Opinion ID: 535245
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: admission of fingerprint evidence

Text: 105 Herrero next alleges that the district court erroneously admitted fingerprint evidence. During pre-trial discovery the government provided Herrero with access to the government expert's official fingerprint examination report that stated that Herrero's fingerprints were found on the seized plastic bags containing cocaine. From Haro's opening statement it is evident that both parties mistakenly assumed that Herrero's fingerprints were found on the exterior of certain cocaine packages. The parties were not aware at that time of the existence of both inner and outer plastic bags surrounding the cocaine. Herrero's attorney declared in his opening statement: 106 Now it's hard to dispute fingerprints. And I don't suppose we can dispute them.... If my client touched that dope, it's because the dope was stored in the garage at the time my client was working in the garage.... You're going to find that the inner bags of cocaine had a lot of prints, and I don't believe they've found any on the tin foil, and then the outer wrapping with the silver tape, and it's on that outer wrapping where you can't see the cocaine because the tin foil is in the way. Juan Herrero's prints are on three of the 30 bags we are talking about. 107 A few minutes before the government's fingerprint expert testified at trial, Herrero's attorney was informed that Herrero's fingerprints were indeed on plastic bags that contained cocaine, but that these prints were to be found on plastic bags that were contained within other plastic bags. Neither of the respective counsels seemed to be aware until the day of the fingerprint expert's testimony, that there were separate inner and outer plastic bags, and that Herrero's fingerprints were found on the inner bags. 108 Herrero's attorney raised this problem immediately prior to the testimony of the government's fingerprint expert, alleging that the discrepancy between his opening statement and the evidence received at trial could prejudice the jury's opinion of his client. At that time Herrero requested a specifically tailored jury instruction on this point, and the government did not object to the request. Indeed, Herrero's attorney made the following suggestion for a jury instruction: 109 How about if the Court does something like this. I made that statement, I said to them, and as a matter of fact, I discussed the package in detail on my opening and I said my client's prints were found on the very exterior of the package and if the Court could just say, Mr. Mishlove made that statement in opening, in reliance upon information provided to him by the United States Government, boom, leave it at that. 110 The government's fingerprint expert was then called to the stand. Following testimony and a stipulation concerning the expert's qualifications, and prior to receipt of any substantive testimony from the fingerprint expert, the court gave an instruction concerning the role of an expert witness and then continued with the following specifically tailored instruction: 111 While we are at this point, attorneys are always most conscious of the fact that when they make their opening statements and they say that the evidence is going to be thus and so, that they better produce on what they say they are going to produce because obviously, if you are in the jury and a lawyer stands up and says the evidence is going to show such and so, and then it doesn't, why, it puts him and his client in a very poor light. I have been asked to make an explanatory statement to you. 112 Mr. Mishlove [Herrero's attorney] in his opening statement indicated on the basis of information that he had at that time that his client's fingerprints would be identified as having been on the exterior plastic of one of these, one or more of these packages. Now, apparently there was a miscommunication. He got that information and of course, through the Government, in the course of discovery, pretrial, and there was a miscommunication and that is not in fact where the fingerprints were, will be shown to have been. But that can await the proof that the Government will be putting in. All I am doing, and this is by stipulation between the parties, is explaining to you that when Mr. Mishlove made that statement to you during his opening, that he was acting upon the information that had been provided to him and it was in fact erroneous. So you should not hold him to that particular part of his statement to you. 113 At the end of the day on which the fingerprint expert testified, Herrero argued that the instruction that he had originally requested was inadequate to protect his rights and further that the breakdown in the discovery process might affect his decision on whether to testify. He moved to strike the fingerprint testimony, and the court rejected the motion. Herrero renewed the motion to strike following the conclusion of closing arguments. At that point Herrero speculated that the change in defense theories necessitated as a result of the discovery problems meant that the jury might wonder why Herrero had not taken the witness stand to explain the difference between counsel's opening and closing. The court rejected the renewed motion stating I made an explanation to the jury at the time. I felt then that it was sufficient, and I feel that it is sufficient now.Herrero carries a heavy burden on appeal because an evidentiary ruling will be reversed only if the trial court committed 'a clear abuse of discretion.'  