Opinion ID: 352530
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Comment on Maheu.

Text: 69 We turn first to its argument that the judge's comment concerning Maheu was unfair and prejudicial. 70 After instructing the jury on the applicable law, and just before sending them out to deliberate, the trial judge chose to comment upon the evidence by stating his opinion of Maheu. Here is what he said: 71 Now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it is within my province as Judge to assist the jury in arriving at a just conclusion by commenting upon the evidence and upon the credibility of witnesses in this case. 72 However, I hasten to add that it is the exclusive province of the jury to determine the facts from the evidence and to pass upon the credibility of all witnesses. I want to emphasize that the jury is not bound, in any way, by the Judge's comments upon the evidence and credibility of witnesses and may, if it so chooses, completely disregard all such comments of the Court. In short, the jury is the final arbiter of the credibility of the witnesses and of the facts shown by the evidence. 73 Now, ladies and gentlemen, this has been a very long and involved case. The evidence is, to say the least, complex. The Court suggests that to put the evidence in this case in proper perspective, you should view it in the light of the extraordinary relationship that existed between Mr. Maheu and Mr. Hughes. That relationship is evidenced, in part, by copies of the 80 or so handwritten memos that passed from Mr. Hughes to Mr. Maheu. Those pieces of paper give us a glimpse into the minds of the people enmeshed in this case. 74 Now, Mr. Maheu has testified that the 80 or so written memos which are in evidence represent a fraction of the memos that passed between him and Mr. Hughes. As I recall, Mr. Maheu testified that he returned all of the memos to the aide, Mr. Crawford, except one that involved the voting trust matter. Other than the voting trust memo, the other handwritten memos in evidence, except for Exhibit 18 which Summa produced, were obtained, according to Mr. Maheu, from Mr. Vogliotti, a Las Vegas freelance writer who got them from a disenchanted former Hughes employee by the name of Johnny Meier. That was Mr. Maheu's testimony. 75 As to the remaining memos, they have not been produced; they are gone; we don't know who's got them. We can't consider them. 76 Now, ladies and gentlemen, the credibility of a witness is important. The most important live witness that we have heard from in this case is Mr. Maheu. To me Robert A. Maheu is an enigma, a puzzlement. On one hand he can be described as affable, intelligent, imaginative, articulate. He is a friendly man with important friends in high places. He has enormous energy and drive and the ability to get things done. Apparently, it was because of these assets that Robert Maheu served as Howard Hughes' ambassador-at-large. Looked at from another angle, Mr. Maheu appears to be talkative, somewhat naive, artless, careless, imprecise. An overly-trusting man whose personal affairs were in a state of disarray. Although Mr. Butler, the tax lawyer, described his client Maheu as a walking calamity, I would describe him as a walking paradox. 77 Undoubtedly he is possessed of some unusual talents, but like all men he has his share of foibles. I think his anecdote about locking himself out of his car on his first FBI assignment provides some insight in that area. 78 Now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, these are my brief comments. I hope that they prove of some assistance to you in arriving at a just verdict on the liability issue. Again, I stress to you that you are the final and sole arbiters of the facts and of the credibility of the witnesses who have testified in this case and you are at liberty to disregard all comments of the Court upon the evidence and the witnesses. 79 (R.T. at 12,616-18). 80 Maheu responds to Summa's challenge to those comments by arguing (1) that Summa waived its right to attack the comments under F.R.Civ.P. 51 because its objection was made after the jury retired to consider its verdict and (2) that assuming the objection was timely, the comments were not prejudicial. 81
Plaintiff cites Rule 51, F.R.Civ.P.: 82 No party may assign as error the giving or the failure to give an instruction unless he objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his objection. Opportunity shall be given to make the objection out of the hearing of the jury. 83 (Emphasis added.) 84 In this case, after the court completed the instructions, and within the hearing of the jury, the judge asked whether counsel had any further objections. Summa's attorney responded that he did not. At that point, after indicating that he would ask the bailiffs to make immediate arrangements for the jury's lunch, the judge ordered that the jury be shown to the jury room. Uncontradicted affidavits submitted by Summa's attorneys state that handwritten objections to the judge's comments were submitted to the court within fifteen minutes after the jury went out and court recessed, and that at all times before the delivery of that memorandum and for at least thirty minutes afterward, the jury was not in the jury room, which had been left open and unattended. The judge had specifically instructed the jury that it was to discuss the case only when all the jurors were together in the jury room. Thus it appears that the objection had been transmitted to the court before the jury had begun deliberations. 85 The purpose of Rule 51 in general is to give the trial judge an opportunity to reconsider any ruling that he may have made, and if he is convinced that he is in error to reinstruct the jury prior to its deliberation. Cosper v. Southern Pacific Co., 9 Cir., 1961, 298 F.2d 102, 104 (footnote omitted). Neither side had any idea that the court was going to comment on Maheu or his credibility. Thus counsel was caught completely off guard. He obviously did not want to object in front of the jury. While Summa's counsel should, more appropriately, have asked for permission to approach the bench or for an opportunity to discuss the matter outside the presence of the jury, the objection was still raised before the jury had begun to consider its verdict. While this procedure is not recommended, the purpose of the rule is not thwarted by our finding that the objection was timely. Here the court had an opportunity to consider Summa's objection before the jury had begun deliberations. Thus, the court was given a chance to reconsider its instructions and to offer a curative instruction if it had concluded that one was necessary. 4 86
