Opinion ID: 390861
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: one flew out of the cuckoo's nest: the bifurcated trial of defendant smith

Text: 28 While Judge Smith was in the process of presenting his defense at trial, he suffered a severe heart ailment and was hospitalized. Since Smith refused to waive his right to be present at trial, his counsel moved for a severance and/or a mistrial. Once it was determined that Smith's absence might last for about a month, the trial judge granted the requested severance, denied the motion for a mistrial, and continued the case of Judge Smith for later resolution by the same jury. With Judge Smith and his counsel absent from the courtroom, 19 the jury heard the remaining defendants present their cases. The jury was instructed that 29 (T)he defendant, Samuel S. Smith, is not able to proceed in this trial for physical reasons. He is not now able to do so. 30 The Court has, therefore, withdrawn, at this time, from your deliberations, consideration of the ultimate issue of defendant Smith's guilt or innocence. You may consider and determine whether Smith was a member of the conspiracy charged in Count One of the indictment, if you determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the conspiracy charged existed. 31 You may also consider whether Smith, knowingly and wilfully, participated in the offense charged in Count Two of the indictment, if you determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the offense took place. 32 You must not, however, deliberate the ultimate issue of Smith's guilt or innocence until you have received further instructions to do so from the Court. 33 Transcript at 12,066-67 (emphasis added). 34 After the close of Smith's codefendants' trial, the jury acquitted defendants McDavid and Lee, convicted defendants Riggs and Stratton on all counts, and convicted defendant Harrell on Count One while acquitting him on Count Two. When defendant Smith had recovered sufficiently to return to trial, he completed the presentation of his case before the same jury which had convicted three of his codefendants for their involvement in and attempt to cover up a conspiracy centering around Judge Smith's use of his judicial office for illicit profit-making activity. It is not surprising that the jury found Judge Smith guilty on three of four counts. On appeal, Smith argues that the novel procedure adopted by the trial court clearly abridged his constitutional rights.
35 A defendant has a constitutional right to be present at all stages of his trial when his absence might frustrate the fairness of the proceedings. 20 Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 819 n.15, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 2533 n.15, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975); United States v. Brown, 571 F.2d 980 (6th Cir. 1978). In addition, Fed.R.Crim.P. 43 guarantees a defendant the right to be present at every stage of trial in federal cases. 21 See Rogers v. United States, 422 U.S. 35, 95 S.Ct. 2091, 45 L.Ed.2d 1 (1975); United States v. Benavides, 549 F.2d 392 (5th Cir. 1977). The abridgement of the right to be present at trial may in some cases constitute harmless error, see Rogers, supra; Benavides, supra, but (w)here there is any reasonable possibility of prejudice from the defendant's absence at any stage of the proceedings, a conviction cannot stand. Estes v. United States, 335 F.2d 609, 618 (5th Cir. 1964), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 964, 85 S.Ct. 656, 13 L.Ed.2d 559 (1965). Hence, in many cases finding a defendant's involuntary absence at trial to have been harmless error, the court emphasizes the fact that while the defendant may have been absent, his attorney was present to protect his rights. See, e. g., United States v. Walls, 577 F.2d 690 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 893, 99 S.Ct. 251, 58 L.Ed.2d 239 (1978); United States v. Toliver, 541 F.2d 958 (2d Cir. 1976); Estes, supra, 335 F.2d at 617-18. 36 In the case at bar, the government correctly argues that Smith's absence was technically not an absence during his own trial, since the novel bifurcated trial severance ordered by the trial judge created a period during which only Smith's codefendants and not Smith himself were on trial. The government reasons that neither Smith nor Smith's counsel had a right to be present at the trial of the codefendants, and that their absence therefore cannot constitute reversible error. The government's argument masks the realities of the trial behind legal technicalities. 22 It is clear that even during his absence, Smith was for all practical purposes on trial before the jury which would decide his case. While the trial court's cautionary instruction was careful to order the jury not to reach the ultimate issue of defendant Smith's guilt or innocence , the jury was allowed to consider and determine whether Smith was a member of the conspiracy charged in Count One of the indictment, and to consider whether Smith, knowingly and wilfully, participated in the offense charged in Count Two of the indictment  Transcript at 12,066-67; see pages 1079-1080 supra. Since the focal points of the offenses charged were either racketeering involving Judge Smith's alleged use of his office for illicit purposes, or activities designed to cover up this racketeering, the jury must have considered Judge Smith's involvement when hearing evidence concerning the other defendants and when deliberating on the other defendants' guilt or innocence. The absence of both defendant Smith and his counsel during crucial stages of the trial including the government's summation during which the prosecutor referred to Smith a number of times, once calling him the arch conspirator, was for all practical purposes a clear abridgement of the right to be present at trial. Since there is far more than the mere possibility of prejudice resulting from this procedure, the trial court's error was not harmless and Smith's conviction cannot stand.
