Opinion ID: 72086
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alleged Misconduct Relating to Tape-Recorded Evidence

Text: 35 In conducting his investigation of Bailey's firearms activities, Agent Hudson obtained authorization to make consensual tape recordings of specified conversations. Among those recorded conversations was a telephone conversation between Agent Hudson and Martine Priest, owner of the accounting business where Bailey was licensed to deal firearms and at which address he received firearms shipments. Agent Hudson's conversation with Priest revealed that she was not involved in any wrongdoing and that she received packages for Bailey at her business. Agent Hudson inadvertently forgot about the Priest conversation being on the tape and failed to mention it in any of his electronic surveillance reports. That same day, he rewound the tape and recorded over his conversation with Priest a conversation between an inspector and Bailey's wife. This tape, admitted into evidence as Government Exhibit 27A, contained the full conversation between the inspector and Bailey's wife immediately followed by the remaining portion of the conversation between Agent Hudson and Priest. 36 Two years after the Priest conversation was recorded and more than a year prior to trial, copies of all tape-recorded evidence, including the tape containing the extant portion of the Priest conversation, were given to the defense. Agent Hudson had forgotten, and the prosecutor never knew of the portion of the Priest conversation that was on the tape. At trial, Agent Hudson testified about the tape recordings made during the investigation of Bailey and, without including the taped conversation with Priest, stated that those were the only conversations that he recorded. Although Agent Hudson testified about his conversation with Priest, he did not testify that the conversation was recorded, and he was not asked about the Priest tape on cross-examination. Priest testified that Bailey had represented the address of her accounting firm as the address of his firearms business. 37 After the government completed its case in chief, the defense requested an ex parte hearing with the court. The defense then revealed the existence of the Priest conversation on its copy of Government Exhibit 27A and argued that Agent Hudson had committed perjury by not mentioning the conversation during his direct examination. The court allowed the defense not to disclose the Priest conversation to ensure that Agent Hudson would have no time to consider his explanation and response. The defense then called Agent Hudson and questioned him about the taping that he had conducted. Again, Agent Hudson did not mention that he taped his conversation with Priest, and the defense did not reveal the existence of the Priest tape. 38 During Bailey's testimony, his attorney played the Priest tape for the jury, and Bailey identified the voices of Agent Hudson and Priest. Bailey's attorney then moved to dismiss the indictment for perjury which was committed in this courtroom. 1 Supp. R13-113. Although the prosecutor suggested that Agent Hudson be recalled so that the district judge could question him regarding the alleged perjury, the district judge addressed the issue with Bailey's attorney and the prosecutor as follows: 39 Your [defense] position is that the perjury is his statement that he made no other recordings when in fact he made one? 40 .... 41 [I]f every testimonial error constituted perjury, the courts would be flooded with them. 42 .... 43 [T]here are [ele]ments of perjury other than failure of recollection or mistake, even assuming that that's what occurred. 44 .... 45 I'm not going to direct Mr. Hudson to take the stand, unless you want to call him in rebuttal. It's your decision or whatever else you want to do in presenting your case. But I can't at this moment conceive of summarily adjudicating based on what I've heard in a manner--or the logical inference of which would be that I have found him guilty of perjury based on this. 46 Id. at 115, 116, 120. 47 The government called Agent Hudson in rebuttal to explain the existence of the Priest tape. Agent Hudson testified about this tape as follows: 48 It was authorized. It was under the same authorization that was made on March the 9th, I think it was, of 1990. But I didn't testify to it. I frankly forgot that it had occurred. But it did occur and it was authorized, yes. 49 .... 50 I was correct to the best of my memory at the time. Obviously now I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't remember that one. 51 R17-4. 20 Interestingly, the original government tape, Government Exhibit 27A, that was admitted into evidence did not contain the Priest conversation, while the defense exhibit, Defendant's Exhibit 18, copied from the government tape, did contain the Priest conversation. 21 Both exhibits were admitted into evidence and submitted to the jury, which was informed that Government Exhibit 27A did not contain the Priest conversation. During his closing argument, Bailey's attorney urged the jury to listen to both tapes during deliberations and stressed Agent Hudson's alleged perjury regarding the Priest conversation. 52 After Bailey's conviction, his attorney filed a motion for judgment of acquittal based on Agent Hudson's alleged perjury. The district court denied the motion because the prosecutor did not know about the alleged perjury, and Agent Hudson's alleged perjury was explored on cross-examination, which removed any possible prejudice to the defense. On appeal, Bailey renews his contention that Agent Hudson committed perjury and that the indictment must be dismissed. 