Opinion ID: 466309
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: use of white's civil deposition

Text: 18 White and Jenkins argue that their convictions should be reversed because the trial court improperly admitted deposition testimony that White gave in a civil action arising out of the same facts. The testimony was damaging because in it White acknowledged that Young American's financing arrangment with S & R constituted federal fraud.
19 White argues that use of this deposition violated his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination where, as here, he did not testify in his own behalf at his criminal trial. 20 This claim is frivolous. The fifth amendment privilege is not ordinarily self-executing and must be affirmatively claimed by a person whenever self-incrimination is threatened. Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. 420, 429, 104 S.Ct. 1136, 1143, 79 L.Ed.2d 409 (1984). An individual may lose the benefit of the privilege inadvertently, without a knowing and intelligent waiver. Garner v. United States, 424 U.S. 648, 654 n. 9, 96 S.Ct. 1178, 1182 n. 9, 47 L.Ed.2d 370 (1976). White did so when he gave his deposition. 21 White claims further that his deposition testimony was not voluntary. He argues that it was compelled because he was subpoenaed to appear. This argument is equally meritless. In Murphy, the Supreme Court made clear that an obligation to appear and testify truthfully does not constitute compulsion to give incriminating testimony. The privilege may still be asserted at the proceeding and must be to avoid waiver of the privilege. See Murphy, 465 U.S. at 427-28, 104 S.Ct. at 1142. 22 Because White's statements at the deposition were voluntary, they were clearly admissible against him as party admissions under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(A). See, e.g., United States v. O'Connor, 737 F.2d 814, 821 (9th Cir.1984), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 1198, 84 L.Ed.2d 343 (1985).
23 Jenkins asserts that the deposition testimony was powerfully incriminating as to him within the meaning of Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 135, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 1627, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968). Because White did not testify at the trial, Jenkins contends that he was denied his sixth amendment right of confrontation when the deposition testimony was admitted. Examination of White's testimony, however, shows that no portion of it directly implicated Jenkins, as required for a successful Bruton claim. Jenkins is never mentioned. It is only in the context of the other evidence of guilt presented by the government that the statements tend to implicate Jenkins in any way; even then, the reference to him is oblique. See United States v. Brooklier, 685 F.2d 1208, 1218 (9th Cir.1982) (per curiam), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1206, 103 S.Ct. 1194, 75 L.Ed.2d 439 (1983); see also United States v. Wright, 742 F.2d 1215, 1223 (9th Cir.1984); United States v. Burreson, 643 F.2d 1344, 1349 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 830 (1981). Because White's testimony did not directly implicate Jenkins, the Bruton claim fails.