Opinion ID: 793659
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Quattrone's Challenges to the District Court's Limits on His Testimony

Text: 108 Quattrone also challenges several rulings by the district court. Because many of the issues raised are likely to be revisited on retrial, we think it prudent to address them now rather than to sit silent and await another appeal. Quattrone challenges limits placed on his testimony during direct and cross-examination by the district court, arguing that its repeated interference with his testimony crossed the line beyond legitimate trial management and deprived him of a fair trial by unduly interfering with the defense's case and denying him the right to testify on his own behalf. Appellant Br. 53-60. He also argues that the district court erred in sustaining objections to questions posed on direct when those questions were not objectionable. 30 Appellant Br. 53-55. He also forcefully presses that the district court's sua sponte direction that he respond to certain questions with either a yes or no answer was prejudicial error when coupled with the government's contention on summation that he was evasive in answering those questions. See J.A. 451-53 (Tr.2001-09). 109 The government responds that the district court's limitations on Quattrone's direct testimony were permissible, because the testimony excluded was objectionable as leading or argumentative. In response to Quattrone's argument related to the restriction on his cross-examination testimony, the government argues that the sua sponte limitation was entirely appropriate because the district court judge had the benefit of observing Quattrone's evasiveness at the first trial. Moreover, when Quattrone expressed an inability to answer a question with a yes or no, the prosecutor rephrased the question posed or offered Quattrone the opportunity to explain. Appellee Br. 88. The government contends that there was nothing unfair or inappropriate about referring to Quattrone's alleged evasiveness in arguing to the jury that it could draw only one conclusion from that evasiveness — that Quattrone was not credible. Appellee Br. 89. 110 Defendants have the right to a fair trial, which necessarily includes the right to testify on their own behalf. See generally Rock v. Arkansas, 483 U.S. 44, 107 S.Ct. 2704, 97 L.Ed.2d 37 (1987). In this Circuit, a defendant's right to a fair trial is infringed when a judge's questions and comments convey to the jury that the judge disbelieves the defendant's testimony. See United States v. Filani, 74 F.3d 378, 385 (2d Cir.1996). Trial judges, however, are given discretion to manage trials so that evidence is effectively presented, see FED. R. EVID. 611(a), and a trial judge may actively participate and give its own impressions of the evidence or question witnesses, as an aid to the jury, so long as it does not step across the line and become an advocate for one side. Filani, 74 F.3d at 385. 111 The trial-management authority entrusted to district courts includes the discretion to place reasonable limits on the presentation of evidence. United States v. Ford, 88 F.3d 1350, 1362 (4th Cir.1996) (citing United States v. Hassan El, 5 F.3d 726, 731 (4th Cir.1993)). The exercise of that discretion, however, must remain tethered in some way to the facts and circumstances of the case presented. Accordingly, when confronted with an evasive witness, trial judges must be careful to safeguard the witness's ability to answer questions, particularly in the case of a criminal defendant-witness. In such cases a trial judge should allow for complete answers by a defendant, whether during cross-examination or during redirect. 112 When faced with the competing interests of effective cross-examination and a criminal defendant's right to testify fully, trial courts provide an essential balancing function: Accommodating conflicts between the defendant's interest in testifying and the need to [e]nsure truth through cross-examination is one of the trial judge's most important functions. Just as the judge necessarily has discretion to control the form and scope of cross-examination, so he must have discretion to order a witness to answer a proper question. United States v. Panza, 612 F.2d 432, 438-39 (9th Cir.1980) (affirming decision striking defendant's direct testimony where he refused to answer questions posed on cross-examination). 113 We have reviewed all of defendant's contentions carefully. We see no need to parse them out at this time as a new trial before a different judge is the end result. We are confident that the new judge will exercise the appropriate discretion in balancing the competing interests of an orderly presentation of evidence and defendant's right to raise a defense. 114