Opinion ID: 532063
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Admission of Gutierrez's Guilty Plea

Text: 21 The following exchange occurred as part of the prosecution's direct examination of Gutierrez: 22 Q: Do you understand the members of the jury have to hear your answer? So it will be necessary for you to speak up. Have you been charged in this case with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine? 23 A: Yes. 24 Q: Did you plead guilty to that offense? 25 Mr. Macon [Defense Counsel]: That is totally objectionable and she knows that ... [s]he knows better than to do that. That is unfair and wrong. 26 Record Vol. 3 at 134. At this point the trial judge interjected the following cautionary instruction to the jury: 27 Ladies and Gentleman of the Jury, I am going to allow that question in, but I caution you that whatever she says about her conduct is not necessarily--it is not to be considered as a guilty plea or any way be reference to the defendant in this case. If there is any statement as to a plea in this case, it is her credibility in issue, only to be taken as that. It is not to be inferred in any way, unless there is other testimony, with regards to the guilt or innocence, the issue of guilt or innocence as to this defendant Miss Casto, who is sitting over here. With that cautionary instruction, you may proceed. 28 The record indicates Gutierrez never answered the question. The prosecutor's next question was on a different topic, and the guilty plea question was not asked again. At the close of Gutierrez's testimony, the trial judge again cautioned the jury in regard to the question: 29 Once again, Ladies and Gentlemen, you will be cautioned about this one more time during the charge, but I will caution you again. You may consider Miss Gutierrez' testimony as to her guilty plea only to assess her credibility as a witness in this case. You may not, you may not use Miss Gutierrez', the witness here, guilty plea to create in your mind any inference of guilt against Miss Casto. 30 Record Vol. 3 at 161. The trial judge also gave a similar instruction during his charge to the jury. 31 Casto now argues that the prosecution's introduction of Gutierrez's guilty plea to the jury constitutes reversible error because the government did not have a legitimate purpose in introducing the evidence. Casto asserts the prosecution used the evidence of Gutierrez's plea only to create an inference of Casto's guilt and that the guilty verdict should be overturned. 32 This circuit has often discussed the propriety of admitting a co-defendant's guilty plea into evidence before a criminal trial jury. Although a co-defendant's plea cannot be used to establish the guilt of the defendant, United States v. Fleetwood, 528 F.2d 528, 532 (5th Cir.1976), the plea can be used for other purposes such as impeaching the credibility of the co-defendant as a witness. United States v. Borchardt, 698 F.2d 697, 701 (5th Cir.1983). Several factors must be considered in determining whether the introduction of a co-defendant's plea has improperly prejudiced the defendant: 33 Factors to be considered in evaluating the impact of a witness' guilty plea are the presence or absence of a limiting instruction, whether there was a proper purpose in introducing the fact of the guilty plea, whether the plea was improperly emphasized or used as a substantive evidence of guilt, and whether the introduction of the plea was invited by defense counsel. 34 United States v. Black, 685 F.2d 132, 135 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1021, 103 S.Ct. 387, 74 L.Ed.2d 518 (1982). In assessing all of these factors, we assume, arguendo, that evidence of Gutierrez's guilty plea was put before the jury by the prosecutor. 35 The government argues that Casto opened the door for discussion of the guilty plea by referring to Gutierrez's credibility during opening arguments. In his opening argument, defense counsel stated: 36 What is Melinda [Gutierrez] going to say? I don't know. I can't tell you. Diana [Casto] doesn't know. But if in fact this prosecutor puts Melinda on the stand, I assume that you will hark back to what Judge Garza told you earlier in the day. That is that you are the sole judge of the credibility. You are the people who make the decision about whether a person is believable or unbelievable. That you are the persons that make decisions about whether or not a person has interest in testifying and what that interest could be. 37 Record Vol. 2 at 58. Although defense counsel did not openly refer to Gutierrez's guilty plea or to any plea bargain which Gutierrez had entered, it is clear that defense counsel invited the jury to regard any adverse testimony by Gutierrez with suspicion. In this situation, it is the prosecution's privilege to defuse potential attacks on his witness's credibility during direct examination. This argument provided a legitimate reason to reveal Gutierrez's guilty plea. Counsel presenting witnesses of blemished reputation routinely bring out 'such adverse facts as they know will be developed on cross-examination' in order to avoid even the appearance of an 'intent to conceal.'  United States v. Borchardt, 698 F.2d at 701 (quoting United States v. Aronson, 319 F.2d 48, 51 (2d Cir.1963), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 920, 84 S.Ct. 264, 11 L.Ed.2d 164 (1963)). Because it was reasonable for the prosecution here to believe that Casto's defense counsel would attempt to impeach Gutierrez's implicating testimony by questioning her about her guilty plea, it was also reasonable for the prosecutor to adduce this fact during her direct examination of Gutierrez. 38 More than the door opening argument insulates the prosecution's action from error here. The jury was also given a 'clear and strong cautionary instruction,' United States v. Baete, 414 F.2d 782, 784 (5th Cir.1969), that it might use the accomplice's guilty plea only to assess her credibility as a witness and not to create an inference of guilt against the accused. United States v. Borchardt, 698 F.2d at 701. Such an instruction cures any prejudice against the defendant created by the admission of the co-defendant's guilty plea unless the circumstances of the case render the instruction ineffective. United States v. Baete, 414 F.2d at 783-84. The circumstances of the case overcome the curative effect of the instruction when the guilty plea of one codefendant necessarily implicates another or others. Id. That was not the case here. 39 Gutierrez's guilty plea did not implicate Casto. At trial Casto did not deny or attempt to disprove the facts surrounding Gutierrez's drug trafficking. Instead, she argued that her own participation in the drug trafficking was unintentional, unknowing, and de minimis. In this context, the introduction of Gutierrez's guilty plea to Casto's jury served only as factual information of Gutierrez's actions which the jury could then combine with evidence of Casto's knowledge and intent to determine whether Casto had conspired with or had aided and abetted Gutierrez. Gutierrez's guilt, especially in light of the cautionary instruction to the jury, did not confirm or deny Casto's guilt. 40 The circumstances of Casto's case are similar to those in United States v. Richardson, 504 F.2d 357 (5th Cir.1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 978, 95 S.Ct. 1406, 43 L.Ed.2d 659 (1975), where Richardson appealed his conviction of unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon. Police officers found the illegal weapon after stopping a car in which Richardson, Anderson, and Fritz were riding. All three men were indicted for unlawfully carrying an unregistered shotgun. Anderson pled guilty and testified at Richardson's trial. Richardson's jury was notified of Anderson's guilty plea, and on appeal Richardson complained that this was reversible error. We affirmed Richardson's conviction in spite of the fact that the jury had been told of Anderson's guilty plea, stating: 41 In the case at bar, however, we are not faced with such aggravated circumstances [as merited the reversal of conviction in United States v. Baete ]. Richardson did not deny the unlawful presence of the weapon in his car. Rather, he admitted the weapon's introduction into the car by Anderson--that is, Anderson's guilt--but sought to disconnect Anderson's actions and responsibility for the weapon from himself. 42 Richardson, 504 F.2d at 360. Similarly, Casto did not deny her presence at Gutierrez's February 1 and March 22 drug deals. Nor did she deny that the drugs were actually discussed and sold in her presence. Rather, she attempted to disconnect [Gutierrez's] actions and responsibility for the [drugs] from [her]self. Id. As in Richardson, the co-defendant's guilty plea here did not establish any facts which the defendant attempted to deny. Notifying the jury of the co-defendant's plea in this case, therefore, did not create reversible error. 43