused its discretion in excluding a chart that depicted the hierarchical structure of the Cabaltera drug organization. Reversal of a district court's decision regarding the admissability of evidence is warranted only where the nonconstitutional error more likely than not affected the verdict. United States v. Karterman, 60 F.3d 576, 579 (9th Cir.1995). 5 The district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the chart. The drug organization depicted on the chart was different from that of the charged conspiracy, and the district court properly had concerns about relevancy. Moreover, the district court found that the chart was not necessarily inconsistent, but rather was incomplete. Even if the district court held abused its discretion, reversal on that ground would not be warranted. Barocio has made no showing that any error more likely than not affected the verdict. The trial court did permit cross-examination with respect to the fact that Barocio's name did not appear on the chart. It is unlikely that the exclusion of the chart itself affected the jury's verdict in light of the other evidence against Barocio. 6 Additionally, Barocio claims that the district court's limitation on the questions his counsel could ask of Cordova pertaining to the chart denied Barocio his right of confrontation. The district court's restriction of cross-examination does not violate the Confrontation Clause unless it limits relevant testimony and prejudices the defendant. United States v. Shabani, 48 F.3d 401, 403 (9th Cir.1995). 7 The district court limited the scope of cross-examination to those persons on the chart who were involved in the conspiracy; the court had concerns of relevancy regarding detailed questions with respect to persons not involved in the charged conspiracy. The district court's decision regarding the relevance of evidence is reviewed for abuse of discretion, United States v. Easter, 66 F.3d 1018, 1020 (9th Cir.1995), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 1026 (1996), and Barocio has produced no evidence showing that the district court abused its discretion in this instance. Additionally, Barocio has not shown that he was prejudiced by the limitation on cross-examination. Moreover, the record shows that the jury had sufficient information to appraise the biases and motivations of Cordova. See United States v. Manning, 56 F.3d 1188, 1197 (9th Cir.1995) (citation omitted). Barocio's counsel was able to elicit on cross-examination that the organizational chart existed; that the chart was much more comprehensive than an earlier chart drawn by Cordova; that the chart contained over twenty names; and that the chart did not include Barocio's name. 8 We hold that the district court, did not abuse its discretion in excluding the chart from evidence, nor was Barocio's right to confrontation infringed upon by the district court's limitation on cross-examination regarding the chart.