Jones v. Hamelman, 869 F.2d 1023, 1027 (7th Cir.1989) (quoting Bohannon v. Pegelow, 652 F.2d 729, 732 (7th Cir.1981) (emphasis in Jones ). Furthermore, issues relating to the discovery process are  'committed to the sound discretion of the district court and an error in [such a determination] is reversible only on a showing that the error was prejudicial to the substantive rights of the defendant.'  United States v. Grier, 866 F.2d 908, 919 (7th Cir.1989) (quoting United States v. Bastanipour, 697 F.2d 170, 175 (7th Cir.1982)). 114 There can be no question that Herrero's fingerprints on the cocaine packages were very relevant, damaging and probably very convincing on the question of his involvement in the cocaine conspiracy, as they confirm Herrero's participation in the cocaine enterprise with Orlando Estevez as well as Elena Gonzalez' testimony concerning Herrero's role as a drug supplier. We will reverse the court's admission of this relevant evidence only if all of the following three requirements are met: (1) the irregularities in the discovery process constituted violations of the discovery rules, (2) if the results of this violation prejudiced Herrero's substantive rights and (3) if the striking of the evidence was an appropriate sanction for alleged discovery problems. 115 The second element, absence of a violation of Herrero's substantive rights disposes of this matter. See Grier, 866 F.2d at 919-22 (Relying upon absence of infringement of substantive rights as a sufficient basis for holding that alleged criminal discovery violation was not reversible error). In Grier we explained that: 116 The 'substantive rights' or 'substantial rights' standard this court utilized in United States v. Bastanipour, 697 F.2d 170, 175 (7th Cir.1982), stems from Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(a) which states that: 'Any error, defect, irregularity or variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded.' Unlike the harmless error standard, the government is not required to demonstrate that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Rather, the government must establish only that the error had no 'substantial influence on the verdict.' United States v. Kotteakos, [328 U.S. 750, 765, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 1248, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946) ]. The Supreme Court in Kotteakos, [328 U.S. at 764-65, 66 S.Ct. at 1247-48], explained the standard in the following manner: 117 'If, when all is said and done, the conviction is sure that the error did not influence the jury, or had but very slight effect, the verdict and the judgment should stand, except perhaps where the departure is from a constitutional norm or a specific command of Congress. But if one cannot say, with fair assurance, after pondering all that happened without stripping the erroneous action from the whole, that the judgment was not substantially swayed by the error, it is impossible to conclude that substantial rights were not affected. The inquiry cannot be merely whether there was enough to support the result, apart from the phrase affected by the error. It is rather, even so, whether the error itself had substantial influence.' (Footnote and citation omitted). 118 Herrero alleges that he was prejudiced because the change in defense theories necessitated as a result of the newly discovered evidence raised questions in the jury's mind that could only be resolved through Herrero's testimony, and thus put Herrero in a position where he was impermissibly pressured to testify. We disagree with Herrero as his assertion falls far short of squaring with the facts in the record. Prior to hearing the fingerprint testimony, the court informed the jury, at Herrero's request, of the precise reason for the possible change that might take place in Herrero's theory of defense. Based upon our review of the record and, in particular, considering the court's timely, thorough and well tailored instruction, we disagree with Herrero's claim that the jury would have questions about any change in defense strategy. 119 Statements from Orlando Estevez concerning Herrero's role as a supplier of drugs to the conspiracy, together with both the direct and circumstantial evidence of drug transactions between Herrero and Estevez recounted in Elena Gonzalez' testimony and the fingerprint evidence, establish Herrero's active participation in the conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, based upon the presentation of more than sufficient evidence against Herrero combined with Herrero's failure to demonstrate prejudice, we hold that the admission of the fingerprint evidence following discovery problems did not substantially influence the jury's verdict and hold that the court properly exercised its discretion in determining that Herrero was not prejudiced as a result of inadequacies in discovery procedures and the reception of the expert fingerprint testimony. Thus, we are of the opinion that the court appropriately denied Herrero's motions to strike and its reception of the fingerprint testimony following the delivery of its instruction to the jury explaining the change in the anticipated testimony of the fingerprint expert was proper.