Opinion ID: 672854
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claim by William Guzman

Text: 35 William Guzman raises one issue on appeal. He contends that the district court applied the wrong legal standard in deciding that, should Guzman testify, the government would be allowed to cross-examine him about a 1986 conviction for a 1977 sale of cocaine. 1 36 Guzman claims that the judge made this ruling erroneously believing that the rules of evidence created a presumption in favor of admitting the prior conviction. The governing Rule 609, Fed.R.Evid., 2 provides that such a conviction may be admitted to impeach the defendant's testimony if the probative value of admitting [the conviction] outweighs its prejudicial effect to the accused.... The rule, in other words, requires a balancing and asserts no preference either in favor of, or against, receipt of the impeaching conviction. Guzman bases his claim on the fact that in making his ruling on Guzman's application to exclude the prior conviction from the government's cross-examination, the trial judge said: 37 I frankly spent a lot of time over the weekend on this and searching about backwards and forwards, and I even consulted with one of the most experienced judges in the court because it is difficult. But that judge's view is that the rule is the rule, and that there has to be a good reason to depart from it. 38 In other words, there is a presumption in favor of the rule, and under those circumstances, I feel that [the conviction] can be elicited on cross. 39 Guzman contends that when the trial judge spoke of a presumption in favor of the rule, he meant, contrary to the true terms of the rule, that there is a presumption in favor of admitting the evidence. 40 Although we do not know precisely what the trial judge meant by his comment, we find no reason to assume that he meant something inconsistent with the governing rule. This is all the more true where the judge had just devoted much of the weekend to studying the rule in relation to the problem before him. And where the judge spoke explicitly of the presumption in favor of following the rule, it would be perverse to interpret his comment to mean something different. Perhaps the judge's meaning was that he was reluctant to admit a conviction for a criminal act committed 16 years earlier, but was required to do so if he followed the balancing test prescribed by the rule. Perhaps he meant that although this 1986 conviction was well within the 10-year period as to which the test of admissibility is simply whether probative value outweighs prejudicial effect, the criminal conduct on which it was based was more than 10 years old, raising the question whether, in spite of the rule, admissibility should be governed by the more demanding test for older convictions set forth in Rule 609(b) (probative value ... substantially outweighs ... prejudicial effect). Whether these or other concerns arose in the judge's mind, he cannot be faulted for following a presumption in favor of the rule.C. Claims by Michael Virella 41 Michael Virella's claims include challenges to the sufficiency of evidence supporting his conviction and to certain evidentiary rulings.
42 Virella renews an argument, made to the district court in a post-trial motion, that the evidence was insufficient to convict him. We agree with the district court's rejection of this claim. The Government introduced sufficient circumstantial evidence that Virella was one of those referred to by Vegas as his Pakistani suppliers. As noted above, the evidence showed connections between Virella and Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan). On February 3rd, Vegas alerted Almonte that the Pakistanis had arrived from overseas; on that same date, Virella travelled to New York from London under a false identity with his Bangladeshi roommate. On the day of the drug deal, Virella was observed first entering a parked car in front of the building, then going into the building, leaving his brother in the car. Almonte then received a call from Vegas saying the suppliers had arrived with the heroin. Once Almonte was in Vegas's apartment, Vegas told him that one of the Pakistanis was in another room on the same floor with Guzman and the heroin, while the other was outside in a car. When agents went to Vegas's apartment immediately after arresting Vegas downstairs, they found Virella and Guzman in the only other room on the same floor. 43 A few days previously, Vegas had told Almonte that his Pakistani source was then in France; Virella's address book showed many Parisian addresses. Vegas also said his supplier was a chemist; Virella's papers included chemical notations and he offered evidence furthermore that he was a student of chemistry. 44 Virella's principal complaints against the sufficiency of the evidence are (a) that the Government's own evidence showed he is a United States citizen, not a Pakistani, (b) some aspects of Vegas's description of his sources did not conform to evidence introduced about Virella, and (c) the Government's case relied on statements made by Vegas, who had proved himself the source of unreliable and contradictory information. 45 Given the substantial circumstantial evidence that Virella was involved in the crimes charged, we find that this attack falls far short of meeting the demanding standard for overturning the jury's determination of Virella's guilt. See United States v. Roldan-Zapata, 916 F.2d 795, 802 (2d Cir.1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 940, 111 S.Ct. 1397, 113 L.Ed.2d 453 (1991) (convictions are to be upheld if any rational trier of fact could have found essential elements of crime beyond reasonable doubt). We find that there was sufficient evidence to support Virella's conviction.
