Opinion ID: 757025
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prosecutorial Misconduct as to Ajaj

Text: 231 Ajaj argues that the government's summation misrepresented the evidence, invited the jury to speculate, and was based on evidence the government knew or should have known to be false. 5 Specifically, Ajaj assails the government's argument that Ajaj facilitated Yousef's entry into the United States at Kennedy Airport. According to Ajaj, no testimony at trial established that Ajaj created a distraction or in any way affected the INS's processing of Yousef at Kennedy Airport. 232 Ajaj also argues that the government knowingly used false evidence of stamps on Ajaj's Jordanian passport to show that Ajaj traveled to the Middle East to obtain terrorist training. The passport, issued to Ajaj in August 1991, bore stamps indicating that Ajaj: (1) on May 16, 1992, left Pakistan and entered the United Arab Emirates; (2) traveled to Saudi Arabia later that month; (3) on June 13, 1992, exited the United Arab Emirates; and (4) on June 14, 1992, returned to Pakistan. The date of Ajaj's re-entry into Pakistan was corroborated by Ajaj's Pakistani Certificate of Registration, which also was dated June 14, 1992. At trial, the government alleged that Ajaj made the brief trip to Saudi Arabia in order to obtain a letter of introduction to Camp Khaldan, a terrorist training camp located on the AfghanistanPakistan border. The letter of introduction, dated May 21, 1992, requested that the leader of Camp Khaldan provide the bearer with training in the use of weapons and explosives. 233 Ajaj argues that the passport contained fraudulent stamps and was therefore an unreliable travel document. He contends that the government deliberately mistranslated or failed to translate several passport stamps in an effort to conceal their inauthenticity. For example, the government translated a Kuwaiti visa stamp issued on September 9, 1991 as a visit visa; in fact, properly translated, the stamp was a residence visa which, Ajaj argues, was impossible to obtain on that date as he was in the United States. Moreover, the government failed to translate the date of a Kuwaiti entry stamp, which, while partially obscured, is April 8th or 9th. Given that Ajaj's passport was issued in August 1991, that date would have to be April 8 or 9, 1992; Ajaj, however, was indisputably in Texas at that time. Ajaj argues that the government's own witness, INS inspector Mark Cozine, alerted the government to the defects in the passport when he testified at trial that the June 14, 1992, Pakistani entry stamp appeared to be counterfeit. Ajaj argues that the government, nevertheless, recklessly relied on the passport as evidence without confirming whether the passport stamps were authentic. 234 Furthermore, Ajaj argues that the government invited the jury to speculate as to his authorship of the handwritten notes in the notebooks. The government, which spared no expense during the trial, failed to obtain a handwriting expert and instead relied on the testimony of Carol Edelen, the government's fingerprint expert, to argue that Ajaj authored the notes in the handwritten manuals. Ajaj argues that the government deliberately failed to consult a handwriting expert and ignored the possibility that Ajaj did not author the handwritten notes. 235 Ajaj also argues that the government misrepresented to the jury that Ajaj lied to an Embassy official at the United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. The government at trial argued that on July 1, 1992, after completing his terrorist training, Ajaj traveled to the United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, to inquire whether he could return lawfully to the United States. The government accused Ajaj of lying to Karen Stanton, an Embassy official, that he possessed a five-year visa that he had left at home in the United States. Stanton informed Ajaj that the Embassy could not assist him. Ajaj argues that no testimony at trial established that he had lied about a five-year visa and that he did in fact leave a visa in the United States. 236 On review, we conclude that the government's arguments were based squarely on the evidence and were within the bounds of the broad latitude the government is given to suggest reasonable inferences to the jury. See Zackson, 12 F.3d at 1183. Ajaj's contentions warrant only brief discussion. The government did not misrepresent that Ajaj had facilitated Yousef's entry into the United States at Kennedy Airport. At trial, Customs Inspector Malafronte testified that Ajaj, when questioned at Kennedy Airport about whether he was traveling with another, claimed to be traveling alone. Ajaj's lie, in conjunction with Ajaj's possession of the terrorist materials, provided a firm basis for the government to argue that Ajaj facilitated Yousef's entry into Kennedy Airport. Furthermore, the government's argument that Ajaj authored the notes in the handwritten manuals was based on Carol Edelen's fingerprint placement testimony, which the district court properly admitted. Ajaj presents no evidence of government malfeasance in failing to obtain a handwriting expert, nor does Ajaj offer an explanation for his own failure to consult one. 237 The government also was entitled to rely on Ajaj's passport as a travel document. Ajaj, beyond his own conjecture, presents no evidence to indicate that the government deliberately concealed irregularities in the passport stamps. In fact, the government's translation displayed discrepancies in the stamps that Attorney Campriello highlighted in summation to argue that the passport was unreliable as a travel document. Moreover, even assuming that a proper government translation would have revealed the apparent inauthenticity of several stamps, these irregularities would not have undermined the reliability of the passport as a whole. The specific United Arab Emirates and Pakistani stamps on which the government relied to argue that Ajaj traveled in the Middle East did not bear apparent indicia of inauthenticity. Indeed, the authenticity of those stamps was corroborated by Ajaj's Pakistani Certificate of Registration, which was issued on June 14, 1992, and which corresponded to the June 13 United Arab Emirates exit stamp and the June 14 Pakistani entry stamp in the passport. The authenticity of these stamps also was corroborated by Ajaj's statement to Karen Stanton at the United States Embassy in Islamabad that as of July 1, 1992, Ajaj had been in Pakistan for only a few weeks. 6 Although the government may have argued erroneously in summation that Ajaj lied to Karen Stanton at the United States Embassy about the location of a five-year visa, Ajaj did not object to this argument at trial. This point was of minor relevance to the government's case and hardly amounts to flagrant abuse.
