Opinion ID: 539182
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Claims of Spillover

Text: 141 A defendant who claims that he is entitled to a new trial because of prejudicial spillover bears an extremely heavy burden. United States v. Friedman, 854 F.2d 535, 563 (2d Cir.1988), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 1637, 104 L.Ed.2d 153 (1989). In reviewing such a claim, we cannot assume that a multi-defendant drug trial is beyond the ken of the average juror, see United States v. Moten, 564 F.2d 620, 627 (2d Cir.) (multi-defendant narcotics trial not so complicated as to be beyond the comprehension of the jury), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 942, 98 S.Ct. 438, 54 L.Ed.2d 304 (1977), and we will look to a number of factors to determine whether the joinder was an abuse of discretion. We will consider, for example, to what extent the evidence presented at the joint trial would have been admitted at a single-defendant trial because of the alleged conspiratorial nature of the illegal activity. See United States v. Bari, 750 F.2d 1169, 1178 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 472 U.S. 1019, 105 S.Ct. 3482, 87 L.Ed.2d 617 (1985). We will also consider whether the jury was instructed to assess the evidence against each defendant separately from the proof against the other defendants, see United States v. Carson, 702 F.2d at 367, and whether there is an indication, such as different verdicts with respect to different defendants, that the jury heeded these instructions, see id. See generally United States v. Casamento, 887 F.2d at 1153. No one of these factors is dispositive. 142 In the present case, though the jury returned verdicts of guilty against all defendants on all counts, we see no indication that Johana Torrez, Berrio, Bolivar, or Heriberto Torrez was the victim of prejudicial spillover. We note that we have rejected the claims of Johana Torrez and Heriberto Torrez that the evidence was insufficient to support their convictions, see Part II.B. above, and that Berrio and Bolivar, appropriately, have not challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to convict them. Since each of these four defendants was charged with being a member of the cocaine manufacturing conspiracy and there was sufficient evidence to connect each with the conspiracy, all of the evidence as to each of the other defendants' acts in furtherance of the conspiracy was admissible against each of them. 143 In charging the jury, the trial court repeatedly stated the importance of considering each defendant separately and individually ... based upon the evidence which has been presented against him or her. It noted that a verdict of guilty against one defendant does not mean that you shall necessarily find the other defendants guilty of the same charges, and emphasized that the jury must determine the guilt or innocence of each of these defendants separately as to the count of conspiracy.... Each one stands or falls on the evidence which has been presented against that particular defendant. The jury plainly took these instructions seriously. During its deliberations, for example, it asked which documents had been admitted against which defendants. 144 Given the nature of the case, the evidence against these defendants, the instructions by the trial judge, and the questions of the jury, we find no merit in the claims of prejudicial spillover.