Opinion ID: 196263
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Remarks During Closing Arguments.

Text: 54 Pagan-San-Miguel argues that certain remarks made during the closing arguments were unduly prejudicial. He points to four remarks, one made by the attorney for Pava-Buelba and three made by the government. None provides a basis for reversal. 55 Pava-Buelba's attorney, in an apparent effort to distinguish his client and to distinguish the firearms charges from the drug charges, made the following remarks to the jury:I ask you to please keep in mind that the fact that there are a number of defendants here [does] not mean that they were all to be treated as one. And the fact that they were being charged with five different counts does not mean that you had to find them guilty or innocent or all the same, but that you could choose and pick. And that you could discern among the evidence and determine which, if any, were guilty of any of the counts charged. 56 Some might be guilty of one or more. Some might be guilty of none. And I ask you to please be careful watching the evidence so that you will be able to distinguish between each and every individual and each and every count. 57 Pagan-San-Miguel objected to these remarks, arguing they implied that Pava-Buelba was guilty of the drug offenses and thus implicated the other defendants. The district court sustained the objection. Pagan-San-Miguel's later motion for a mistrial was denied, but the court offered to provide a curative instruction, which all defendants declined. Pagan-San-Miguel argues that a curative instruction would have been pointless and that the district court abused its discretion in refusing to grant a new trial. 58 Fatal to Pagan-San-Miguel's claim, however, is that to require a new trial, we must conclude ... that, despite the instruction, the misconduct was likely to have affected the trial's outcome. United States v. Capone, 683 F.2d 582, 585-86 (1st Cir.1982) (internal citations omitted). In the context of the full record, these statements could not have had any impact on the outcome of the trial. The evidence of Pagan-San-Miguel's complicity on the drug counts was overwhelming. Moreover, a curative instruction would have solved any spillover problem created by the statements. 59 Pagan-San-Miguel also challenges the government's statement that Carlos Pagan-San-Miguel can't deny his association with [Fontalvo], that terrible, terrible person that was described to you. Pagan-San-Miguel argues this was an impermissible comment from a prosecutor on an accused's failure to testify. We think it was not. The government did not say that Pagan-San-Miguel didn't deny his association, only that he can't deny his association. Even assuming that this comment cut too close to the line, there is no reason to conclude that the prosecutor intentionally drew attention to the appellant's silence at trial. United States v. Taylor, 54 F.3d 967, 980 (1st Cir.1995). And the evidence was otherwise so overwhelming that this comment could have had no effect on the jury's judgment. Id. at 977. 60 Pagan-San-Miguel's next two challenges are to the government's statements that the firearm found under the jeep would be used to protect the very cocaine that was being illegally smuggled into Puerto Rico and that Carlos Pagan-San-Miguel bragged about having bought the firearms. Pagan-San-Miguel argues that the first was misleading in that it suggested that the jury could convict the defendant for planning on using the firearm once it had arrived in Puerto Rico, an offense not charged in the indictment. Pagan-San-Miguel's reading is strained, at best. The first statement was consistent with the evidence and the government's theory. There is no plausible argument that this statement was likely to have affected the outcome of the trial or was so egregious that a new trial is needed as a sanction. See Capone, 683 F.2d at 587. While the second statement appears to have exaggerated the evidence, there was no objection and it does not amount to plain error. See Taylor, 54 F.3d at 977. 61