Opinion ID: 739316
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Manges

Text: 77 Manges claims that he was prejudiced in several ways by the district court's refusal to grant a severance. First, Manges claims that he was denied the exculpatory testimony of Shanklin and Myers because, as co-defendants, they exercised their Fifth Amendment right not to testify. We do not agree. 78 Shanklin's pre-trial offer to testify on Manges' behalf was conditioned upon a demand that he be tried first, and thus was not unequivocal, as required by the fourth prong of the Broussard test. See United States v. Broussard, 80 F.3d 1025, 1037 (5th Cir.) (to establish prejudice from joint trial, defendant must show that co-defendant would in fact testify if severance were granted), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 264, 136 L.Ed.2d 189 (1996). 11 79 Second, Manges complains that the denial of his severance motion exposed the jury to prejudicial testimony that McLester had pleaded guilty in the alleged conspiracy. Counsel for Myers had indicated that he would seek to impeach McLester's credibility by eliciting the fact that he had pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentencing. The prosecution thus was allowed to elicit the information first. Manges contends that at a separate trial, he would not have proffered evidence of McLester's plea, and that consequently the prosecution would have been barred from doing so. 80 Although evidence of a co-conspirator's conviction is inadmissable as substantive proof of a defendant's guilt, it is admissible and commonly used for impeachment purposes. United States v. Leach, 918 F.2d 464, 467 & n. 4 (5th Cir.1990) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 501 U.S. 1207, 111 S.Ct. 2802, 115 L.Ed.2d 976 (1991). Leach recognized that the prosecution may elicit evidence of a co-conspirator's conviction to blunt[ ] the sword of anticipated impeachment by revealing the information first. Id. at 467 (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). See also United States v. Valley, 928 F.2d 130, 133 (5th Cir.1991). In this case, the district court cautioned the jury that the fact that McLester had pleaded guilty related solely to his credibility, and was not proof of any other defendant's guilt. The court did not abuse its discretion by giving this instruction instead of granting the more extreme remedy of severance. 81 We have reviewed Manges' remaining contentions with respect to his severance motion. We find them wholly meritless.