Opinion ID: 771185
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Harmless Error Jurisprudence

Text: 28 A Confrontation Clause violation is subject to harmless error analysis. See United States v. Bowman , 215 F.3d 951, 961 (9th Cir. 2000). In the context of habeas petitions, the standard of review is whether a given error`had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict.'  Christian v. Rhode, 41 F.3d 461, 468 (9th Cir. 1994) (quoting Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 637 (1993)). Under this standard of review: 29 [T]he question is, not were [the jurors ] right in their judgment, regardless of the error or its effect upon the verdict. It is rather what effect the error had or reasonably may be taken to have had upon the jury's decision . . . . The inquiry cannot be merely whether there was enough to support the result, apart from the phase affected by the error. It is rather, even so, whether the error itself had substantial influence. 30 Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 764-65 (1946). 31 We agree with the district court that the Confrontation Clause error was not harmless under this standard. In its analysis, the district court considered an illustrative set of factors to be considered when assessing the harmlessness of a Confrontation Clause violation as propagated by the Supreme Court in Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 684 (1986). These factors include the importance of the testimony, whether the testimony was cumulative, the presence or absence of evidence corroborating or contradicting the testimony, the extent of cross-examination permitted, and the overall strength of the prosecution's case. Id. Van Arsdall, a direct rather than habeas corpus appeal, was subject to the harmless beyond a reasonable doubt standard. Nevertheless, there is nothing in the opinion or logic of Van Arsdall that limits the use of these factors to direct review. See, e.g., Latine v. Mann, 25 F.3d 1162, 1167-68 (2d Cir. 1994) (applying the Van Arsdall factors under a Brecht standard on habeas corpus review). Moreover, the district court merely used the Van Arsdall factors as guidance and cited what it considered to be analogous factors articulated in Brecht . Whelchel, 996 F. Supp. at 1031. The Van Arsdall factors were properly considered and we use them as guidance in our analysis as well.