Opinion ID: 789452
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Admission of Johnson's Proffer Statements

Text: 29 Johnson asserts that the admission of his proffer statements into evidence violated Rule 410 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. That rule states, in pertinent part: 30 Except as otherwise provided in this rule, evidence of the following is not, in any civil or criminal proceeding, admissible against the defendant who made the plea or was a participant in the plea discussions: 31
32
33 (3) any statement made in the course of any proceedings under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure or comparable state procedure regarding either of the foregoing pleas; or 34 (4) any statement made in the course of plea discussions with an attorney for the prosecuting authority which do not result in a plea of guilty or which result in a plea of guilty later withdrawn. 35 Fed.R.Evid. 410 (emphasis added); see also Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(f) (The admissibility or inadmissibility of a plea, a plea discussion, and any related statement is governed by Federal Rule of Evidence 410.). The underlying purpose of Rule 410 is to promote plea negotiations by permitting defendants to talk to prosecutors without sacrificing their ability to defend themselves if no disposition agreement is reached. See Fed.R.Evid. 410 Advisory Committee's Note (1972). Statements made by defendants in proffer sessions are covered by Rule 410. See United States v. Velez, 354 F.3d 190, 194 (2d Cir.2004). 36 Because Rule 410 is an exception to the general principle that all relevant evidence is admissible at trial, see Fed.R.Evid. 402, its limitations are not to be read broadly, see United States v. Griffith, 385 F.3d 124, 126 (2d Cir.2004) (narrowly construing 18 U.S.C. § 3153, which limits admissibility of defendant's statements to pretrial-services officer). Moreover, its protections are waivable. See United States v. Mezzanatto, 513 U.S. 196, 205, 210, 115 S.Ct. 797, 130 L.Ed.2d 697 (1995) (holding that Rule 410, in effect, creates `a privilege of the defendant,' and, like other evidentiary privileges, this one may be waived or varied at the defendant's request (quoting 2 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence ¶ 410[05], at 410-43 (1994))); accord United States v. Velez, 354 F.3d at 195 (approving broad waiver similar to the one here at issue); United States v. Rebbe, 314 F.3d 402, 407 (9th Cir.2002); United States v. Krilich, 159 F.3d 1020, 1024-25 (7th Cir.1998). Because Johnson conditionally waived the protections of Rule 410 in his proffer agreement, our focus on this appeal is on the construction of that waiver.
37 The waiver provision here at issue permits the government to use Johnson's proffer statements to rebut any evidence offered or elicited, or factual assertions made, by or on behalf of [him] at any stage of a criminal prosecution. Johnson does not challenge the validity of this proffer agreement waiver. See United States v. Mezzanatto, 513 U.S. at 210, 115 S.Ct. 797 (holding that absent some affirmative indication that the agreement was entered into unknowingly or involuntarily, an agreement to waive the exclusionionary provisions of [Rule 410] is valid and enforceable); accord United States v. Velez, 354 F.3d at 196 (holding that waiver of Rule 410 protection does not violate defendant's right to present a defense, to the assistance of counsel, or to a fair trial, because a defendant remains free to present evidence inconsistent with his proffer statements, with the fair consequence that, if he does, `the Government [is] then... permitted to present the defendant's own words in rebuttal' (quoting United States v. Gomez, 210 F.Supp.2d 465, 476 (S.D.N.Y.2002))). Nor does he complain because his proffer statements were admitted in the government's case-in-chief rather than in its rebuttal case. See United States v. Mezzanatto, 513 U.S. at 211, 115 S.Ct. 797 (Ginsburg, J., concurring, with O'Connor and Breyer, JJ.) (questioning whether use of proffer statements in government's case-in-chief might more severely undermine a defendant's incentive to negotiate, and thereby inhibit plea bargaining). 7 Instead, Johnson submits that the district court erred in concluding that his counsel's trial conduct triggered the waiver clause of his proffer agreement. He insists that only a specific or direct contradiction between his proffer statement and an assertion by counsel has this effect. See Appellant's Reply Br. at 7. We disagree. 