Opinion ID: 3032503
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: admissibility of roddic’s testimony

Text: The prosecution endeavored to strengthen its case with testimony from Gertrude Roddic, the Director of Presidential Correspondence in the Division of Mail Analysis for the White House. Roddic testified that her office would have deemed Romo’s letter a direct threat to the President. Romo argues that Roddic offered expert testimony, which is inadmissible on the issue of whether a reasonable person would have foreseen that a statement would be interpreted as a serious threat. United States v. Hanna, 293 F.3d 1080, 1086 (9th Cir. 2002) (holding that judge abused his discretion by per- mitting expert testimony on whether a reasonable person would foresee communication as threatening because laypeople are qualified to analyze the question). We agree. Roddic worked at the White House for over fifteen years in various jobs that involved presidential correspondence. Her UNITED STATES v. ROMO 7807 current position requires her personally to read between three hundred and one thousand letters every day. Her division analyzes every single piece of mail sent to the President “from Dear Sir to Sincerely.” The division, according to Roddic’s estimate, processes between 20,000 and 400,000 pieces of mail each day. Her office employs a specific protocol for handling potentially threatening letters that involves identifying such letters and immediately notifying the Secret Service. After Roddic explained her duties, the prosecutor asked the following hypothetical question: “If in fact you received, either yourself or one of your analysts, a letter that said something to the effect that someone should put a bullet in the head of the President of the United States, would you consider that a serious threat?” The question incorporated the language that Romo confessed to writing to the President. Over an objection by Romo’s counsel, Roddic testified that her office would consider such a letter a direct threat. [7] Roddic’s statement that the letter would have been deemed a threat was expert testimony, although the threat language was so explicit that expert testimony was hardly called for. The testimony was based, not on her personal reaction to Romo’s letter, which she had never seen, but on her fifteeen years’ experience analyzing letters to the President and on office protocol. Her statement, a response to a hypothetical question based on experience, was a classic example of expert testimony. United States v. Figueroa-Lopez, 125 F.3d 1241, 1246 (9th Cir. 1997) (holding that testimony based, not on perception, but on education, training, and experience is expert testimony). [8] Roddic testified on the issue that was the heart of the case—whether a reasonable person in Romo’s position would foresee that the letter would be interpreted as a serious threat. Hanna, 293 F.3d at 1084 (liability under 18 U.S.C. § 871(a) requires that a reasonable person would foresee that the statement would be interpreted by those to whom the maker com7808 UNITED STATES v. ROMO municates the statement as a serious threat); Roy v. United States, 416 F.2d 874, 877-78 (9th Cir. 1969) (same). No expert testimony was necessary on that point because the average juror requires no assistance assessing what a reasonable person would foresee. Hanna, 293 F.3d at 1086; Fed. R. Evid. 702 (expert testimony is admissible only when scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact). Not only was the jury without need for Roddic’s expert assistance, but her evaluation of Romo’s language was particularly unhelpful. Her position makes her highly sensitive to threats and far from an accurate bellwether of what a reasonable person would foresee. We therefore hold that the district court abused its discretion by admitting Roddic’s expert testimony that Romo’s letter would have been considered a threat by the White House mail office. [9] Nonetheless, admission of Roddic’s testimony was harmless. Nonconstitutional evidentiary errors are harmless when the government shows “a ‘fair assurance’ that the verdict was not substantially swayed by the error.” United States v. Bauer, 132 F.3d 504, 510 (9th Cir. 1997). We have no doubt the jury would have convicted Romo even without Roddic’s testimony. Deciding whether a reasonable person would have foreseen that Romo’s letter would be perceived as a threat did not require the jury to make a difficult call. Romo announced that he would put a bullet through the President’s head. A clearer threat is difficult to imagine. Roddic’s single line of testimony was mere decorative icing on a cake thickly frosted with evidence that a reasonable person would have foreseen that Romo’s letter would be perceived as threatening.