Opinion ID: 3065861
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: ”False or unreliable”

Text: “Challenged information is deemed false or unreliable if it lacks ‘some minimal indicium of reliability beyond mere allegation.’ ” Id. at 936 (quoting Ibarra, 737 F.2d at 827). Here, the district judge abused his discretion in finding that Seevers’ claims were reliable. Seevers did not testify at McGowan’s trial or sentencing hearing. Instead, the government submitted two documents which contained his allegations of McGowan’s drug activity. The first was a transcript of an FBI interview. In that interview, Seevers told FBI agents that, while on parole in 1999 or 2000, he had, in the course of assisting a friend, happened upon McGowan’s house. According to Seevers’ story, McGowan recognized him from his time in Chino, and invited him into his home to snort methamphetamine, an invitation Seevers accepted. Seevers claimed that later, on two separate occasions, he gave McGowan speed, some of which he was to deliver to inmates in prison. Finally, Seevers contended that, after he was arrested and returned to prison, McGowan came to his cell and gave him a quarter gram of speed. To confirm his story, Seevers accurately described to the agents the location of McGowan’s house.3 The second document was a transcript of Seevers’ testimony in the trial of Shayne Ziska, a Chino prison guard who was charged with misconduct involving smuggling drugs into the prison. Seevers, a prosecution witness, was asked on cross-examination whether he had also reported that McGowan engaged in similar misdeeds. Seevers confirmed that he had, saying, “I’d give him drugs, and he would take them back in the prison.” 3 McGowan claimed that the reason Seevers knew the location of his house was that, when McGowan purchased it, he found Seevers and several companions squatting there. He contended that he called the police to aid in evicting the squatters. UNITED STATES v. MCGOWAN 953 There is no further evidence in the record or inference that might be drawn in support of Seevers’ extremely serious charges, and no explanation as to why McGowan would have engaged in such felonious conduct with Seevers. Most important, the sentencing judge had no opportunity to observe Seevers in order to evaluate his credibility, and no one representing McGowan’s interests ever had an opportunity to cross-examine Seevers in order to test the veracity of his accusations. [6] We considered a similar challenge to the reliability of evidence at sentencing in United States v. Hanna, 49 F.3d 572 (9th Cir. 1995). We agree with McGowan that Hanna compels us to conclude that Seevers’ allegations were insufficiently reliable to be considered at sentencing. First, Seevers’ allegations, like those of Hanna’s accuser, were not subjected to many of the procedural mechanisms traditionally used to test witness testimony. The fact that Seevers testified fleetingly in court, under oath, in another proceeding — presumably the primary basis for the district judge’s determination that his statements were reliable — does not in and of itself justify a finding of reliability. The allegations in Hanna were likewise made under oath, but we nevertheless found them unworthy of credence. See id. at 577. In Hanna, moreover, the district judge witnessed the accuser’s testimony, and had the opportunity to evaluate his demeanor and credibility. Id. Here, the district judge had before him only the bare record of an already-completed trial, in which Seevers’ mention of McGowan played an extremely minor part. Furthermore, the defendant in Hanna had an opportunity, albeit limited, to crossexamine his accuser and probe the veracity of his statements. Id. McGowan was afforded no such opportunity: in fact, Seevers’ statements were made in a trial at which no party had any incentive to question his claims regarding McGowan. Second, there is little reason, other than the fact that he was under oath, to believe Seevers’ claims. He had “everything to gain and nothing to lose by implicating” McGowan. Id. at 954 UNITED STATES v. MCGOWAN 578. As a jailhouse informant, he presumably provided information to the FBI in the hope of being granted some sort of leniency, and could be expected to confirm the truth of this information when he testified at trial. Cf. Gonzalez v. Wong, No. 08-99025, 2011 WL 6061514, at - (9th Cir. Dec. 7, 2011) (W. Fletcher, J., concurring) (recounting a 1989-90 Los Angeles County Grand Jury investigation that revealed the disturbing ease and frequency with which jailhouse informants provided false testimony). Seevers’ claims regarding McGowan were, moreover, completely uncorroborated: that he knew the location of McGowan’s home says nothing about whether his assertions that McGowan smoked methamphetamine with him and smuggled drugs into prison were true, especially given the conflicting explanations of how Seevers learned of the address. [7] In sum, Seevers’ allegations were made under oath but absent any other procedural mechanism that would ensure that a witness with the incentive to lie was telling the truth. They were “not only inconsistent with [McGowan’s] denials, but were unsupported by . . . any other evidence.” Hanna, 49 F.3d at 578. They therefore lacked the requisite “minimal indicium of reliability” to serve as a basis for McGowan’s sentence.