Opinion ID: 759233
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Application of the Brecht Standard for Harmless Error

Text: 72 Having found that Brecht applies to Hassine's petition, we proceed next to an examination of whether the district court properly concluded that the prosecution's Doyle violation was harmless. 14 Under Brecht and its progeny, a constitutional trial error is not harmless if the court is in grave doubt as to whether the error had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict. O'Neal v. McAninch, 513 U.S. 432, 436, 115 S.Ct. 992, 130 L.Ed.2d 947 (1995). Grave doubt exists when, in the judge's mind, the matter is so evenly balanced that he feels himself in virtual equipoise as to the harmlessness of the error. Id. at 435, 115 S.Ct. 992. Moreover, it is inappropriate to ask whether there was sufficient evidence to support the result, apart from the phase of the trial affected by the error. The correct inquiry is whether the error had a substantial influence on the verdict despite sufficient evidence to support the result apart from the error. Yohn, 76 F.3d at 523 (citations omitted). 73 Hassine contends that the Doyle violation could not have been harmless because it went to the heart of his defense. He maintains that because he was the only witness testifying as to his version of the events, and because the Doyle error undermined his credibility, it necessarily had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict. Brecht, 507 U.S. at 623, 113 S.Ct. 1710 (quoting Kotteakos, 328 U.S. at 776, 66 S.Ct. 1239). In evaluating Hassine's claim, we must thus determine whether, and to what extent, the jury's decision to accept the State's version of the facts rather than Hassine's was influenced by the prosecutor's Doyle violation. If the jury disbelieved Hassine and convicted him because of the Doyle violation, the error was not harmless and we will grant the petition. The crucial inquiry is the impact of the error on the minds of the jurors in the total setting. Yohn, 76 F.3d at 523 (citing Kotteakos, 328 U.S. at 764, 66 S.Ct. 1239). While the nature of the evidence against Hassine is important, we must also examine the phases of the trial affected by the error, and determine whether the error had a substantial influence on the verdict despite sufficient evidence to support the result apart from the error. See id. (citing Kotteakos, 328 U.S. at 765, 66 S.Ct. 1239). In so doing, we must of necessity weigh the impact of evidence on the jury and cannot help but make a judgment as to how the jury would reasonably perceive Hasssine's version of events with and without the Doyle violation. 74 At the outset, we note our agreement with the district court's finding that the evidence, as mounted through a parade of Commonwealth witnesses, was substantial indeed. The witnesses testifying as to Hassine's planning of, and intent to commit, the crime were numerous, and their stories consistent. 15 A number of witnesses testified to an initial meeting in which Hassine called for Kellet's execution. (N.T. 34, 111-12, 743-44, 756-57, 810, 822). 16 Several witnesses also recalled that Hassine had actively searched for a weapon to carry out his plan: at the initial meeting, he demanded that the other employees try to procure a weapon (N.T. 36, 744, 774); he had discussed buying a .357 with Breed members Tuite and Schwab (N.T. 56-59, 555-57, 626-27); he asked his employee Ron Wharton to buy a gun and to participate in the plan to kill Kellet (N.T. 747, 760); and he visited his tenant Theodore Camera and asked Camera to find him a gun. (N.T. 485-86, 487-88, 490). 75 Hassine settled on a weapon for the shootings: a stolen .25 caliber automatic handgun. (N.T. 933). Both Decker and Wharton testified that Hassine gave Decker the.25 while the three were in the Market van. (N.T. 53, 749). 17 Hassine and Decker also went to a gun store where Hassine bought a box of ammunition and signed for the purchase. (N.T. 59-60, 708-10). 76 After buying the bullets, Decker and Hassine drove by Kellet's house, where Hassine told Decker to shoot him then and there with the .25. (N.T. 61). Decker declined because it was daytime, and a witness was present. (N.T. 61-62). Hassine and Decker repeatedly test fired the gun into the back wall of the store, but the .25 was malfunctioning and had to be put aside, despite their attempts to fix it. (N.T. 58-60, 62-63, 750-52, 811-12). 18 77 Hassine and his co-defendant Orlowski also met with Breed members Tuite and Schwab to discuss killing Kellet. After bailing Tuite out of jail on a gun charge involving the .357, Hassine contacted him about a deal involving Kellet, and the four met to discuss a contract killing. (N.T. 557, 560, 560-61, 562, 627, 630, 753-55). 19 Tuite and Schwab's asking price of $1500 was too high, however, so the four agreed instead that they would beat Kellet up for $500 ($250 credit for the bail and $250 for the beating). (N.T. 560-62, 563, 628-629, 632). 20 Rather than attack Kellet, as agreed, however, Tuite and Schwab decided to warn Kellet that Hassine and Orlowski wanted to kill him and kept the $250. (N.T. 566, 630). 