37 An even more compelling reason that the bifurcated trial of defendant Smith necessitates the reversal of his conviction and one which does not require us to overlook a legal technicality in favor of the realities of the situation stems from the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to be tried by an impartial jury. U.S.Const. amend. VI (emphasis added); see Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539, 96 S.Ct. 2791, 49 L.Ed.2d 683 (1976). As the Supreme Court has noted, In essence, the right to jury trial guarantees to the criminally accused a fair trial by a panel of impartial, 'indifferent' jurors. The failure to accord an accused a fair hearing violates even the minimal standards of due process. Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1642, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961); see Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975). However, since it would be impractical to require that each juror be completely free from bias in widely publicized cases, (i)t is sufficient if the juror can lay aside his impression or opinion and render a verdict based on the evidence presented in court. 23 Irvin, supra, 81 S.Ct. at 1643. 38 Applying this standard to the case at bar, it is clear that defendant Smith was not tried before a fair and impartial jury. As noted above, after recovering from his heart ailment defendant Smith completed the presentation of his case before the same jury which had recently convicted three of his codefendants of participating in a conspiracy and cover-up centering around illicit activities in Judge Smith's court. Before Smith completed the presentation of his case, the jury had already determined that the charged conspiracy did in fact exist. The jury had also already considered as permitted by the trial judge's instruction whether Smith was a member of the conspiracy and whether Smith knowingly and wilfully participated in the substantive RICO violation charged in the indictment. Since Judge Smith was at the very heart of the offenses charged, it would have indeed been astounding if the same jury which convicted three of his codefendants had acquitted Judge Smith. A clearer case of jury prejudice is difficult to imagine. 39 Adverse pretrial publicity may prejudice a jury panel to such an extent that a fair trial before that panel is impossible. See Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966); Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 83 S.Ct. 1417, 10 L.Ed.2d 663 (1963). Similarly, the inadvertent exposure of a jury panel immediately prior to trial to the fact that the defendant was previously convicted in a related case requires disqualification of the panel. Leonard v. United States, 378 U.S. 544, 84 S.Ct. 1696, 12 L.Ed.2d 1028 (1964); cf. United States v. Carranza, 583 F.2d 25 (1st Cir. 1978) (defendant has right not to be tried by jurors who participated in his conviction in a prior case); Virgin Islands v. Parrott, 551 F.2d 553 (3d Cir. 1977) (absent waiver it violates the Sixth Amendment guarantee of an impartial jury to use a juror who sat in a previous case in which the same defendant was convicted of a similar offense, at least if the cases are proximate in time); Lett v. United States, 15 F.2d 690 (8th Cir. 1926) (error for court to allow jurors who had convicted defendant's wife of similar charges on the same day to hear defendant's case when defendant's wife was alleged to have participated in the offense for which defendant was charged). But the prejudicial impact of adverse pretrial publicity or of the jurors' knowledge that the defendant had been previously convicted in a related case pales when compared with the prejudice in the case at bar. The jurors had not simply heard television news reports about the conspiracy which featured Judge Smith as its main character; they had actually heard damaging testimony under oath and the prosecutor's closing argument in a courtroom. The jurors had not simply been told that Judge Smith had been convicted in a prior related case; they had actually considered for themselves whether Smith was a participant in the very conspiracy and substantive racketeering offense for which he was now on trial. Because Smith was such an integral part of the case at bar, it was impossible to cleanse the jury box of bias after three codefendants had been convicted. The jury which convicted Judge Smith was a jury predisposed to find guilt; after convicting defendants Harrell, Riggs and Stratton, the jury was virtually bound to convict defendant Smith. 24 40 When the trial judge decided to adopt the unprecedented bifurcated trial procedure in the case at bar, he was undoubtedly motivated by sincere considerations of fairness and judicial efficiency. 25 But noble motivations do not excuse constitutional error. The novel procedure adopted by the trial court emphasized interests of efficiency at the expense of defendant Smith's right to a fair trial. The trial court's effort to avoid retrying Judge Smith before a new jury, or possibly continuing the entire case until Smith was able to return, requires us to reverse Smith's conviction and remand for a new trial. 41 Additionally, our careful review of the record in this case convinces us that the absence of Judge Smith prejudiced the effective presentation of the remaining coconspirators' defenses. Because Smith was such a central figure in the conspiracy, allowing the government to try Smith in absentia abridged not only Smith's rights, but, under the facts of the case at bar, also abridged the rights of his coconspirators. The entire trial was thus tainted by the bifurcated trial procedure adopted in this case. Although the issue is a close one, we think that under the unique circumstances of this case, the conviction of defendant Riggs must therefore be reversed and remanded along with the convictions of his codefendants. 26 42 The reversal of defendant Riggs' conviction is based solely upon the unique facts in the record of this case. The presentation of evidence on defendant Smith's guilt in the absence of Smith and his counsel tainted the entire proceeding since Smith was the central figure in the conspiracy. However, this holding should in no way be read to imply that co-conspirators must be tried together or that the central figure in a conspiracy must testify before a co-conspirator can be convicted. We only hold that under the facts in the case at bar, the presentation of evidence bearing upon the guilt of defendant Smith without the presence of Smith of his counsel prejudiced the case of all defendants.