Opinion ID: 451681
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Co-Defendants' Attorneys as Witnesses

Text: 36 Appellant Tercero contends that the district court erred in denying his request to call the attorneys of his co-defendants Dupuy and Buzard as witnesses of his line-up identification. 37 Ruth Holmes, the ex-wife of the informant, had occasion to observe a conspirator who had visited the informant at her home in Albuquerque to negotiate the purchase of 100 pounds of marijuana. She identified Tercero in a line-up as the same individual. Tercero contends that the identification was tainted because the Assistant United States Attorney, Garcia, had pointed toward him before Holmes had made her identification. Tercero urged the court to allow him to call as witnesses the counsel for his co-defendants who had been present at the line-up. 38 Both counsel objected to being called as witnesses. They indicated to the court that they had seen Garcia make a sort of a sweeping motion in the direction of the line-up. Tercero was in the center of the line-up so the gesture was made in his direction. Garcia had no recollection of making such a gesture. The court denied Tercero's request because it found that no one had actually seen a gesture which anyone concluded to be suggestive and that therefore the prejudice to Dupuy and Buzard, should their attorneys be called as witnesses, outweighed the probative value of the attorneys' testimony. 39 The district court is given wide discretion pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 403 to exclude relevant evidence if there is a danger of unfair prejudice. The court must balance the probative value of the evidence with its likely prejudicial effect. See, e.g., United States v. Martin, 599 F.2d 880, 889 (9th Cir.1979). The trial court's decision to exclude evidence is reversible only if that court abused its discretion. See, e.g., United States v. Patterson, 678 F.2d 774, 778 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 911, 103 S.Ct. 219, 74 L.Ed.2d 174 (1982). 40 In this case the district court based its decision to exclude on a finding that the proffered witnesses had not found the gesture of Garcia to be suggestive. It would follow that their testimony would do little, if anything, to discredit Holmes's identification of Tercero. The court also found that the co-defendants would be prejudiced if their counsel were called as witnesses. To call counsel as witnesses would also be unnecessary since there were other witnesses to the line-up. Tercero made no effort to call as witnesses the other six participants in the line-up or the court reporter. The district court did not abuse its discretion. 41 Nor is there merit in Tercero's contention that having refused his request to call the counsel as witnesses, the court should have severed Tercero's case so that he could have called them in a separate trial. Rule 14, Fed.R.Crim.P., provides that if it appears that a defendant is prejudiced by a joinder of defendants, the court may grant a severance. The party seeking reversal of a decision denying severance under Rule 14 has the burden of proving 'clear', 'manifest', or 'undue' prejudice from the joint trial.... [T]he prejudice must have been of such magnitude that the defendant was denied a fair trial. United States v. Escalante, 637 F.2d 1197, 1201 (9th Cir.1980). 42 Here the district court found that no one actually saw a gesture which anyone concluded was a pointing out of Mr. Tercero. The court properly exercised its discretion in denying the severance motion.