Opinion ID: 747578
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Witness Examination

Text: 57 Iglesias first asserts that the AUSA improperly elicited testimony from Customs Agent David Robinson during his re-direct examination regarding appellant's prior conviction for kidnaping. Agent Robinson had been asked on cross-examination by Iglesias' counsel about the dismissal of a prior indictment against appellant based upon the same events as the current indictment. From the record, it appears that defense counsel's questions were designed to insinuate that the reason the indictment was dismissed was that the government determined that insufficient evidence existed to convict Iglesias. See R. 8-436-438. On re-direct, the AUSA asked the agent why the indictment had been dismissed. Iglesias' objected on the grounds that the question called for a legal conclusion. The district judge, however, found that defense counsel's line of questioning had opened the door to the AUSA's question. Agent Robinson answered: 58 We found out from the FBI, from the finger print cards that were sent in, that those finger prints that were taken from the gentleman who is now known as Manuel Iglesias having given us the name of Alvaro Perez at the time of arrest, those finger prints for instance the FBI showed that he had been previously arrested for kidnaping. 59 R. 8-445-446. This drew another general objection from Iglesias. The district judge sustained the objection, instructed the jury to disregard the answer, and denied Iglesias' motion for a mistrial. Iglesias asserts that, despite the curative instruction, this comment amounted to plain error.  'Plain error' is found where there is a particularly egregious error that seriously affects the fairness, integrity or public reputation of the judicial proceedings. See United States v. Elkins, 885 F.2d 775, 784 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1005, 110 S.Ct. 1300, 108 L.Ed.2d 477 (1990). 60 We have already determined that, at a later point in the trial, the district judge committed no error in admitting evidence of Iglesias' drug-related kidnaping as Rule 404(b) evidence. Thus, the jury would be in possession of the information that Iglesias was an admitted kidnapper soon after Agent Robinson's testimony. We conclude that its injection into the trial at this point, although improper, does not appear to rise to the level of misconduct and was not so egregiously prejudicial that it could not be cured by the appropriate instruction. 61 First, we must agree with the district court that appellant's line of questions regarding the dismissal of the original indictment against him certainly entitled the government to rebut appellant's subtle insinuations by asking the witness to explain the reason for the prior dismissal. As for the gratuitous information offered by the witness regarding appellant's prior criminal activity, while it may have been unresponsive to the question, it falls far short of being so prejudicial that the fundamental fairness of the proceedings would be called into question. Compare United States v. DeGeratto, 876 F.2d 576, 586-87 (7th Cir.1989) (holding repeated questioning and closing argument comments on a variety of uncharged misconduct, including loan sharking, was clearly prejudicial and too far afield, thus warranting a new trial). As we have repeatedly stated, a prejudicial remark may be rendered harmless by curative instructions to the jury. See e.g., United States v. Simon, 964 F.2d 1082, 1087 (11th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 1033, 113 S.Ct. 1854, 123 L.Ed.2d 476 (1993) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted) (upholding denial of mistrial where prosecutor made improper comments suggesting a shift in the burden of proof). Such an instruction purges the taint of prejudicial remarks because a 'jury is presumed to follow jury instructions.'  Id. (quoting Adams v. Wainwright, 709 F.2d 1443, 1447 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1063, 104 S.Ct. 745, 79 L.Ed.2d 203 (1984)). 62 In this case, the district judge sustained defense counsel's objection and promptly instructed the jury to disregard the answer. Furthermore, as we noted above, the jury was also instructed twice regarding the proper use of the testimony that Iglesias had been convicted in a drug-related kidnaping, which is precisely the testimony that Agent Robinson gave. Appellant offers nothing to rebut the presumption that the jury followed these instructions. 63 Iglesias also objects to the testimony of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent George Miller who testified that when Iglesias was arrested in December 1989, he identified himself as Del Campo. Iglesias asserts that there was no legitimate purpose to support eliciting this testimony because it involved an unrelated extrinsic crime occurring in 1989. Appellant's Brief at 19. His argument runs directly contrary to the record. According to Agent Miller's testimony, Iglesias was arrested by the Miami Police after he fled from the area Agent Miller was surveilling. It was to Agent Miller that appellant represented himself has Del Campo while being processed at the DEA office in Miami on the charges contained in the November 15, 1989, indictment against him. We find nothing improper about this testimony. 64 In any event, Iglesias failed to object to Agent Miller's testimony at trial. As an evidentiary matter, a contemporaneous objection was required to allow the district court the opportunity to correct any error that may have existed. Simon, 964 F.2d at 1085. Absent such an objection, we do not apply the customary abuse of discretion standard. Our review, rather, would be limited to a search for plain error. While the relevance of this testimony may not be readily apparent, it was clearly not plain error to allow its admission.