Opinion ID: 445685
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Admissibility of Confederate's Guilty Plea

Text: 16 Hutchings next argues that the trial court erred in allowing his employee Clark Stagner to testify on direct examination that he had pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting Hutchings in the commission of the offenses charged in relation to the CUPAC scheme. Stagner's guilty plea was made in exchange for the government's promise not to bring any more charges stemming from the CUPAC scheme in the Eastern District of Missouri, but with the understanding that he would be subject to perjury charges if he failed to cooperate. Hutchings asserts that Stagner's testimony prejudiced him before the jury because the jury would automatically assume that if Stagner was guilty, Hutchings must be as well. Also, Hutchings attacks Stagner's testimony as improper because it bolstered Stagner's credibility before that credibility had been questioned. The Government responds that the testimony as to the guilty plea was not offered as substantive evidence of Hutchings' guilt, but rather to reflect solely on Stagner's credibility. 17 We find that the clear view in this circuit is that a confederate's guilty plea is admissible, even on the Government's direct examination of the witness, as evidence of the witness' credibility, or of his acknowledgment of participation in the offense. See e.g., Wallace v. Lockhart, 701 F.2d 719, 725-26 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 340, 78 L.Ed.2d 308 (1983); United States v. Little Boy, 578 F.2d 211, 212 (8th Cir.1978); United States v. Wiesle, 542 F.2d 61, 62 (8th Cir.1976); Gerberding v. United States, 471 F.2d 55, 60 (8th Cir.1973). Evidence of the guilty plea cannot be used as substantive evidence of the defendant's guilt, and is properly accompanied by a cautionary instruction from the trial court so advising the jury. See Wallace, 701 F.2d at 726. The trial court here did not err in admitting Stagner's testimony as to his guilty plea. The Government did not improperly emphasize the evidence, and did not refer to the plea in its closing argument. Also, the trial court instructed the jury as to the limited admissibility of the guilty plea immediately following the close of Stagner's testimony. The admission of the testimony was well within the guidelines set by this court in Wallace, Wiesle, and Gerberding.