Opinion ID: 754313
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Issue (2)--Cumulative Error

Text: 26 Mr. Jackson asserts that the admission of two autopsy photos and a victim's blood-covered clothing combined with the prosecutor's question You did not happen to ask someone ... how it felt to kill somebody? individually and cumulatively deprived him of a fair trial. We address each argument individually. 27 First, regarding Mr. Jackson's claim of prosecutorial misconduct, Mr. Jackson must establish that the prosecutor's actions were so egregious as to render the trial fundamentally unfair, and we make that determination considering the totality of the circumstances, evaluating the prosecutor's conduct in the context of the whole trial. See Donnelly v. DeChristoforo, 416 U.S. 637, 643, 94 S.Ct. 1868, 1871, 40 L.Ed.2d 431 (1974); Robison, 829 F.2d at 1508-09. When evaluating claims of prosecutorial misconduct based on improper remarks made by the prosecutor, we look ... at the strength of the evidence against defendant and decide whether the prosecutor's statements ... 'could have tipped the scales in favor of the prosecution.'  See Fero v. Kerby, 39 F.3d 1462, 1474 (10th Cir.1994) (internal quotation and citation omitted), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1122, 115 S.Ct. 2278, 132 L.Ed.2d 282 (1995). 28 In light of the considerable evidence implicating Mr. Jackson in the murder and robbery, we believe the prosecutor's question did not fundamentally impair the jury's ability to judge the evidence fairly. See id. (quoting Hopkinson v. Shillinger, 866 F.2d 1185, 1210 (10th Cir.1989)). Even assuming the question improper, independent evidence existed upon which the jury could have properly based a verdict. Mr. Jackson was identified at trial as the perpetrator by the surviving victim and was placed at the scene of the crime by Sue Baby Ross. After review of the entire record, including the other prejudicial circumstances Mr. Jackson forwards, we conclude that even if the prosecutor's question constituted error it did not have a substantial and injurious effect on the verdict. Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 638, 113 S.Ct. 1710, 1722, 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1993) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). For that reason, Mr. Jackson is not entitled to relief on this ground. 29 Second, Mr. Jackson's due process arguments relating to the admissibility of the victims' clothing and autopsy photos similarly will not support habeas relief absent fundamental unfairness so as to constitute a denial of due process of law. Martin v. Kaiser, 907 F.2d 931, 934 (10th Cir.1990). Because we approach the fundamental fairness analysis with considerable self-restraint, United States v. Rivera, 900 F.2d 1462, 1477 (10th Cir.1990) (en banc), we do not believe Mr. Jackson has established that either evidentiary ruling deprived him of due process. The trial court's admission of the autopsy photographs was upheld by the New Mexico Supreme Court as a proper exercise of the trial court's discretion in admitting photographs into evidence. See I R. doc. 9 ex. H at 3; State v. Sedillo, 76 N.M. 273, 414 P.2d 500, 502-03 (1966). Though admittedly unpleasant, the photographs illuminated and clarified the forensic pathologist's testimony. Mr. Jackson has not forwarded any persuasive reasons why we should disturb that ruling, and we are not inclined to do so. See, e.g., United States v. Treas-Wilson, 3 F.3d 1406, 1410 (10th Cir.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1064, 114 S.Ct. 739, 126 L.Ed.2d 702 (1994); United States v. Sides, 944 F.2d 1554, 1562 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 989, 112 S.Ct. 604, 116 L.Ed.2d 627 (1991). 30 Similarly, the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's admission of the clothing, noting it was relevant to show the position of the bullet holes as well as the distance between the victim and the weapon when it was fired. I R. doc. 9 ex. H at 3. Though Mr. Jackson argues that the clothing's evidentiary value, if any, was outweighed by its cumulative and prejudicial nature, we do not find the admission of the clothing shocking to the universal sense of justice. Rivera, 900 F.2d at 1477. 31 Finally, Mr. Jackson argues that these three instances, combined with other allegedly prejudicial circumstances not raised below, cumulatively deprived him of due process. Though we have held that cumulative errors may produce a fundamentally unfair trial warranting habeas relief, we may evaluate only the cumulative effect of matters determined to be error. See id. at 1471. Even assuming the prosecutor's improper questioning constituted error, the evidentiary rulings did not, and we have already determined that Mr. Jackson is not entitled to relief on that ground. Because Mr. Jackson has not established that cumulative error occurred, his cumulative error claim, by definition, fails. See id.V. Issue (3)--Transcript Not in Evidence 32 Mr. Jackson argues that the inadvertent submission of an unadmitted exhibit to the jury during deliberations violated his right to an impartial jury. The exhibit at issue was presented as a defense exhibit during Mr. Jackson's pretrial hearing challenging the death qualification of the jury, and consisted of a motion hearing transcript in an unrelated case in which attorneys argued that jurors selected through the death qualification process tend to be conviction-prone and unfair. Mr. Jackson contends that the jurors' exposure to this material resulted in the defense's loss of credibility and improperly infected the jurors' deliberation, resulting in a verdict based on extrinsic, extremely prejudicial information. 33 Mr. Jackson admits, however, that upon discovery of the inadvertent submission of the transcript, the court instructed the jury to disregard the exhibit entirely, and polled each juror individually regarding their inspection of the transcript. Seven jurors replied they had read only the cover page of the transcript, which displayed only the caption and attorney appearances in the unrelated case. The other five jurors indicated they had not examined the transcript at all. See Aplt. Br. at 43. We presume these factual findings are correct. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). We also presume that the jury followed the trial court's instruction to disregard the transcript. See United States v. Hollis, 971 F.2d 1441, 1455 (10th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 985, 113 S.Ct. 1580, 123 L.Ed.2d 148 (1993). Thus, Mr. Jackson's argument fails, given the presumption that no juror examined the substance of the unadmitted transcript and Mr. Jackson's failure to allege facts sufficient to overcome that presumption. 34 Even were we to accept Mr. Jackson's assertion that the jurors' statements were simply incredible in light of the circumstances, the trial court's instruction to disregard the transcript's contents, which we presume the jury followed, would have cured any error. See United States v. Williams, 923 F.2d 1397, 1401 (10th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 925, 111 S.Ct. 2033, 114 L.Ed.2d 118 (1991). Accordingly, Mr. Jackson is not entitled to habeas relief on this ground. 35