Opinion ID: 692303
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: False Exculpatory Statement

Text: 34 Duarte and Escobar challenge the district court's admission of a false exculpatory statement made by Keeper at his initial appearance before the magistrate judge. At this appearance, when asked if he understood the charges against him, Keeper replied, I don't even know three of these, pointing at Escobar, Duarte and Vizcarra. This evidence was admitted at trial against Keeper as a false exculpatory statement. The district court instructed the jury that they could only consider this evidence against Keeper. 35 Duarte and Escobar attempt to argue that this statement was made in violation of Keeper's Miranda rights. However, Keeper's Miranda rights are personal to him, and Duarte and Escobar have no standing to assert this alleged violation. Bellis v. United States, 417 U.S. 85, 89-90, 94 S.Ct. 2179, 2183-84, 40 L.Ed.2d 678 (1974); United States v. Fortna, 796 F.2d 724, 732 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 950, 107 S.Ct. 437, 93 L.Ed.2d 386 (1986). Duarte and Escobar also allege that use of this statement violated their Confrontation Clause rights under Bruton. 3 The government argues that Escobar and Duarte did not preserve this issue for appellate review because their objections at trial centered on the government's failure to provide timely discovery of this evidence. We need not belabor this point, however, because, assuming timely objection, the district court acted within its discretion in admitting this evidence. 36 It is well established that the admission in a joint trial of a nontestifying co-defendant's confession expressly implicating the defendant violate[s] the defendant's right under the Sixth Amendment to confront the witnesses against him, even if the trial court instructed the jury to consider the confession only against the co-defendant that had made the statement. United States v. Miller, 995 F.2d 865, 867 (8th Cir.) (citing Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 126, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 1622, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968)), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 618, 126 L.Ed.2d 583 (1993). Bruton is not applicable because the evidence that Escobar and Duarte object to is not inculpatory. Keeper's statement was used only to show that he was acquainted with Escobar and Duarte and he lied about this fact; this statement by itself does not implicate Escobar or Duarte in any wrongdoing. 37 Furthermore, even assuming that admission of this evidence violated Bruton, any resulting error was harmless. See United States v. Jones, 965 F.2d 1507, 1515 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 346, 121 L.Ed.2d 261 (1992). Abundant evidence was produced at trial showing Keeper's acquaintance with Escobar and Duarte: papers with Keeper's home telephone number were found on both Escobar and Duarte; Spivey and Coleman testified that Escobar and Keeper were together at Coleman's apartment on at least one occasion; and Vizcarra testified extensively to the operations of the conspiracy and the relationship between Escobar, Duarte and Keeper.