Opinion ID: 760681
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Martinez, Herpin and Tineo Challenge the Denial of Their Mistrial Motion

Text: 22 Martinez, joined by Tineo and Herpin, also takes issue with Raymond Smith's testimony, claiming that Smith made an improper, prejudicial comment. Martinez also argues that another witness, Elizabeth Diaz, made a prejudicial statement, and that the cumulative effect of both of these statements denied him (and Herpin and Tineo) a fair trial. 23 Raymond Smith testified on the first day of the three-week trial. The prosecutor asked Smith how he met Martinez. Smith responded that he first met Martinez when Martinez was involved in a car accident in Smith's neighborhood. Smith testified that they [Martinez and Herpin] had people moving the crowd away because they said they were going to shoot them. Martinez, Tineo and Herpin immediately objected and outside of the jury's presence, argued for a mistrial. The district court instructed the jury to disregard the testimony, struck the testimony from the record, and clarified to the jury that no weapon had been discharged, but it denied the motion for a mistrial. The district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing a mistrial. We presume jurors follow the court's instructions, United States v. Linwood, 142 F.3d 418, 426 (7th Cir.1998), and the defendants are only entitled to a fair trial, not a perfect one. United States v. Wilson, 134 F.3d 855, 867 (7th Cir.1998). 24 Martinez, Tineo and Herpin also contend that a stray comment made by a witness as she left the witness stand was prejudicial. Elizabeth Diaz sold cocaine for Martinez. She testified against Martinez, and after finishing her testimony she left the courtroom, passing by Tineo's counsel. Tineo's counsel heard her state That's the murderer as she passed by. (Diaz apparently believed that Martinez killed her boyfriend, Tito, but none of Diaz's testimony before the jury related to this). However, neither the judge, the court clerk, the court reporter, the prosecution, nor other defense counsel heard what Diaz may have said. On the basis of this investigation, the district court concluded that it was unlikely that the jury heard it. The district court also declined to poll the jury with regard to this comment, because polling the jury would only serve to highlight this stray, prejudicial remark. Again, the district court refused to grant the defense motion for a mistrial. In the absence of a strong probability that the jury heard the remark, and given that none of Diaz's testimony related to any shootings by Martinez, the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to poll the jury or otherwise making further inquiry into this. 25 Martinez also argues that Smith's stray remark, in combination with Diaz's stray remark, had a cumulative prejudicial effect upon the jury, and cannot be cured with limiting instructions. As we have already concluded that the prejudicial effect of Diaz's remark was negligible, we would be hard-pressed to say that the remark was prejudicial when combined with other evidence. Martinez cites United States v. Ham, 998 F.2d 1247, 1251 (4th Cir.1993), in support, but we see Martinez's case as having far less danger of unfair prejudice. In Ham, evidence of child abuse, homosexuality, and abuse of women was admitted into evidence during a trial on fraud and racketeering. The Fourth Circuit held that we fear that jurors will convict a defendant based on the jurors' disdain or their belief that the defendant's prior bad acts make guilt more likely. Id. at 1252. The judicial evidence involved child molestation, and in fact, the Fourth Circuit cited two more cases involving child molestation for the proposition that some prejudice cannot be cured with a limiting instruction. Martinez further cites United States v. Frederick, 78 F.3d 1370, 1381 (9th Cir.1996), which also involves improper accusations of child molestation cumulatively leading to a finding of error. While the idea of cumulative prejudicial error is not expressly limited to cases of child molestation, we must be convinced that the element of prejudice in this case is similarly inflammatory. Martinez can point to nothing which occurred in his trial which could be considered as inflammatory as an accusation of child molestation. The few details of the altercation brought before the jury cannot equate to the extensive evidence of child molestation allowed in Ham and Frederick. And Diaz's comment, which probably had not been heard by the jury, did not specifically refer to Martinez or to the victim of the alleged murder. If these minor errors compel a mistrial, the exception would swallow the rule and few trials would result in any verdict whatsoever. 26