Opinion ID: 672340
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Informant Ellis McKenzie

Text: 23 At trial, the government declined to call McKenzie as a witness. Instead, Appellants introduced McKenzie's testimony via a pre-trial deposition. Appellants planned to use the deposition to show that Winberg lied in stating that he had not intervened and assisted McKenzie when McKenzie was detained for possession of crack cocaine in New Orleans. Additionally, Appellants sought to demonstrate that McKenzie might be biased in favor of the government to prevent criminal charges being brought concerning the New Orleans crack incident. The district court refused to allow Appellants to introduce the entire deposition, allowing only those portions that it deemed relevant for impeachment purposes. Thus, Appellants were prohibited from introducing McKenzie's testimony about his detention in New Orleans. However, the court did permit Appellants to introduce portions of the transcript in which McKenzie admitted being a paid government informant. Appellants claim that the court's limitation violated their Sixth Amendment confrontation rights and constituted reversible error. We disagree. 24 The court did not err by refusing to allow Appellants to enter either those portions of McKenzie's deposition involving the New Orleans incident or the deposition in toto. See United States v. Thompson, 976 F.2d 666, 671 (11th Cir.1992) (introduction of complete medical records unwarranted where they were not as a whole probative of witness' credibility; only those portions inconsistent with witness' trial testimony were probative and could be used for impeachment), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 3010, 125 L.Ed.2d 701 (1993). Furthermore, a review of the record demonstrates no significant inconsistencies between Winberg's and McKenzie's descriptions of the New Orleans crack incident. Accordingly, the district court did not err in limiting the impeachment uses of McKenzie's deposition. 25 We find that Appellants' Sixth Amendment claims similarly lack substance. Although Appellants wanted to probe deeply into McKenzie's background, the Sixth Amendment is satisfied where sufficient information is elicited to allow the jury to gauge adequately a witness' credibility and to assess his motives or possible bias. United States v. Burke, 738 F.2d 1225, 1227-28 (11th Cir.1984) (sufficient information elicited where jury knows a witness has been granted immunity, participated in the witness protection program, and received money from the government). For example, in United States v. Kopituk, we held that a court does not abuse its discretion by limiting cross-examination of the government's most vital witness where the jury knows that the witness has an agreement with the government to testify in exchange for a lenient plea arrangement on pending charges. 690 F.2d 1289, 1337 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 928, 103 S.Ct. 2089, 2090, 77 L.Ed.2d 300 (1983). 26 Here, analogous information was presented to the jury. McKenzie, who can in no way be termed a vital witness, admitted that he was a government informant, that he had been paid money in the past, and that he had received $12,000 in this case. He also testified that he had received $2,000 the day before his deposition and that he spent time preparing for his deposition in the company of Agents Kyle Barnette and Dwight McDaniel. The jury also knew that McKenzie stood to receive $250,000, representing the maximum award allowed to informants. Finally, the jury was aware that whether McKenzie actually received the $250,000 would be determined by Winberg's superiors. Under these circumstances, no further bias would have been exposed by investigation into McKenzie's character or the events surrounding his New Orleans detention. United States v. Alonso, 740 F.2d 862, 874 (11th Cir.1984) (court properly prohibited inquiry into facts concerning witness' arrest; defendants were allowed to ask if witness made a deal with government or expected a benefit for testifying), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1166, 105 S.Ct. 928, 83 L.Ed.2d 939 (1985). 9