Opinion ID: 166442
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Claim 3: Reference to Prior Conviction

Text: 47 Mr. Patton next challenges the admission of a statement by police chemist Susan Rose. While testifying about obtaining blood samples from Mr. Patton, Ms. Rose stated that Mr. Patton asked her how many other suspects there were and told her I'm an ex-con. Tr. Trans. vol. VII, at 113. This statement drew an immediate objection from Mr. Patton's counsel and a request for a mistrial. After extended in camera argument, the trial court denied the motion for mistrial and offered to admonish the jury. Although he initially objected to the admonishment, Mr. Patton's counsel subsequently agreed to the trial judge telling the jury to disregard Ms. Rose's ex-con statement. 48 On direct appeal, the OCCA concluded that the admonishment was sufficient to cure the prejudice resulting from the ex-con remark. The OCCA rejected Mr. Patton's argument that the case was analogous to United States v. Sands, 899 F.2d 912 (10th Cir.1990). There, this court held that a cautionary instruction was not sufficient to cure a statement about the defendant's prior conviction. The OCCA then invoked its long standing position that when inadmissible evidence or an improper comment is presented to a jury, an admonishment to the jury by the court that the evidence or comment is not to be considered will cure any error. Patton, 973 P.2d at 292-93 (discussing Cheatham v. State, 900 P.2d 414, 425 (Okla.Crim.App.1995)). The OCCA also cited another of its decisions, Al-Mosawi v. State, 929 P.2d 270, 284 (Okla.Crim.App.1996), which holds that a trial court's admonition to the jury to disregard the remarks of counsel or a witness usually cures any error unless it is of such [a] nature, after considering the evidence, that the error appears to have determined the verdict. Id. The OCCA concluded that the trial court's admonition to disregard the reference to Mr. Patton's prior conviction was sufficient to cure any error because the reference was not likely to make a sufficiently strong impression on the jury that it was unable to disregard it. Patton, 973 P.2d at 293. 49 We view the OCCA's decision as an application of federal law and therefore review it under the deferential AEDPA standard. Even though the OCCA cited both state and federal cases, it ultimately applied the standard established by federal law. Compare Greer v. Miller, 483 U.S. 756, 766 n. 8, 107 S.Ct. 3102, 97 L.Ed.2d 618 (1987) (We normally presume that a jury will follow an instruction to disregard inadmissible evidence unless there is an overwhelming probability that the jury will be unable to follow the court's instructions, and a strong likelihood that the effect of the evidence would be devastating to the defendant.) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted) (emphasis added) with Patton, 973 P.2d at 293 (concluding that the prior conviction was not likely to make a sufficiently strong impression on the jury) (emphasis added). 2 50 In advancing this claim, Mr. Patton again confronts a high hurdle. He must establish that Ms. Rose's ex-con statement was so unduly prejudicial that it rendered his trial fundamentally unfair. See Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 825, 111 S.Ct. 2597, 115 L.Ed.2d 720 (1991); see also Nichols v. Sullivan, 867 F.2d 1250, 1253 (10th Cir.1989) (stating that [the] state courts' evidentiary and procedural rulings may not be questioned unless [the habeas petitioner] demonstrates that the remark by [a] witness . . . was so prejudicial in the context of the proceedings as a whole that he was deprived of the fundamental fairness essential to the concept of due process and citing Donnelly v. DeChristoforo, 416 U.S. 637, 642, 94 S.Ct. 1868, 40 L.Ed.2d 431 (1974)). Moreover, in a habeas proceeding, any trial errors will be deemed harmless unless they had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the verdict. Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 623, 113 S.Ct. 1710, 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1993). If we are in grave doubt as to the harmlessness of an error, the habeas petitioner must prevail. See O'Neal v. McAninch, 513 U.S. 432, 436, 115 S.Ct. 992, 130 L.Ed.2d 947 (1995). Grave doubt exists when, in light of the entire record, the matter is so evenly balanced that the court feels itself in virtual equipoise regarding the error's harmlessness. Id. at 435, 115 S.Ct. 992. 51 Two of this circuit's decisions illustrate the appropriate inquiry. As Mr. Patton notes, in Sands we held that a new trial was warranted when two witnesses referred to the defendant's prior incarceration and the defendant declined the court's offer to give a cautionary instruction. Noting that the prosecution's evidence was not overwhelming, we stated that we could not say with reasonable certainty that the reference to prior records had but very slight effect on the verdict of the jury. 899 F.2d at 915-16. We therefore concluded that the defendant was entitled to a new trial. 52 In contrast, in United States v. Joe, 8 F.3d 1488, 1498 (10th Cir.1993), we concluded that a reference to the defendant's prior incarceration was a single isolated occurrence in the context of a larger explanation and the trial judge gave an immediate curative instruction. Because the reference had but very slight effect on the verdict of the jury, the defendant was not entitled to a new trial. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted), 53 Here, we conclude that the prosecution witness's reference to Mr. Patton's prior conviction was not so prejudicial as to deprive him of a fair trial. The reference was brief, and there is no indication that it was intentionally elicited by the prosecution. Moreover, the trial court instructed the jury to disregard the reference, and Mr. Patton has failed to establish either an overwhelming probability that the jury was unable to follow that curative instruction or a strong likelihood that the effect of the evidence would be devastating to the defendant. See Greer, 483 U.S. at 766 n. 8, 107 S.Ct. 3102 (internal quotation marks omitted). The issue in the guilt phase was whether Mr. Patton was so intoxicated that he was unable to form the intent necessary to commit the crime of first-degree murder. Mr. Patton's intoxication defense turned largely on the testimony of his expert witness, Dr. Smith, who opined that Mr. Patton had been in a cocaine-induced delirium when he killed Mrs. Kauer. We see little indication in the record that the jury's assessment of Dr. Smith's testimony on this matter was affected by the passing reference to Mr. Patton's prior record. 54 Finally, we agree with the district court that our decision in Sands is distinguishable. In that case, the defendant's first trial had ended in a mistrial, and the jury informed the judge that it had been divided on the issue of premeditation. Sands, 899 F.2d at 913. At the second trial, two witnesses referred to the defendant's prior record, despite the trial judge's order barring such evidence. Moreover, one of the defendant's contentions was that he had acted in self-defense. In such a case, there is a considerably greater probability than there is here that the defendant's prior record might influence the jury. See Greer, 483 U.S. at 766 n. 8, 107 S.Ct. 3102. In particular, a jury might well conclude that a convicted criminal was more likely to commit an act of unprovoked violence than a citizen with no prior record. Here, at trial, Mr. Patton did not dispute that he attacked Mrs. Kauer, and there is little indication that his prior record influenced the jury in such a manner.