38 In considering Johnson's argument, we engage in a two-part analysis. We first look at the terms of his proffer agreement waiver to see if it is fairly construed as narrowly as Johnson urges. The agreement is, after all, a contract that must be interpreted to give effect to the intent of the parties. See United States v. Liranzo, 944 F.2d 73, 77 (2d Cir.1991) (internal quotation marks omitted). Because the interpretation of a contract is generally a question of law, we review this first issue de novo. Id.; accord Rubens v. Mason, 387 F.3d 183, 188 (2d Cir.2004). If we conclude that the proffer agreement waiver does apply in this case, our second step is to review for abuse of discretion the district court's evidentiary rulings admitting particular parts of Johnson's proffer statements, see Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 174 n. 1, 117 S.Ct. 644, 136 L.Ed.2d 574 (1997); accord United States v. Schultz, 333 F.3d 393, 415 (2d Cir.2003), cert. denied, 540 U.S. 1106, 124 S.Ct. 1051, 157 L.Ed.2d 891 (2004), and we will not reverse unless an error affects a substantial right, Fed.R.Evid. 103(a). An evidentiary error affects substantial rights only if we conclude that it had a substantial and injurious effect or influence on the jury's verdict. United States v. Dukagjini, 326 F.3d 45, 61-62 (2d Cir.2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). 39 a. The Proffer Agreement Waiver Is Not Limited to Direct Contradictions but Extends to Any Proffer Statement that Fairly Rebuts a Factual Assertion Made on Johnson's Behalf 40 Where the language of a contract is unambiguous, the parties' intent is discerned from the four corners of their agreement. United States v. Liranzo, 944 F.2d at 77 (and cases cited therein); accord Eternity Global Master Fund Ltd. v. Morgan Guar. Trust Co. of N.Y., 375 F.3d 168, 177 (2d Cir.2004). The proffer agreement here at issue uses unambiguous language to identify (1) the conduct that can trigger waiver: the offer of any evidence ... or factual assertions made, by or on behalf of [Johnson]; (2) the purpose for which the waiver permits use of proffer statements: to rebut; and (3) the proceedings at which the waiver is applicable: any stage of a criminal prosecution. Because Johnson's argument does not depend on the last phrase, we focus our discussion on the first two.
41 The waiver's triggering language unambiguously expresses the parties' intent to create an expansive waiver, applying to any evidence, whether offered directly or elicited on cross-examination. See generally Department of Hous. & Urban Dev. v. Rucker, 535 U.S. 125, 131, 122 S.Ct. 1230, 152 L.Ed.2d 258 (2002) (noting that when used in a statute, `the word any has an expansive meaning' (quoting United States v. Gonzales, 520 U.S. 1, 5, 117 S.Ct. 1032, 137 L.Ed.2d 132 (1997))). Further indicative of the parties' expansive intent is their extension of the waiver beyond formally admitted evidence to any ... factual assertions made by Johnson or on his behalf at any stage of the prosecution. See Collazos v. United States, 368 F.3d 190, 199 (2d Cir.2004) ([W]hen, as here, the two words at issue are connected by `or' rather than `and,' and when no commas set off the second word to suggest that it stands in apposition to the first, we construe the disjunctive words to convey different meanings.). Factual assertions made by a defendant's counsel in an opening argument or on cross-examination plainly fall within this broad language. 8 42 The mere fact that a defendant pleads not guilty and stands trial is not a factual assertion that triggers the proffer agreement waiver, and the government certainly does not contend otherwise. See United States v. Krilich, 159 F.3d at 1025. Nor are defense arguments that attempt to demonstrate why the facts put in evidence by the prosecution are insufficient to permit the jury to find the elements of the crime proved. Thus, a defense argument that simply challenged the sufficiency of government proof on elements such as knowledge, intent, identity, etc., would not trigger the waiver here at issue. On the other hand, a statement of fact in a defense opening, such as the statement in this case unequivocally identifying Jamal Barrow as the real perpetrator of the charged crimes, does qualify as a factual assertion within the four corners of the waiver provision. Thus, we conclude that the waiver's factual assertion requirement was satisfied in this case. 43 We note, however, that such a conclusion may not be reached so easily when counsel's arguments or questions assert facts implicitly rather than directly. For example, a cross-examination question challenging a witness's perception or recollection of an event does not necessarily imply that the event did not occur, only that the witness may not have seen or reported it accurately. On the other hand, a question accusing a witness of fabricating an event, such as counsel in this case put to Det. Campana with respect to the April 19, 2001 meeting with the confidential informant, does implicitly assert that no such meeting ever took place. Thus, when confronted with a government argument that a defense opening or cross-examination implicitly satisfies the factual assertion requirement for waiver, a