Opinion ID: 451648
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alisa Avery

Text: 10 As to Alisa Avery we reach a different conclusion. In Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968) the Supreme Court held that the admission of a non-testifying co-defendant's confession that implicated petitioner, a co-defendant, violated the petitioner's right of cross-examination secured by the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment. 391 U.S. at 126, 88 S.Ct. at 1622. The court reasoned that a jury cannot effectively disregard a confessor's extra judicial statement that his co-defendant participated with him in committing the crime. Id. As this circuit has recognized, the admission of an out-of-court statement admissible only against one non-testifying co-defendant that implicates another co-defendant can present the compelling prejudice that requires a severance, regardless of whether the trial court gives a limiting instruction. United States v. Astling, 733 F.2d 1446, 1454 (11th Cir.1984). We find such compelling prejudice here. 6 11 The district court here did redact portions of the grand jury transcript that it considered prejudicial. However, one very significant statement by Arthur Avery was presented to the jury. When he testified before the grand jury the following colloquy took place: 12 Q. But your daughter did admit to you that she had gotten the dope to give to those people-- 13 A. [Arthur Avery] Yes, sir. 14 Q. --to sell to those people; is that correct? 15 A. [Arthur Avery] Yes, sir. 16 Clearly, a father's statement that his daughter had admitted to him that she had sold drugs and obtained drugs to sell to people, under the circumstances of this case provides specific and compelling prejudice to warrant a severance. The appropriateness of a severance in this case was highlighted by the fact that the district court had already severed one of the perjury counts. It would have not have been an undue burden on the government to prosecute both perjury counts together. This would have given appellant Alisa Avery safeguards and protected her from the prejudice caused by her father's grand jury statement. 7 17 Furthermore, we cannot conclude that the admission of this grand jury testimony was harmless error. The essence of the government's case was the testimony of Tracy Winn. Her testimony was corroborated in part by Pete Schneider and also by documentary evidence that verified specific parts of her testimony concerning travel to different locations to distribute cocaine. Due to the fact that the credibility of Winn and Schneider was the key element in this trial and the fact that Winn was an accomplice, we find that the evidence of guilt was not so overwhelming as to render the Bruton violation harmless error. This is especially true in light of the fact that it was Alisa Avery's father who made the statement that his daughter had admitted to him that she was the source of cocaine. Therefore, Alisa Avery's conviction must be reversed.