Opinion ID: 2972404
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior Incarceration References

Text: Penson contends that the district court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial based on statements by Davis and Spano during trial which alluded to Penson’s prior incarceration. We review a district court’s evidentiary rulings, along with a district court’s denial of a motion for a mistrial, for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Humphrey, 279 F.3d 372, 376 (6th Cir. 2002); United States v. Parker, 997 F.2d 219, 221 (6th Cir. 1993). “The scope of this discretion has been broadly construed, and the trial court's actions are to be sustained unless manifestly erroneous.” Humphrey, 279 F.3d at 376 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 7 The government may not introduce evidence of a defendant’s prior convictions where the defendant does not testify at trial and the defendant’s character is not otherwise at issue. United States v. Terry, 729 F.2d 1063, 1070 (6th Cir. 1984). Therefore, it was erroneous for Davis and Spano to make statements which may have informed the jury of Penson’s prior criminal history. We must determine, however, not only whether the admission of the statements was erroneous, but more importantly whether the district court abused its discretion by denying defense counsel’s motion for a mistrial. See id. (noting that we must “review the record as a whole and determine whether the[] errors so adversely affected the rights of the defendants as to compel reversal. If not then we must determine whether the exercise of our supervisory powers require[s], as matter of sound judicial administration, the deterrent therapy of a new trial.”). In this case, we believe that the references made by Davis and Spano to Penson’s past incarceration constituted harmless errors and thus did not require the district court to grant defense counsel’s motion for mistrial. These statements were not intentionally elicited by the prosecutor, but were instead inadvertent slips by two legally unsophisticated witnesses. Additionally, none of the three statements informed the jury of the nature of Penson’s criminal history. The statements only made the jury aware that Penson had been incarcerated in the past. The jury was not made aware of the fact that Penson had been convicted previously of bank robbery. The district court also offered to provide a curative instruction to jury as to the statements, but defense counsel did not accept this offer. More importantly, even without these statements, the evidence against Penson was, as Penson concedes in his brief, “overwhelming.” Appellant Br. at 31. At trial, the government introduced into evidence, inter alia,: (1) Penson’s confession to all three bank robberies; (2) the 8 money and automobiles recovered from Penson’s residence that were linked to the robberies; (3) eyewitness testimony of Penson’s nieces and girlfriend who assisted Penson in the robberies; and (4) eyewitness testimony of others who observed the robberies. Consequently, the evidence properly introduced by the prosecution leaves little doubt as to Penson’s guilt. Under the circumstances of this case, we therefore conclude that the witnesses’ statements alluding to Penson’s prior criminal history were harmless error and it was not an abuse of discretion for the district court to deny Penson’s motion for a mistrial.