Opinion ID: 513191
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Andrade, Vega and Gabriel Saa

Text: 47 With respect to most violations of constitutional rights in criminal trials, if the prosecution can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a constitutional error did not contribute to the verdict, the error is harmless and the verdict may stand. Satterwhite v. Texas, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 1792, 1797, 100 L.Ed.2d 284 (1988), citing Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). In Gilmore v. Henderson, 825 F.2d 663, 665-67 (2d Cir.1987), harmless error analysis was applied to a Sixth Amendment violation resulting from the improper preclusion of alibi witnesses, an error identical to the preclusion of the alibi witnesses of defendants Andrade and Vega in this case. 4 Harmless error analysis is appropriate here, because, although certain Sixth Amendment violations that pervade the entire proceeding constitute per se harmful error, see Satterwhite v. Texas, 108 S.Ct. at 1797, the violation here concerned only two witnesses. This case therefore resembles Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986), in which the Supreme Court held that harmless error analysis applied to the denial of a defendant's right to cross-examine a prosecution witness for bias. Further support for our conclusion is found in Rose v. Clark, 478 U.S. 570, 106 S.Ct. 3101, 3106-7, 92 L.Ed.2d 460 (1986), in which the Court stated that if the defendant had counsel and was tried by an impartial adjudicator, there is a strong presumption that any other errors that may have occurred are subject to harmless error analysis. See also Fendler v. Goldsmith, 728 F.2d 1181, 1190 (9th Cir.1983) (applying harmless error doctrine, without discussion, to violation of Sixth Amendment right to call witnesses). 48 The trial court's error in barring the two alibi witnesses, while violating Andrade and Vega's right to compulsory process, was harmless. According to appellants, the witnesses would have testified that on April 27th Vega was in Brooklyn at 5:30 p.m. and Andrade arrived there at 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. Tollinchi, the cooperating witness, had placed Andrade and Vega 50 minutes away, at 10 East 67th Street in Manhattan, between approximately 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. Even if the alibi testimony is credited, it only shows that Tollinchi could not remember the time of the meeting, as he repeatedly testified he could not. It does not support a finding that Andrade and Vega were not at 10 East 67th Street on the afternoon of April 27, and does not otherwise impeach Tollinchi's credibility, as claimed by appellants Gabriel and Esperanza Saa. 49 Even excluding Tollinchi's testimony about April 27, there was sufficient evidence against Andrade and Vega for us to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury would still have found them guilty. There was testimony, which Andrade's parents would not have contradicted, that Andrade and Vega were in their car in front of 10 East 67th Street on April 24, and that the occupants of the car were identified as the owners of the cocaine. There was also overwhelming evidence which would not have been contradicted that it was Andrade and Vega who brought the cocaine from Queens and delivered it to 10 East 67th Street on April 28. Our conclusion that Andrade and Vega would have been found guilty even if Andrade's father and stepmother had been allowed to testify is not undermined by the effect of the prosecutor's comments in his rebuttal summation asking the jury to draw an adverse inference against the defense for failing to call Robert to testify. Andrade and Vega have not suggested how the testimony of Robert could have been favorable to them. In any event, based on the other evidence against them, we find beyond a reasonable doubt that any adverse inference improperly drawn by the jury would not have tilted the scales from not guilty to guilty. 50 Permitting the comments in the prosecutor's rebuttal summation was the only error with respect to Gabriel Saa, as to whom the evidence of guilt was powerful. This error was therefore harmless to Gabriel Saa as well.