238 Ajaj argues that the government prejudicially attacked the defense during its summation. The government, at various points during its rebuttal summation, criticized Attorney Campriello for lacking common decency, trying to be cutesy, attempting to foist an opinion on the jury, and selling the jury a bill of goods. The government also stated that Campriello's attempt to discredit the government's fingerprint expert, Carol Edelen, by likening her to Pinocchio, was despicable, that Campriello's arguments were preposterous and that Campriello made up testimony and ignored the evidence. Ajaj also argues that the government prejudicially accused Ajaj of lying to Karen Stanton at the United States Embassy and to INS inspectors at Kennedy Airport. 239 [R]eversal on the basis of improper prosecutorial statements during summation is warranted only when the statements, viewed against the entire argument before the jury, deprived the defendant of a fair trial. Myerson, 18 F.3d at 163 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). We have repeatedly held that the Government is ordinarily permitted to respond to arguments impugning the integrity of its case and to reply with rebutting language suitable to the occasion. United States v. Bagaric, 706 F.2d 42, 60 (2d Cir.1983) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). A reviewing court must not only weigh the impact of the prosecutor's remarks, but must also take into account defense counsel's opening salvo. United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 12, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985). As Ajaj failed to object at trial to the government's purported attacks on the defense, we review the government's summation for flagrant abuse. 240 On review, we conclude that any improper conduct by the government was largely in response to Attorney Campriello's criticisms of the government's case and, in any event, did not rise to the level of flagrant abuse. Attorney Campriello had, at various points during his summation, referred to the government's arguments as ridiculous, characterized the government's fingerprint expert, Carol Edelen, as Pinocchio, and belittled the prosecutors by referring to them repeatedly by their first name only. Attorney Campriello also remarked that the weakness of the government's evidence required the prosecutors to do a little slipping and sliding, a little bobbing, weaving, a little zigging and zaggin[g] as the case developed. In light of Attorney Campriello's criticisms, the government was entitled to respond with similar language in rebuttal.
241 Ajaj argues that the government wrongfully shifted its theory of Ajaj's criminal liability during its summation. See United States v. Russo, 74 F.3d 1383, 1396 (2d Cir.) (improper for prosecutor to introduce a new theory of criminal liability at the last minute of a long trial), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 293, 136 L.Ed.2d 213 (1996); United States v. Gleason, 616 F.2d 2, 25-26 (2d Cir.1979). According to Ajaj, at the commencement of trial, the government argued that Ajaj's role in the bombing conspiracy was to provide explosives expertise. In this regard, the government asserted that Ahmad Ajaj ... brought the formula to make explosive materials that was the bomb into this country when he entered this country last September. The government further asserted that Ajaj, in conjunction with Ramzi Yousef, was to supply essentially the recipe, the know-how, the expertise that was needed to carry out this terrorist conspiracy. According to Ajaj, the government shifted its theory in summation, however, and argued that Ajaj's role in the conspiracy was to sacrifice himself for Yousef's benefit at Kennedy Airport. The government stated: What is Ajaj doing denying he knows Ramzi Yousef? Basically, he's sacrificing himself. If he got caught, he's going to get Ramzi Yousef--he's going to keep attention away from Ramzi Yousef, so that Ramzi Yousef can get into the country. The government later stated: [Ajaj] c[a]me here with his partner Ramzi Yousef to do the same thing that Ramzi Yousef did. They traveled together. [Ajaj] sprung Ramzi Yousef into the country, and he did everything he could to help Ramzi Yousef after he got here. He did that because the evidence shows that he was part of the conspiracy. Ajaj argues that in conjunction with this unexpected shift in theory, the government, without any prior indication that it would do so, argued that Ajaj authored the notes in the handwritten notebooks and used Ajaj's passport as evidence of his travel to Saudi Arabia to obtain the letter of introduction. Ajaj contends that he was unprepared to meet these new arguments. 242 Ajaj's contentions are meritless. The government's theory of Ajaj's criminal liability was consistent throughout its opening statement and summation. At the outset of the trial, the government argued that Ajaj traveled to the Middle East to obtain explosives expertise and that Ajaj's vital role in this conspiracy was to reenter the United States with the terrorist materials. In summation, the government accordingly argued that Ajaj traveled overseas to obtain terrorist training and facilitated Yousef's entry into the United States by relieving Yousef of the terrorist materials. Contrary to Ajaj's argument, Attorney Campriello's summation reflects that he was well advised of the government's theory of Ajaj's criminal liability. During his summation, Attorney Campriello, among other rebuttal points, quoted extensively from INS inspector Mark Cozine's trial testimony in an effort to demonstrate that Ajaj in no way affected the INS's decision to release Yousef. 243 Furthermore, far from being unprepared to meet the government's new arguments that Ajaj's passport was evidence of his travel to Saudi Arabia and that Ajaj authored the notes in the handwritten notebooks, Attorney Campriello effectively rebutted the government's contentions with arguments that are now, ironically, echoed on appeal. With respect to the passport, Attorney Campriello argued that the presence of a number of demonstrably fraudulent stamps in the passport undermined the reliability of the passport as a whole. Furthermore, Attorney Campriello questioned the government's reliance on the testimony of a fingerprint expert to infer that Ajaj authored the handwritten notes. Attorney Campriello reminded the jury that the government had failed to obtain the testimony of a handwriting expert. In sum, the government did not unfairly raise new theories of Ajaj's guilt during summation.