87 The next question is whether the judge's comments were prejudicial. The trial judge is not limited to instructions of an abstract sort and it is within his province, whenever he thinks it necessary, to assist the jury in arriving at a just conclusion by explaining and commenting upon the evidence by drawing their attention to the parts of it which he thinks important. Quercia v. United States, 1933, 289 U.S. 466, 469, 53 S.Ct. 698, 699, 77 L.Ed. 1321. But that power has inherent limitations which were carefully stated by Mr. Chief Justice Hughes in Quercia : 88 His discretion is not arbitrary and uncontrolled, but judicial, to be exercised in conformity with the standards governing the judicial office. In commenting upon testimony he may not assume the role of a witness. He may analyze and dissect the evidence, but he may not either distort it or add to it. His privilege of comment in order to give appropriate assistance to the jury is too important to be left without safeguards against abuses. The influence of the trial judge on the jury is necessarily and properly of great weight and his lightest word or intimation is received with deference, and may prove controlling. This Court has accordingly emphasized the duty of the trial judge to use great care that an expression of opinion upon the evidence should be so given as not to mislead, and especially that it should not be one-sided; that deductions and theories not warranted by the evidence should be studiously avoided. 289 U.S., at 470, 53 S.Ct. at 699. 89 See also, United States v. Stephens, 9 Cir., 1973, 486 F.2d 915. 90 We are persuaded that the comment went too far in this case. The comment was not a carefully balanced appraisal of the voluminous conflicting evidence, or of Maheu's credibility. Rather it directed the jury's attention to Maheu's assets and unusual talents. Maheu was described as affable, intelligent, imaginative, articulate, a friendly man with important friends in high places, and a man of enormous energy and drive with the ability to get things done. While that description may be accurate, not all the evidence supported that view. Yet, the only negative traits which the court mentioned were that Maheu was talkative, somewhat naive, artless, careless, imprecise, an overly trusting man whose personal affairs were in a state of disarray, a man like all men with his share of foibles, who locks himself out of cars. This glowing character reference failed to mention Summa's contentions that Maheu was dishonest, a thief, an embezzler, and a perjurer, a contention that was supported by a mass of very persuasive evidence. 91 Maheu's credibility was the crucial factor in the entire case. Time after time the resolution of a critical factual issue came down to a choice between Maheu's version and either directly contrary testimony by other witnesses or by Maheu himself on other occasions, or extremely damaging circumstantial evidence. Maheu was well aware that Hughes would not testify, and he took full advantage of that fact. In response to the evidence relating to instances in which he acquired money from Hughes or Summa in most peculiar and damning circumstances, his explanation was that, in a private conversation with Hughes, to which no one was privy, and of which there was no record, he was told to do what he did. 92 We cite but one example. He was supposed to provide full time guard service, around the clock, for certain properties in Tucson owned by Summa. He submitted bills for those services. On their face they showed hours of work by each guard, and an hourly rate of pay. They were false. They showed many more hours, and substantially higher rates of pay, than were in fact furnished and paid, to the tune of many thousands of dollars. Maheu did not deny that the billings were false. He said that Hughes told him to make a good profit from furnishing the guards, and to conceal from the executives of Summa the fact that he was making a profit. His explanations of other instances were equally bizarre. But they had one thing in common. They rested on private, unrecorded conversations between him and Hughes. 93 Maheu was thoroughly and convincingly impeached. He was flatly contradicted on many matters by many witnesses. His response, as to most of them, was that they lied. He was also contradicted by contemporaneous records. He repeatedly flatly contradicted testimony that he himself had given under oath either in other litigation or in his depositions. Some of his explanations were ludicrous. Sometimes all he could say was that he could see no conflict. More than once, when he was floundering around for an explanation, the judge interrupted with a leading question embodying an explanation which Maheu gratefully adopted. Nothing can be more damaging to a cross-examination of a lying, prevaricating, equivocating, mendacious, dishonest, deceitful, untruthful, tergiversating witness. From our reading of all of his testimony, it can be persuasively argued that he was just that kind of witness, or at least the jury could have so found. 94 In face of the foregoing, we are at a loss to understand why the judge made the comment on Maheu that he did. It is, in essence, a personal character reference for the man. 95 (T)he credibility issues before the jury were close, difficult and extremely important. In such a case commenting on the evidence is a perilous endeavor, to be undertaken with caution lest the slightest suggestion of favor for one side or the other from the supposedly impartial moderator tip the balance and impel a decision. Here the trial judge, in the guise of fair comment, overreached and by adding evidence on the credibility of a key witness seriously impaired appellant's right to a fair and impartial trial. 96 United States v. Cisneros, 5 Cir., 1974, 491 F.2d 1068, 1076. 97 The court here did tell the jurors that they were free to disregard his comments on the evidence, but that was not sufficient to cure the error. The impact of the comment is not so easily mitigated. Quercia, supra, 289 U.S. at 472, 53 S.Ct. 698; United States v. Jacobo-Gil, 9 Cir., 1973, 474 F.2d 1213, 1216; Cal-Bay Corp. v. United States, 9 Cir., 1948, 169 F.2d 15, 23, cert. denied, 335 U.S. 859, 69 S.Ct. 134, 93 L.Ed. 406. 98 The timing of the comment immediately before the jury retired to deliberate further assured it a strong impact. See Caskey v. Village of Wayland, 2 Cir., 1967, 375 F.2d 1004, 1009. The court then compounded its error by ordering that its oral comments be transcribed and included in the written booklet of instructions submitted to the jury. 99 We have no choice but to reverse the judgment on the ground that the trial court's one-sided characterization of Maheu came close to directing a verdict in his favor, thus denying Summa a fair trial. Gordon Mailloux Enterprises, Inc. v. Firemen's Ins. Co., 9 Cir., 1966, 366 F.2d 740, 742-43; Harding v. United States, 9 Cir., 1964, 335 F.2d 515. 100