Opinion ID: 160331
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Limitation on Cross-Examination of Officer Sedillo

Text: 13 Ms. Fuentez argues that the district court infringed on her Sixth Amendment right of confrontation in connection with her presentation of an entrapment defense when it refused her efforts to cross-examine Officer Sedillo regarding an internal affairs investigation. Apparently, on June 11, 1998, approximately three months after Ms. Fuentez's arrest, Officer Sedillo engaged in an unauthorized undercover drug operation. He admitted to making a false statement to his supervisor regarding the undercover operation and another officer offered to falsify that there was surveillance on the scene when none was present. The investigation resulted in Officer Sedillo's removal from narcotics assignments to uniformed patrol as a result of his lack of truthfulness and failure to observe department regulations. 14 The district court noted Ms. Fuentez's arguments that the evidence may be admissible under either Fed. R. Evid. 608 as a specific instance of conduct that might attack his credibility, or under Fed. R. Evid. 404(b) to demonstrate Officer Sedillo's propensity to lie and to therefore undermine his credibility. Relying on Fed. R. Evid. 403, the district court refused to allow Ms. Fuentez to ask any questions relating to the Internal Affairs investigation or the attempted deception. The court stated that such inquiry would detract from the proper focus of the charges, resulting in a trial within a trial. Aplt's App. at 15 (Memorandum Opinion Denying New Trial). The district court based its ruling primarily on the fact that the disciplinary action was on appeal at the time of trial and there was some controversy as to what exactly took place during the investigation. Ms. Fuentez claims this limitation on the scope of cross-examination infringed on her Sixth Amendment right of confrontation. 15 The complete denial of access to an area properly subject to cross-examination infringes on the Sixth Amendment right of confrontation, and constitutes reversible error. See United States v. Jorgenson, 451 F.2d 516, 519 (10th Cir. 1971). On the other hand, merely limiting the scope of cross-examination is a matter well within the trial judge's discretion and such an error will not lead to reversal unless an abuse of discretion, clearly prejudicial to the defendant, is shown. United States v. Valentine, 706 F.2d 282, 288 (10th Cir. 1983); see also United States v. Polk, 550 F.2d 1265, 1269 (10th Cir. 1977) (A complete denial of access to an area properly subject to cross-examination constitutes reversible error, but the extent of cross-examination is discretionary with the trial judge.). 16 The record reveals that Ms. Fuentez was not precluded from inquiring into an entire area of cross-examination, in this case, Officer Sedillo's credibility. The district court allowed Ms. Fuentez to cross-examine the officer on subjects relating to his credibility, including the extent of his relationship with Mr. Olguin (his confidential informant) and his failure to include a criminal complaint for automobile theft in the informant file. Thus, because Ms. Fuentez was allowed to attack Officer Sedillo's credibility, we review the district court's decision for an abuse of discretion. 17 Ms. Fuentez claims the evidence of Officer Sedillo's behavior during the internal affairs investigation was vital for an assessment of his credibility, as it demonstrated bias and a propensity to lie regarding drug investigations. She further argues that Officer Sedillo's testimony was critical to the Government's case, so she had a right to attack [his] credibility by wide-ranging cross-examination. United States v. Morales-Quinones, 812 F.2d 604, 613 (10th Cir. 1987). We agree that [d]efense counsel should ordinarily be given wide latitude when cross examining a witness about credibility or bias. United States v. DeSoto, 950 F.2d 626, 629 (10th Cir. 1991). The trial court, however, retains discretion to reasonably limit cross-examination . . . . Id. 18 The trial court noted [i]t is not at all clear either Rule 608 or Rule 404(b) would sanction the introduction of evidence of the internal affairs investigation and Officer Sedillo's misrepresentations to his supervisors. See Aplt's App. at 15. Rule 608 would have allowed a question regarding Officer Sedillo's current status with the narcotics division to be asked, but it would have also prevented Ms. Fuentez from introducing extrinsic evidence of Officer Sedillo's alleged dishonesty. As the Advisory Committee Notes state: 19 (2) Particular instances of conduct, though not the subject of criminal conviction, may be inquired into on cross-examination of the principal witness himself or of a witness who testifies concerning his character for truthfulness. Effective cross-examination demands that some allowance be made for going into matters of this kind, but the possibilities of abuse are substantial. 20 Fed. R. Evid. 608(b) Advisory Committee Notes. 21 We agree that [t]here may indeed be situations in which evidence from . . . internal investigations will bear heavily on the credibility of a testifying police officer. United States v. Johnson, 968 F.2d 765, 767 (8th Cir. 1992). Thus, while the admission of testimony regarding the investigation would have been proper, especially with the defense of entrapment raised here, we cannot say the trial court abused its discretion when it limited the scope of inquiry as to that topic. As the Notes relate, the substantial possibilities of abuse in this area require safeguards including disallowing the use of instances that are remote in time, requiring the instances to be probative of truthfulness, and subject to the overriding protections of Rule 403. See id. 22 Here the matter was certainly probative of truthfulnessthe department's disciplining of the officer underscores that, and the incident occurred about three months after the defendant's arrest. Further, it is not clear that the sought-after cross-examination was substantially removed from [Ms. Fuentez's] attempt to prove that [s]he was not predisposed to commit the crimes alleged in the indictment and thus bore only faint relation to [her] entrapment defense. United States v. Crump, 934 F.2d 947, 953 (8th Cir. 1991). 23 But, the testimony of Officer Sedillo was corroborated by other evidence, including the recordings and Ms. Fuentez's own confession. Ms. Fuentez also appeared well-versed in the value of cocaine, even negotiating prices from multiple sources during the taped transactions. She invited Officer Sedillo to call on her for cocaine in the future. She admitted to participating in a past one-kilogram drug transaction, and to selling the drugs because her nephew desired her to do so. The district court noted this corroborating evidence, and ruled that under Rule 403 the confusion the inquiry would have caused outweighed its probativeness. Although close, we do not see an abuse of discretion nor a showing of prejudice here. Cf. United States v. Hamell, 3 F.3d 1187, 1189 (8th Cir. 1993) (where officer's sanction of dismissal, two years after the defendant's arrest was unrelated to the defendant's trial, other evidence corroborated the officer's testimony, and officer's testimony only marginally relevant, district court's disallowance of cross-examination not an abuse of discretion.) Accordingly, we cannot conclude that Ms. Fuentez's confrontation rights were violated by the district court's limitation on cross-examination as it related to her entrapment defense.