Opinion ID: 204139
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sixth Amendment Right to Testify

Text: Merlino challenges the district court's denial of his motion for a new trial based on his assertion that he was denied his right to testify at trial. [2] We review the denial of a motion for a new trial for abuse of discretion, United States v. Lnu, 544 F.3d 361, 369 (1st Cir.2008), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1379, 173 L.Ed.2d 633 (2009), reviewing the district court's factual findings for clear error, id. There is no doubt that a defendant has a `fundamental constitutional' right to testify in his own defense, Owens v. United States, 483 F.3d 48, 58 (1st Cir.2007) (quoting Rock v. Arkansas, 483 U.S. 44, 53 n. 10, 107 S.Ct. 2704, 97 L.Ed.2d 37 (1987)), and that the defendant, not his attorney, is the one who makes the ultimate decision whether to testify or not, id. (noting that a defendant's attorney cannot waive the defendant's right to testify). The district court held an evidentiary hearing to address Merlino's motion for a new trial. Peter Parker, Merlino's trial counsel, testified at the hearing that although he had agreed at the beginning of trial to call Merlino to the stand, his trial strategy changed based on the way the evidence had come in, and he then attempted to convince Merlino not to testify. During a heated blowout that occurred on one of the days of trial in the lock-up area of the courthouse, Parker and Merlino disagreed about whether to call Romano's ex-wife as part of his defense and about whether to cross examine FBI Agent Nadolski. According to Attorney Parker, Merlino finally agreed not to take the stand if Parker would ask specific questions of the FBI agents on cross-examination, which Parker did. Parker testified that Merlino made the final decision not to testify and that if Merlino would have insisted, Parker would have put him on the stand. Merlino testified at the hearing that Parker had agreed all along that Merlino would testify as part of their trial strategy and that Merlino did not know that he would not be called to testify until Parker rested his case without calling him. Merlino claimed that he did not bring his desire to testify to the court's attention because he did not know he had the right to do so. Merlino recounted a blowout similar to the one testified to by Parker, but he recalled that it took place after Parker rested the case without calling Merlino to testify, which, according to Merlino, was the subject of the blowout. In an affidavit filed in support of his motion for a new trial, Merlino stated that he and Parker had had a heated argument about Parker's refusal to cross examine the two FBI agents, and he recounted in the affidavit another violent argument about Parker's refusal to call Romano's ex-wife. Merlino never mentioned in his affidavit that he and Parker had argued about Parker's refusal to call him to the stand. After hearing all the evidence, the district court found that Parker's testimony was more credible and that Merlino in fact made the final decision not to testify. Where a district court's factual findings are based on credibility determinations[,]. . . `error is seldom considered clear unless the credibility assessments were based on testimony which was inherently implausible, internally inconsistent, or critically impeached.' Awon v. United States, 308 F.3d 133, 141 (1st Cir.2002) (internal citation omitted) (quoting Keller v. United States, 38 F.3d 16, 25 (1st Cir.1994)). After review, we conclude that the district court's determination that Merlino made the decision not to testify was not clearly erroneous. See Lnu, 544 F.3d at 369-70 (denying a motion for new trial based on alleged denial of defendant's right to testify where the district court's findings were made after a full hearing).