Opinion ID: 337716
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lupo and Szwandrak

Text: 38 This court has on at least three occasions approved the use at trial of the confessions of co-defendants where all references to the appealing party had been redacted. See United States v. Lipowitz, 407 F.2d 597 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 946, 89 S.Ct. 2026, 23 L.Ed.2d 466 (1969); United States v. Panepinto, 430 F.2d 613 (3d Cir. 1970); United States v. Alvarez, 519 F.2d 1052 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 914, 96 S.Ct. 221, 46 L.Ed.2d 143 (1975). These holdings were predicated on our finding that the redacted versions of the confessions did not in any way suggest the appellants' participation in the admitted offenses. That certainly was not the case with the mutually incriminating hearsay statements of Lupo and Szwandrak. No case in this circuit has authorized the admission of parallel statements by co-defendants as an exception to the Bruton rule. The government asserts that such an exception is recognized in the Second Circuit and elsewhere. That notion arises, we think, from an overly broad reading of Judge Hays' opinions in United States ex rel. Catanzaro v. Mancusi, 404 F.2d 296 (2d Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 942, 90 S.Ct. 956, 25 L.Ed.2d 123 (1970), and United States ex rel. Duff v. Zelker, 452 F.2d 1009 (2d Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 406 U.S. 932, 92 S.Ct. 1807, 32 L.Ed.2d 134 (1972). In those state habeas corpus cases the Second Circuit affirmed the denials of the petitions alleging Bruton violations such as occurred here, not because it approved of the practice of admitting nonredacted parallel confessions, but because in each instance it could find the hearsay violations harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Metropolis v. Turner, 437 F.2d 207, 208-09 (10th Cir. 1971), another state habeas corpus case, reaches the same conclusion and explains Catanzaro as a harmless error case. The only direct appeal which has been called to our attention involving the type of Bruton violation committed here is United States v. Spinks, 470 F.2d 64 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1011, 93 S.Ct. 456, 34 L.Ed.2d 305 (1972). It, too, rejects a Bruton challenge not on the ground that there was no violation, but because any error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See also United States ex rel. Stanbridge v. Zelker, 514 F.2d 45 (2d Cir. 1975). 39 The harmless error rule is not a predicate for the admission of evidence. We expressly disapprove of the suggestion that there is a  parallel statements exception to the Bruton rule in this circuit. Hearsay errors both of constitutional and of non-constitutional dimensions will in appropriate cases be regarded as grounds for reversal, and this includes the hearsay error upon which the Bruton court focused. 40 Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has made it clear that the constitutional harmless error rule of Harrington v. California,395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 (1969), is applicable to a Bruton violation. Brown v. United States, 411 U.S. 223, 93 S.Ct. 1565, 36 L.Ed.2d 208 (1973). In this case Kuczynski testified without contradiction that Szwandrak served as the intermediary between DiGilio and him, disbursing cash in exchange for the stolen government documents. That uncontradicted testimony was corroborated by Szwandrak's confession to the FBI and his statement to the grand jury. In these circumstances the error of admitting the unredacted Lupo statement, which added nothing of substance to the government's case, was, we find, harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. 41 The evidence against Lupo differs from that against Szwandrak in only one respect. While Kuczynski's testimony directly implicated Szwandrak, it implicated Lupo through the statements made about him by other members of the conspiracy and in furtherance of its ends. This evidence, though different in kind, was not in our view significantly different in weight in this instance. The totality of the evidence of guilt was overwhelming. We find in Lupo's case that the error of admitting Szwandrak's unredacted statements implicating him was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.