Opinion ID: 533777
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: admission of plea agreements

Text: 27 Defendants ask us to reconsider our long-standing rule that the entire plea agreement of a government witness may be placed before the jury. See, e.g., United States v. Martin, 815 F.2d 818, 821 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 825, 108 S.Ct. 89, 98 L.Ed.2d 51 (1987); United States v. McNeill, 728 F.2d 5, 14 (1st Cir.1984); United States v. Winter, 663 F.2d 1120, 1134 (1st Cir.1981), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1011, 103 S.Ct. 1250, 75 L.Ed.2d 479 (1983). We refuse to do so. As we stated in Martin, 28 Such agreements may often, as in the present case, point in different directions: a warning therein that the defendant will be prosecuted for false testimony enhances his credibility as a witness, but the rewards promised in the same document may undermine his credibility by showing that he stood to gain from incriminating others.... Only by viewing the entire agreement can the jury get the whole picture, from which to assess, as best it can, the probable motives or interests the witnesses could have in testifying truthfully or falsely. 29 Martin, 815 F.2d at 821. Other courts of appeal have the same rule. See United States v. Townsend, 796 F.2d 158, 162-63 (6th Cir.1986); United States v. Binker, 795 F.2d 1218, 1222-23 (5th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1085, 107 S.Ct. 1287, 94 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987); United States v. Dennis, 786 F.2d 1029, 1046 (11th Cir.1986), reh'g granted in part and denied in part, 804 F.2d 1208, cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1037, 107 S.Ct. 1973, 95 L.Ed.2d 814 (1987); See also United States v. Craig, 573 F.2d 513, 519 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 820, 99 S.Ct. 83, 58 L.Ed.2d 111 (1978).