district court may well have to consider carefully what fact, if any, has actually been implied to the jury before deciding whether proffer statements fairly rebut it. 44 We further note that even when a district court is satisfied that a factual assertion triggering a Rule 410 waiver has been made, whether directly or implicitly, that conclusion does not mandate receipt of the proffer statements in evidence. A waiver agreement between the parties does not divest a district court of its considerable discretion to exclude relevant evidence that may inject unfair prejudice or confusion into the jury's resolution of the issues in dispute. Fed.R.Evid. 403; see, e.g., United States v. Flaharty, 295 F.3d 182, 190-91 (2d Cir.2002). Thus a court may well view a factual assertion made by counsel at sentencing, where parties frequently proceed by proffer, see, e.g., United States v. Dillon, 351 F.3d 1315, 1317 (10th Cir.2003); United States v. Mayberry, 272 F.3d 945, 948 (7th Cir.2001); United States v. Marmolejo, 139 F.3d 528, 531 (5th Cir.1998), differently from the same assertion made in an opening statement or a question to a trial witness. Counsels' questions and arguments at trial are not, after all, evidence, see United States v. Arboleda, 20 F.3d 58, 61 (2d Cir.1994); see also 4 Leonard B. Sand et al., Modern Federal Jury Instructions, Instruction 74-1 (2004) ([T]he question of a lawyer is not to be considered by you as evidence.... Arguments by lawyers are not evidence, because the lawyers are not witnesses.), and district courts may, in appropriate cases, decide to strike a question or argument, instructing the jury to ignore the factual assertion stated or implied, rather than admit defendant's proffer statements in rebuttal. The exercise of such discretion necessarily depends on the district court's unique insights into trial dynamics and into the impact the assertions at issue have had on the jury. For example, a district court might exercise its discretion to exclude proffer statements when it concludes that a factual assertion was inadvertently and only briefly interjected into the proceedings, and counsel agrees not to pursue the matter further. Cf. United States v. Sampson, 385 F.3d 183, 193 (2d Cir.2004) (A defendant may completely forestall the admission of other act evidence on the issue of intent by expressing a decision not to dispute that issue with sufficient clarity.... (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted)). 45 That, however, is not this case. The factual assertion implied by defense counsel's cross-examination — that the undercover officer had fabricated, in whole or in part, events underlying the April 19, 2001 charge — reinforced the unequivocal factual assertion in the opening statement that Jamal Barrow was the real perpetrator of the charged crimes. Under these circumstances, the district court had no reason to pursue alternatives to the introduction of the proffer statements. It properly concluded that Johnson's counsel had triggered the factual assertion requirement for waiver. 46
47 Where evidence has been adduced or the requisite factual assertions made, the waiver provision states that the single purpose for which the defendant's proffer statement may be used is to rebut. The word rebut has a common meaning, which is certainly well understood by trial courts and trial lawyers. To rebut means to contradict, meet, or oppose by formal legal argument, plea, or countervailing proof. Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged 1893 (1993). Black's Law Dictionary 1274 (7th ed.1999), defines the term as [t]o refute, oppose, or counteract (something) by evidence, argument, or contrary proof. 48 While direct contradiction certainly falls within the scope of these definitions, it is not the only means by which evidence or assertions may be refuted, opposed, or counteracted. As we observed in United States v. Hiss , what is within the scope of permissible contradiction is largely a matter of avoiding confusion of issues, and as such should be left to the discretion of the trial judge. 185 F.2d 822, 832 (2d Cir.1950). Indeed, precisely because rebuttal is necessarily a flexible concept and because trial judges are uniquely situated to assess the impact certain evidence or arguments have made on a jury, we are disinclined to overturn a district judge, who has determined — after watching a case unfold — that testimony properly rebuts an inference that a party's adversary has sought to make. United States v. Tejada, 956 F.2d 1256, 1267 (2d Cir.1992); accord United States v. Casamento, 887 F.2d 1141, 1171-72 (2d Cir.1989); see also FDIC v. Suna Assocs., Inc., 80 F.3d 681, 687-88 (2d Cir.1996). 49 Case law confirms that proper rebuttal is not limited to direct contradiction. In United States v. Casamento, a defendant testified that he worked as a precious stones broker, thereby implicitly ... den[ying] that he had any connection to [the charged] narcotics trafficking. 