46 Virella challenges the district court's rulings admitting evidence designed to show that Virella was one of the Pakistanis referred to by Vegas as his suppliers. The evidence in question showed that Virella had numerous connections with Bangladesh. The Government offered proof that Bangladesh was formerly known as East Pakistan, and that Bangladeshis are sometimes referred to as Pakistanis. We find no reason to upset the district court's judgment that this evidence was relevant and of greater probative value than prejudicial effect, of which we perceive none. 47 Nor do we see any merit in Virella's objection to the introduction of his address book. It contained addresses in Paris (and other international locations), as well as notations about chemistry. This was relevant by reason of Vegas's comments that his suppliers had been in France shortly before the heroin was delivered, and that one of his suppliers was a chemist. The introduction of the address book containing these circumstantially probative notations is clearly distinguishable from United States v. Afjehei, 869 F.2d 670, 674-75 (2d Cir.1989), where we held that evidence of a defendant's prior foreign travel was inadmissible as proof that he was a sophisticated traveler who would not have unwittingly carried a suitcase of drugs into the country. 48 Virella also challenges two rulings on the admissibility of out-of-court statements made by Vegas. His first argument concerns two post-arrest statements. The first statement, made during a proffer session, was that Carrero was the source of the heroin. The second statement, made during a pretrial conference before District Court Judge Kram, was, I know who gave me the drugs and who didn't give me the drugs. They [referring to Virella and Guzman] didn't give me the drugs. 49 Virella asked the district judge to admit these as statements against penal interest under Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(3), which would make them admissible to prove the truth of the matter stated. The district court instead admitted the statements under Federal Rule of Evidence 806, as impeachment of Vegas, but not for the truth of the matter stated under Rule 804. 50 We see no error in the district court's ruling that the portions of Vegas's statements which tended to exonerate Virella were not admissible under Rule 804. Regardless whether other portions of Vegas's statements were against his penal interest, the part by which Vegas sought to exonerate Virella and Guzman was not; moreover, this statement bore no other indicia of reliability, as required by Rule 804(b)(3). 51 Virella also contends that the district court wrongly admitted testimony given by Vegas in his trial, in which Vegas contradicted himself concerning his knowledge of the quarter kilogram of heroin recovered from his apartment on the day of the arrest. At that point in the trial, Virella had already offered Vegas's post-arrest denials that Virella was his source. The Government used Vegas's self-contradictory and obviously unreliable trial testimony to impeach the denials on which Virella relied, by showing the jury that, following his arrest, Vegas's statements were calculatedly misleading. 52 Contrary to Virella's argument, this is perfectly consistent with Rule 806, which provides in pertinent part: 53 When a hearsay statement ... has been admitted in evidence, the credibility of the declarant may be attacked.... 54 Vegas's hearsay statements exonerating Virella had been admitted in evidence. Accordingly the Government was entitled under the rule to attack Vegas's credibility. It did so by the offer of his trial testimony. Nothing about Rule 806, or any other rule, bars the Government from supporting a declarant's credibility as to some of his statements and attacking it as to others. D. Other points 55 We have considered the other points advanced by the appellants and find they are without merit. E. Government's appeal of Guzman's sentence 56 The Government appeals the district court's decision not to impose a two point enhancement for obstruction of justice when it determined the sentence of William Guzman. The Government requested this enhancement under Sentencing Guideline Sec. 3C1.1. The Government argues that because Guzman's innocent explanation for his presence in Vegas's apartment at the time of the drug deal was clearly rejected by the jury verdict of guilty, the district court was obligated to make a finding as to whether Guzman had committed perjury, and if so, to enhance his sentence accordingly. 57 The Government reads United States v. Dunnigan, --- U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 1111, 1119, 122 L.Ed.2d 445 (1993), and United States v. Shonubi, 998 F.2d 84, 87-88 (2d Cir.1993), to require that the district court make findings to justify its decision not to impose this enhancement. Those cases impose no such obligation. The central holding of Dunnigan is that enhancement of a sentence under Sec. 3C1.1 does not unconstitutionally burden a defendant's right to testify. --- U.S. at ---- - ----, 113 S.Ct. at 1117-18. Dunnigan does not say that every time a defendant is found guilty despite his exculpatory testimony, the court must hold a hearing to determine whether or not the defendant committed perjury. On the contrary, that opinion clearly states that when the court wishes to impose the enhancement over the defendant's objection, the court must review the evidence and make independent findings necessary to establish a willful impediment to or obstruction of justice, or an attempt to do the same, under the perjury definition we have set out. --- U.S. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 1117. Dunnigan does not suggest that the court make findings to support its decision against the enhancement. 58 Nor does Shonubi support the Government's position. There, we held that where the sentencing court had found that the defendant willfully lied in his testimony, the court was required to apply the obstruction of justice sentencing enhancement. 998 F.2d at 87-88. Here, the district court made no such finding. While on the one hand, the judge said, I am certainly not finding it wasn't a perjury, he later stated that, despite doubts, he didn't find that the testimony was lacking on its face in accuracy or believability. The judge apparently concluded that the evidence of perjury was not sufficiently clear to determine whether perjury had or had not been committed. In these circumstances, Shonubi does not require the imposition of additional penalty for obstruction of justice.