Opinion ID: 450719
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Pullen's Testimony

Text: 20 At trial, appellant sought to offer the testimony of Robert B. Pullen, the President and Chief Financial Officer of First Pullen Commodity Services, Inc. (First Pullen). First Pullen was the futures commission firm responsible for executing commodities transactions for BTG and NIS. Pullen was the individual at First Pullen who received and transmitted trade orders from and to NIS and BTG. 21 Anticipating that Pullen would assert his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination during appellant's trial, appellant's counsel requested that the Government grant immunity to Pullen. Having been denied this request, appellant's counsel filed a motion in the district court asking the court either to immunize Pullen, to order the Government to grant Pullen use immunity, or to dismiss the indictment with prejudice. The court rejected these alternatives. Nevertheless, appellant was given the opportunity to read into the record testimony given by Pullen before a grand jury in previous proceedings. This testimony was substantially equivalent to that which the appellant had sought to elicit at trial by putting Pullen on the witness stand. 22 Appellant argues that the failure to immunize Pullen amounted to a denial of due process rights and the right to compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor as granted by the sixth amendment. In appellant's view, he was further deprived of due process because of governmental selectiveness in its granting of immunity to other witnesses. This, he claims, rendered the trial fundamentally unfair because it allegedly resulted in the presentation to the jury of only a misleading portion of the whole story. Appellant also contends that said unfairness was later magnified when the Government argued to the jury that Pullen's grand jury testimony should not be given as much weight as the testimony of a live witness. 23 The fact that Pullen was not given immunity did not prejudice appellant. Pullen provided the same testimony to the grand jury that appellant sought for his own trial. This evidence, albeit read into the record, was admitted at trial. The jury was not deprived of considering the allegedly essential and exculpatory information in appellant's favor. Thus, the judicial fact-finding process has not been rendered unfair because of the absence of Pullen's live testimony. See United States v. Alessio, 528 F.2d 1079 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 948, 96 S.Ct. 3167, 49 L.Ed.2d 1184 (1976). 24 Furthermore, we cannot conclude that the trial was rendered unfair by the prosecutor's comment that live testimony was more reliable than the written transcript of Pullen's grand jury testimony. Although the comment was less than politic, any difficulty in this regard was corrected when the court gave the jury prompt curative instructions to which appellant did not object. In light of the court's alert and appropriate instructions, we find no prejudice to appellant in the comment by itself or in its allegedly cumulative effect upon the factual image presented to the jury throughout the trial, particularly when considered against a backdrop of overwhelming evidence against appellant.