887 F.2d at 1172. To rebut this implication, the trial judge allowed the prosecution to offer evidence that defendant's name and telephone number had been found on a person from whom officers seized six kilograms of cocaine. Although the seized evidence did not directly contradict defendant's testimony as to his employment, we affirmed, ruling that linking the defendant to a drug trafficker who clearly was involved both in importing activities and drug trafficking, was proper rebuttal. Id. 50 Other cases similarly admit rebuttal evidence involving no direct contradiction. In United States v. Ruffin, 575 F.2d 346, 357 (2d Cir.1978), a tax evasion case, we affirmed the district court's decision to admit evidence showing that certain corporate expenditures had been used to buy defendant a mortgage. Although the evidence did not directly contradict any particular proof, we concluded that it did rebut directly Ruffin's defense of insubstantial tax liability. Id. at 357. In United States v. Bari, 750 F.2d 1169, 1180 (2d Cir.1984), we ruled that an opening statement suggesting that defendant's injuries rendered his charged attempted escape improbable opened the door to rebuttal evidence of a different — and, therefore, not directly contradictory — escape attempt defendant made while suffering from a different physical disability. In United States v. Khan, 787 F.2d 28, 34 (2d Cir.1986), a drug smuggling case in which defense counsel told the jury that it would hear no evidence of defendant' s wealth, we approved expert testimony about how inexpensively heroin could be purchased in Pakistan. Plainly, the evidence did not rebut the argument that defendant was not a wealthy man, but it did rebut the inference that a lack of means would have prevented him from committing the charged crime. Id. Finally, in United States v. Kusek, 844 F.2d 942, 948 (2d Cir.1988), another drug case, defense counsel opened by alluding to a large cash seizure from his client's home and stated that his client owned a restaurant that generated large sums of cash. 9 The district court concluded that this suggestion of a legitimate source for the money was properly rebutted with evidence of defendant's post-arrest disavowal of any knowledge of the seized cash, id., although the latter statement certainly did not disprove defendant's restaurant ownership. 51 This precedent demonstrates that rebuttal is hardly limited to evidence that directly contradicts what it opposes; rather, rebuttal encompasses any evidence that the trial judge concludes fairly counters and casts doubt on the truthfulness of factual assertions advanced, whether directly or implicitly, by an adversary. We must assume that when the parties in this case signed a proffer agreement with a waiver provision that used the word rebut, they intended that word to bear this commonly understood meaning. See Krumme v. WestPoint Stevens Inc., 238 F.3d 133, 140 (2d Cir.2000) (observing that the words and phrases used by the parties must, as in all cases involving contract interpretation, be given their plain meaning (internal quotation marks omitted)). Accordingly, we reject Johnson's argument that the district court was obliged to construe his waiver to apply only to proffer statements that directly contradicted his counsel's factual assertions. Once defense counsel's factual assertions in opening and cross-examination triggered the proffer agreement's waiver of Rule 410, the district court enjoyed the same broad discretion to admit Johnson's proffer statements that it would have with respect to any other rebuttal evidence. 52 b. The District Court's Admission of Johnson's Proffer Statements 53 Because we conclude that there was no legal error in the interpretation of the waiver agreement in this case, we review the district court's evidentiary rulings admitting particular proffer statements to rebut defense counsel's factual assertions only for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Schultz, 333 F.3d at 415; United States v. Tejada, 956 F.2d at 1267. 54 Focusing first on those statements received with respect to Johnson's crack dealing, we conclude that, even if Johnson's failure to reference dates in his proffer statements precludes a finding of direct contradiction between these statements and counsel's factual assertions, common sense nevertheless compels the conclusion that these proffer statements and the circumstances surrounding their making cast serious doubt on the truth of counsel's assertion that Jamal Barrow was the real perpetrator of the charged crimes and that Det. Campana fabricated the events of April 19, 2001. When Johnson voluntarily sat down for three proffer sessions with the federal authorities who were prosecuting him for crack trafficking, he knew the exact dates, places, and general circumstances pertaining to each charged sale. Under these circumstances, it is unlikely in the extreme that, when he admitted regular crack trafficking at the locations charged throughout the time charged, he was referring to sales other than those specified in the complaint and first superseding indictment. Certainly, at no time during the proffer sessions did Johnson ever state that his admissions pertained to dates other than those charged. Nor did he ever suggest that someone else was responsible for the charged crack sales. To the contrary, he attributed his arrest to events that paralleled those involved in the April 19, 2001 charge. 