Opinion ID: 166828
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Parole Agreement

Text: 12 During trial the government sought to introduce Mr. Herron's parole agreement to establish that Mr. Herron was aware that it was a condition of his parole that he not possess a firearm. Defense counsel did not challenge that purpose but objected to the admission of the agreement because he could be prejudiced by other terms of his parole, specifically referring to mental health evaluations, drug and alcohol treatment, and limitations on alcohol consumption. The district court redacted parts of the agreement but left intact both Condition 4, which required Mr. Herron to report regularly to his parole officer, to allow searches by his parole officer, and to submit to drug testing; 1 and Condition 5, which forbade him from possessing firearms. 2 After the court's ruling, defense counsel objected only to the failure to redact from the agreement the text of Colo.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 18-12-108 (2003), the Colorado statute barring possession of firearms by convicted felons. The district court overruled the objection. Mr. Herron now challenges the inclusion of the text of the Colorado statute, Condition 4, and Condition 5 as violations of Federal Rules of Evidence 403 (relevant evidence must be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice) and 404(b) (evidence of prior bad acts may not be admitted to prove the character of defendant to show action in conformity therewith). Because only the first challenge was presented below, we address it separately. 13
14 Mr. Herron argues that the text of § 18-12-108 included on the second page of the parole agreement was irrelevant and potentially confusing. We need not resolve whether this portion of the agreement was relevant to Mr. Herron's innocent-possession defense, because any error in its inclusion in the redacted agreement was harmless. Even if a court has admitted inadmissible evidence ... a conviction will not be disturbed on appeal if that error is harmless. United States v. Griffin, 389 F.3d 1100, 1104 (10th Cir.2004). Such an error is harmless if it did not have a substantial influence on the outcome of the trial or leaves one in grave doubt as to whether it had such effect. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Mr. Herron does not complain about any specific language of the statute. And the substance of the statute—that Colorado law forbids convicted felons to possess firearms—was repeatedly presented to the jury on other occasions without objection. We simply fail to see how a defendant being tried on a federal charge of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm suffers unfair prejudice from evidence that such possession also violates state law. Mr. Herron argues that reference to the state statute improperly showed that he was guilty of other misconduct. Aplt. Br. at 7. But, of course, there was no other misconduct—the same act simply violated two virtually identical statutes. 15
16 In his brief on appeal Mr. Herron challenged the failure to redact Condition 5 from the parole agreement, and at oral argument he challenged the failure to redact Condition 4. Because he raised neither issue in the court below, our review is limited to plain error. See United States v. Youts, 229 F.3d 1312, 1320 (10th Cir.2000). Plain error occurs when there is (1) error, (2) that is plain, which (3) affects substantial rights, and which (4) seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. United States v. Gonzalez-Huerta, 403 F.3d 727, 732 (10th Cir.2005) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted). Ordinarily, an error affects substantial rights only if it affected the outcome of the district court proceedings. Id. Even assuming that Mr. Herron can satisfy the first two prongs of the plain-error test, he cannot satisfy this third-prong requirement. 17 Anything in Conditions 4 and 5 that may have been prejudicial had already been presented to the jury from other sources, including his own attorney. In his opening statement defense counsel referred to Mr. Herron's status as a parolee, his urinalysis testing, and the parole agreement's prohibition on his having a gun. Mr. Thares, the first trial witness, testified that he recognized Mr. Herron from his former job at the parole office, where he collected urine samples, including Mr. Herron's, for testing. Defense counsel did not object to this testimony, and questioned Mr. Thares further about urinalysis during cross-examination. Parole Officer Walters testified about the parole search of Mr. Herron's house. In these circumstances, we cannot see how admission of the redacted parole agreement could have affected the verdict. Cf. Griffin, 389 F.3d at 1104-05 (admission of parole agreement was harmless error). 18