21 78 The Commonwealth also presented evidence of Hassine's conduct both at and after the incident that pointed to his guilt. On the night of the shootings, Decker testified that he met Hassine at the market and said, Tonight's the night--this cat has got to go. We'll use your gun. I want two hundred and fifty dollars. (N.T. at 77, 218-19). Hassine agreed and said he would come back to pick Decker up with his car. Id. Decker further testified that Hassine then drove him to Trenton and retrieved the .380 Llama handgun used in the shootings from his parents' house; gave him directions to Kellet's house; told him that he would wait for him and drive him away after the shootings; and gave him a Yankees batting helmet to disguise himself during the shootings. (N.T. 83-85, 87-88). 79 Hassine then went to Orlowski's house, where Hassine and Orlowski met a third person, Michael Thompson (Thompson), who testified that all three got into his car. (N.T. 861-63). Hassine was carrying a metal pipe. (N.T. 870). Hassine told Thompson to drive to the parking lot across the street from Kellet's residence and then to other locations; Hassine whistled out the window from time to time, and at one point Hassine told Thompson to get out of the car and call for Eric. (N.T. 863-870, 874-884, 905-07). 22 In the course of their drive, they heard two shots, and Hassine stated, Oh shit, that's my father's gun, I hope that asshole doesn't get caught. (N.T. 868-69, 881, 1224). 80 After the murder, when Hassine and Orlowski returned from their attempts to find Decker, Hassine told Orlowski that they still had to find Decker, because he was afraid Decker would be arrested. (N.T. 1227-28). The following morning, Hassine told his employee Wharton to drive the pair to Decker's apartment, so they could try once again to retrieve the .380 from Decker. (N.T. 761). When they realized Decker had been arrested, Hassine told Decker's girlfriend, Valerie Lynch, to get rid of the gun. (N.T. 761-63, 1043-44, 1046-47). As word spread that the case against Hassine was building, Tuite and Schwab decided to try to intimidate Hassine into giving them $10,000 to kill Commonwealth witnesses, and Hassine considered their demands but did not ask them to follow through on the plan. 23 (N.T. 568, 572, 577-78, 631-32). 81 Not only did the Commonwealth's case present evidence of Hassine's guilt but also evidence of both a cover-up and instances of lying that detracted from Hassine's credibility. On the night of the shootings, Hassine told his codefendant Orlowski to keep his mouth shut if the police questioned him. (N.T. 1228). Hassine's attempts to influence others continued as the investigation intensified. After Decker was arrested for the shootings, Hassine tried to make Orlowski sign a statement holding him responsible for the crimes, and the two held practice sessions in which Hassine and Orlowski practiced Orlowski's story. (N.T. 1388-90). Valerie Lynch testified that Hassine told her to lie about his and Decker's whereabouts the night of the shootings, saying: Remember, Valerie, I was in New York, and Eric Decker was at home. (N.T. 764-65, 1051-52). In the course of an intercepted phone conversation, Hassine queried Thompson about what Thompson had told the police during questioning, and in the course of that conversation the two agreed, ostensibly, that they would keep each other out of the case. 24 (N.T. 892-94, 901). 82 Hassine had made promises to Decker as a part of his agreement to kill Kellet--an apartment, money, and a future on easy street--and he continued the practice of offering money or services for cooperation from others after the shootings had taken place. (N.T. 63, 111, 752-53, 773). In the course of the conversation in which he urged her to lie, Hassine also promised Lynch that he would help her and her child out with money, cuts of meat, or anything else she needed. (N.T. 1052). Hassine also promised Thompson, in the course of their intercepted phone conversation, that Thompson should look into buying Kellet's house, and that the two could enter into a deal whereby Hassine would put up the money for the house and the surrounding property, and Thompson could keep the house while Hassine developed the lot. (N.T. 896-97, 897-900). In his own testimony, Hassine admitted that he had no intention of buying the house or developing the lot, but he was making the promise because he wanted to know what Thompson told the police. (N.T. 1563-64). 