Opinion ID: 462585
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prejudice and the Evidence of the Fight

Text: 11 Appellants claim that the trial court erred by admitting evidence of the fight with Price on the afternoon before the arrest because such evidence was unduly prejudicial to their cases. In this context we also consider Lopez-Leyva's claim that this evidence was so prejudicial that his trial should have been severed from that of Hernandez. Although we do not believe the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion for severance, we do believe it was error to admit the evidence of the fight against appellant Lopez-Leyva. We believe this error warrants a new trial for Lopez-Leyva. 12 1. Admissibility. Under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), evidence of a prior bad act is admissible to show motive or intent but not to show the propensity of an individual to commit the act of which he is accused. As to Hernandez, evidence of the fight clearly qualified under the motive exception of Rule 404(b). He had been involved in a fight a mere five or six hours previously. Tr. 217, 276-277. Price's account of Donny's statement, indicating that appellants were out looking for Price, also indicated that evidence of the fight was probative of motive. 4 This statement was circumstantially corroborated by the fact that the arrest took place within a short distance of an apartment where Price was thought to reside. 13 Appellant Lopez-Leyva, however, presents a different case. The record does not suggest that he was involved in the fight. He was merely present and, according to Price, was shouting something in a foreign language (i.e., Spanish). 5 At no time was it determined just what Lopez-Leyva was shouting. 6 On the basis of such shouting the District Court determined that Lopez-Leyva was a participant in the fight and therefore that evidence of the fight was probative of his motive as well. Tr. 227. We cannot agree. There was simply no basis for determining whether the shouting at issue constituted encouragement or protest. It was simply indecipherable. Given that the government has the burden of proving the relevance of such prior bad act testimony, see United States v. Foskey, 636 F.2d 517, 523 (D.C.Cir.1980), it was error to make the defendant bear the burden of uncertainty as to the meaning of his shouting. The admission of the prior bad act testimony therefore violated Rule 404(b). 7 14 If we were to find that Lopez-Leyva's shouting did constitute participation in the fight, it would be involvement of the most attenuated type. Such attenuated involvement could not support the introduction of evidence of the fight as against Lopez-Leyva. For even if the government had shown that the fight was relevant to Lopez-Leyva's motive, the court must still determine whether the probative value of that evidence outweighed its prejudicial effect under Federal Rule of Evidence 403. In the case of Lopez-Leyva it is plain that whatever the slim probative value of his prior shouting, it was overwhelmed by its prejudicial effect. Admission of such evidence would naturally lead a jury to assume that Lopez-Leyva had the motive of his associates: a slightly refined version of guilt by association. Although we are mindful that a trial court's admission of evidence under Rule 403 should only be overturned on appeal in cases of abuse of discretion, see United States v. Lavelle, 751 F.2d 1266, 1277 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 62, 88 L.Ed.2d 51 (1985), we believe that admitting evidence of such nebulous involvement in a prior bad act constitutes just such an abuse. 15 By contrast, the admission of evidence of the prior fight against Hernandez did not violate Rule 403. His involvement in the fight was substantial; it occurred within a few hours of the arrest. Given that under Rule 403 the balance is tilted toward admission of evidence, United States v. Moore, 732 F.2d 983, 989 (D.C.Cir.1984), admission of the evidence of the fight against Hernandez was proper. 8 16 Even in the case of Lopez-Leyva, this court need not upset the conviction if it determines that admission of evidence of the fight was mere harmless error. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(a). An error is deemed harmless if it did not substantially sway[ ] the judgment. Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 765, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 1248, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946). In determining whether an error had such a substantial effect this court will look to three factors. If (1) the case is not close, (2) the issue not central, or (3) effective steps were taken to mitigate the effects of the error, the error is harmless. See Gaither v. United States, 413 F.2d 1061, 1079 (D.C.Cir.1969). 17 Our case satisfies none of these criteria. The case against Lopez-Leyva was quite close: once the evidence of the fight is eliminated, the case against Lopez-Leyva largely turns on the testimony of Officer Myers concerning Lopez-Leyva's gestures toward the area where the gun was found. Although, as noted infra, a jury could base a conviction on such testimony, it could just as easily harbor reasonable doubts about Officer Myers' credibility and perception. The issue of motive was therefore central to the prosecution's case: it could turn a close case into a strong one. Finally, although the District Court did instruct the jury as to the limited use of the evidence of the afternoon fight, this instruction merely cautioned against using that evidence to draw inferences concerning character or propensity; it did not suggest that the jury should be especially cautious in using that evidence against Lopez-Leyva given his peripheral presence at the fight. 9 The error was therefore prejudicial and was not mitigated by subsequent instructions. Accordingly we believe a new trial must be ordered for Lopez-Leyva. 10 18 2. Severance. This court will upset a District Court's decision to deny a motion for severance only upon a finding of clear prejudice and abuse of discretion. United States v. Lewis, 626 F.2d 940, 945 (D.C.Cir.1980); accord United States v. Daniels, 770 F.2d 1111, 1115 (D.C.Cir.1985). The critical determination in evaluating a motion to sever the case of two or more co-defendants is whether a jury could reasonably compartmentalize the evidence introduced against each individual defendant. See United States v. Sampol, 636 F.2d 621, 647 (D.C.Cir.1980). The danger that the jury will inappropriately apply evidence against one defendant against a co-defendant is deemed to be particularly great if there is a gross disparity of the quantity and quality of evidence against the two accused. See id. 19 In our case there was no great disparity of the evidence. For example, Officer Myers' testimony concerning Lopez-Leyva's proximity to the weapon and his motion toward it constituted substantial evidence probative of his guilt alone. As for the danger that the jury might not compartmentalize the evidence, it is true that had a jury heard that Lopez-Leyva was present at the afternoon fight, and that he was a friend of the participants, it might have unjustifiably assumed that Lopez-Leyva was involved in that fight. Although we are not sanguine about the effect of limiting instructions, we note that in reviewing the denial of motions to sever courts have tended to accept the presumption that limiting instructions actually function to enable juries to compartmentalize evidence. See, e.g., United States v. Bruner, 657 F.2d 1278, 1291 (D.C.Cir.1981). See also United States v. Givens, 712 F.2d 1298, 1300-1301 (8th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1009, 104 S.Ct. 1005, 79 L.Ed.2d 237 (1984). This is true even when there is a risk that a jury will improperly use evidence of an incident in which the co-defendant was clearly involved but as to which the defendant seeking severance was only peripherally involved. See, e.g., United States v. Ventura, 724 F.2d 305, 312 (2d Cir.1984) (denial of severance proper when jury instructed to disregard evidence concerning fraudulent conduct by co-defendant that occurred after defendant's participation in scheme had ended). 20 Thus had the evidence been admitted against Hernandez alone, an appropriate limiting instruction might well have insulated Lopez-Leyva from any undue prejudice. That such an instruction was not given was due to the District Court's erroneous decision to admit the evidence of the fight, not to its failure to sever the trials of the two defendants. We therefore find no error in the District Court's denial of Lopez-Leyva's motion to sever.