10 Moreover, although his proffer statement identifies a host of other persons involved in drug trafficking, he never mentioned Jamal Barrow. 11 Because the proffer statements thus fairly (and convincingly) cast doubt on the truthfulness of counsel's assertions that Jamal Barrow, and not Calvin Johnson, had committed each and every one of the charged crack crimes, and that the events of April 19, 2001, were fabricated by the undercover officer, we conclude that the district court acted well within its discretion in admitting Johnson's proffer statements to rebut counsel's factual assertions. 55 Johnson attempts to draw a distinction between prosecution questions eliciting what he actually said in his proffer statements and those eliciting what he did not say. We conclude that the district court acted within its discretion in allowing both. Omissions from Johnson's proffer statements enjoy no Fifth Amendment protection. Unlike an arrestee who has a right to remain silent and who has ordinarily been advised of this right, see Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 617-18, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91 (1976); United States v. Hale, 422 U.S. 171, 177, 95 S.Ct. 2133, 45 L.Ed.2d 99 (1975), Johnson voluntarily agreed to speak with government officials in pursuit of a possible cooperation agreement. He understood that the purpose of his proffer sessions was for him fully to disclose his own drug dealing as well as that of other persons known to him. Under these circumstances, a jury could fairly infer that the accused would be more likely than not to dispute an untrue accusation, United States v. Hale, 422 U.S. at 176, 95 S.Ct. 2133, and that Johnson's failure to disavow drug dealing on the charged dates, or to attribute those crimes to Jamal Barrow, could reasonably be understood as an admission to the charged crimes. In sum, what Johnson failed to say in the proffer sessions was properly received in evidence because it reinforced the conclusion that what he did say rebutted his attorney's trial assertions. See Anderson v. Charles, 447 U.S. 404, 408-09, 100 S.Ct. 2180, 65 L.Ed.2d 222 (1980) ( per curiam ) (holding that impeachment with prior inconsistent statements may highlight omission of certain facts from defendant's earlier version of events); United States v. Strother, 49 F.3d 869, 875 (2d Cir.1995) (holding that memorandum omitting fact to which witness testified at trial should have been admitted as an inconsistent statement because [i]t would have been `natural' for [the witness] to include the fact in the memorandum). 56 In testifying to Johnson's statements about crack trafficking, DEA Agent O'Connor volunteered that Johnson also admitted selling heroin, a statement not previously approved by the district court. Johnson objected at trial to all of the government's proffer statement evidence, but he did not then cite the heroin testimony as especially problematic. Nonetheless he points to this conduct on appeal as illustrative of prosecution over-reaching. The argument warrants little discussion. At trial, Johnson virtually conceded the charged heroin sale, seemingly ridiculing the prosecution for pursuing a trivial transaction, see Trial Tr. at 24 (The sale of heroin in total is 2.5 grains.... [W]e are not talking about grams or ounces but 2.5 grains is about the same amount as the grain of rice, maybe even less.). Thus, if Johnson's heroin admission should not have been elicited because there was no factual assertion to rebut, it also follows that this evidentiary error was harmless because it did not affect his substantial rights. See United States v. Dukagjini, 326 F.3d at 61-62. 57 In sum, we reject Johnson's argument that his proffer agreement waiver applied only to statements that directly contradicted his attorney's factual assertions in his opening statement and cross-examination. The waiver language is fairly construed to apply to any proffer statements that could fairly rebut those factual assertions, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting proffer statements relating to crack dealing for this purpose. To the extent a different conclusion may be warranted with respect to a proffer statement relating to heroin, any evidentiary error was harmless.