25 83 Notwithstanding the weight of the evidence presented by the prosecution, we would have little difficulty finding that the Doyle violation had substantially influenced the jury if, apart from the violation, the phase of the trial most directly impacted, namely, Hassine's testimony, presented a strong counter to the state's evidence. But that is not the case. Hassine's story was undermined not only by evidence of his disregard for the truth, but by his own testimony in which he set forth strained and unrealistic explanations for his conduct and portrayed himself as a mild mannered store manager and law student--a portrayal strikingly at odds with other evidence depicting his behavior as controlling, crude, and vulgar. In the course of his testimony, Hassine portrayed himself as a diligent law student who spent the bulk of his summer studying for the New Jersey and New York bar exams, which he did not pass. (N.T. 1436-38, 1450-52). Hassine also presented himself as a sophisticated individual versed in business practices who was concerned about the management of the market. Hassine testified that he made Orlowski run the store efficiently, and that he had threatened to close the store if Orlowski did not run it in a cost-effective manner. (N.T. 1414-1422, 1492-93). He also testified that he was aware of the drug dealing at the store after Kellet had beaten and stolen money from Orlowski, but that he never participated in or profited from the drug dealing. (N.T. 1424, 1510). 26 He testified that when Wharton took $40 from the register to front a drug deal, he punched him, but did so because he wanted nothing to do with Wharton's activities. (N.T. 1426-27, 1492-93). 84 Hassine denied having any feud with Kellet, having any animosity toward Kellet, or saying that he wanted Kellet killed or wasted, claiming instead that he had only wanted Kellet to be put in jail. (N.T. 1428-29, 1432-34, 1496, 1497-98, 1500, 1553). 27 Hassine also testified that by saying he wanted to make an example of Kellet, he meant that any time Kellet made any motion toward him or any contact with him the police should be called. (N.T. 1429). 85 Hassine also testified that he had, in fact, rebuffed Tuite and Schwab's offer to kill Kellet for him by indicating that the situation with Kellet was being handled by the police. (N.T. 1455-59). Hassine claimed to have no idea why Tuite and Schwab would think he would want Kellet killed. (N.T. 1455, 1492). 86 Hassine admitted that he had engaged in a complex course of behavior involving guns, but testified that his search for a weapon was undertaken in order to find adequate protection for the store. He conceded that he had contacted Camera about obtaining a gun, even though he knew he could purchase a gun legally; that he had bought bullets and signed the register at the gun store because Decker had asked him to do so, even though he knew that Decker was on probation for a gun charge; and that he had shot up the wall of the store with Decker because Decker wanted to demonstrate problems with the gun and he just got carried away in the process. (N.T. 1430-31, 1436, 1445-46, 1449-50, 1549-52, 1553, 1556-58). Hassine also explained his conduct on the night of the shootings as being motivated by his desire to get his father's gun back and to prevent a crime from occurring. (N.T. 1466-68, 1526-29, 1521-32). 87 Hassine's version of events was further undercut by evidence that he was not the mild-mannered person he portrayed himself to be. There was testimony as to his threatening and controlling Orlowski, his need to be a boss of others and his desire to protect his turf and his authority, even if doing so entailed resort to violence. (N.T. 488-89, 490, 555, 563, 628, 755, 783, 861-62, 816, 1051, 1441, 1454-55). Other evidence, some of which was conceded in Hassine's own testimony, demonstrated that Hassine had violent tendencies, through incidents such as his pulling Orlowski's finger out of its socket during an argument and punching Wharton, and through his practices of engaging in threats and feuding. (N.T. 382-83, 1498, 1508, 1556). 88 The Doyle violation occurred as a series of three questions in the midst of Hassine's testimony, and, later, in two ambiguous references to Hassine's silence in the prosecutor's closing argument. (N.T. 1543-1544, E.H.223, 259-60). Based on our assessment of the trial evidence, we conclude that the questions posed in the midst of Hassine's testimony did not have a substantial or injurious effect on the jury's verdict. Nor did the two ambiguous references made to a general pattern of silence result in an overemphasis on this silence that destroyed the jury's ability to look at the evidence in the case, as Hassine contends. Rather, these statements were couched within a general framework of asking the jury to consider the credibility of the witnesses as a whole, and as such, the closing provided the jury with ample latitude to evaluate Hassine's credibility and the evidence of his guilt apart from those particular statements. 89 While not minimizing the importance of the right at issue or condoning the prosecutor's conduct, we find that the actual effect of the Doyle violation on Hassine's credibility before the jury and the inferences drawn by that jury, and on the jury's determination of guilt or innocence, was minimal, as the improper questions and statements occurred within a contextual presentation of a story that was, on its own, not likely to be viewed as credible. Given the overwhelming evidence of Hassine's guilt, and his lack of credibility apart from the Doyle violation, we conclude that the constitutional error at Hassine's trial was harmless; there is little doubt that the prosecutor's Doyle violation did not have a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict. Brecht, 507 U.S. at 623, 113 S.Ct. 1710 (quoting Kotteakos, 328 U.S. at 776, 66 S.Ct. 1239).