53 To obtain a reversal on the grounds that the government relied on perjured testimony, the following must be shown: (1) the contested statements were actually false, (2) the statements were material, and (3) the prosecution knew that they were false. United States v. Blackburn, 9 F.3d 353, 357 (5th Cir.1993). Instead of showing perjury, we conclude that Bailey has demonstrated nothing more than a memory lapse, unintentional error, or oversight by Agent Hudson. See United States v. Payne, 940 F.2d 286, 291 (8th Cir.1991) (determining that perjury was not established by the fact that testimony is challenged by another witness or is inconsistent with prior statements and recognizing that not every contradiction in fact or argument is material). The jury clearly credited Agent Hudson's testimony because it found Bailey guilty on twenty of twenty-two counts, and Agent Hudson was essential to the government's case. In their closing arguments, both the prosecutor and Bailey's counsel urged the jury not to convict Bailey if they determined that he had testified falsely. By returning a guilty verdict, the jury rejected Bailey's contention that Agent Hudson had testified falsely. 54 Furthermore, there was no incentive for Agent Hudson to misrepresent the existence of the Priest tape because it was not helpful to the defense. Priest was a friendly government witness, and her testimony was damaging to Bailey because she confirmed Agent Hudson's account of their conversations. As the prosecutor explained in his closing argument, [i]f someone were going to pick something to get rid of in this case it wouldn't be a tape recording involving Martine Priest because that tape was not exculpatory. 1 Supp. R15-162. Agent Hudson had nothing to gain and everything to lose by erasing or testifying falsely about the Priest tape. Significantly, the entire tape was not erased, which substantiates the credibility of his explanation. As Agent Hudson testified: If [I] was going to be erasing evidence, I suppose the whole thing would have been erased. R17-18. 55 Agent Hudson was testifying about a tape recording that had occurred more than three years prior to trial, which tape he had forgotten until Defendant's Exhibit 18 was admitted into evidence. Bailey's attorney even surprised Agent Hudson with Defendant's Exhibit 18 so that he would not be able to consider his response. If Agent Hudson's explanation was erroneous, then it was an inadvertent error because of his deficient memory after three years. Additionally, Bailey has not suggested any reason why Agent Hudson would have testified falsely about the procedures used to copy the tapes in pretrial discovery. Bailey has presented no reasonable basis for concluding that Agent Hudson's explanation concerning the Priest tape was perjurious. 56 We also conclude that the alleged perjury relating to the Priest tape was not material to Bailey's conviction or did not corrupt the truth-seeking function of the trial process and, thus, had no effect on the jury's verdict. United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 104, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 2397, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976); see Blackburn, 9 F.3d at 357; see also DeMarco v. United States, 928 F.2d 1074, 1077 (11th Cir.1991) (A conviction must be overturned which rests in part upon the knowing use of false testimony if there is any reasonable likelihood that the false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury.). The alleged false testimony plainly had no bearing on Bailey's convictions. Agent Hudson did not deny having a conversation with Priest; he merely failed to mention that he had taped it. Thus, the alleged perjury in this case relates to the taping and not to the conversation. 57 Whether or not Agent Hudson recorded the conversation with Priest has no relevance to whether Bailey committed mail fraud, possessed machineguns, sold firearms out of his home, obstructed an investigation, or committed perjury. Even if Agent Hudson had testified falsely about the content of the taped conversation, rather than the mere fact of the taping, no relief would be warranted. Because Priest testified, Agent Hudson's alleged perjury is not material. 58 In his closing argument, Bailey's attorney characterized the recorded conversation between Agent Hudson and Priest as [i]nnocuous and containing nothing really significant. 2 Supp. R1-19. Further, the district court correctly found that Bailey had ample opportunity to exploit Agent Hudson's inconsistent testimony and to attack his credibility before the jury. Consequently, there is no basis for concluding that Agent Hudson's alleged perjury was material to the verdict: if the jury had concluded that Agent Hudson's testimony was false, then it would have disregarded the testimony; if not, there was no falsehood to disregard. See United States v. Gowen, 32 F.3d 1466, 1471 (10th Cir.1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1173, 115 S.Ct. 1151, 130 L.Ed.2d 1109 (1995); see also United States v. Blair, 958 F.2d 26, 29 (2d Cir.1992) ([P]erjured testimony must have remained undisclosed during trial in order to require reversal of a conviction.). 59 Significantly, [o]nly knowing use of perjured testimony constitutes a due process violation. United States v. Lopez, 985 F.2d 520, 524 (11th Cir.1993); see United States v. Michael, 17 F.3d 1383, 1385-86 (11th Cir.1994). Even if Agent Hudson had testified falsely about the Priest tape, Bailey is not entitled to relief because the prosecutor had no knowledge of the perjury. The defense resorted to an ex parte hearing to avoid disclosing the Priest tape to the prosecutor. Bailey faults the prosecutor for failing to correct Agent Hudson's alleged perjury after the fact, but the prosecutor's conduct was proper. Confronted with an unexpected claim that Agent Hudson had testified falsely about the Priest tape, he recalled Agent Hudson on rebuttal and subjected him to cross-examination on the issue, despite the court's willingness to reject Bailey's claim without hearing from Agent Hudson. The district court correctly concluded that no relief was available for prosecutorial misconduct because the prosecutor did not know of Agent Hudson's alleged perjury and this incident has not been shown to have affected Bailey's conviction. See United States v. Colston, 936 F.2d 312, 316 (7th Cir.1991) (A prosecutor has an obligation to notify the court whenever he knows that a witness has committed perjury, but failure to notify is a basis for reversal only if it affects the fairness of the trial. (citations omitted) (emphasis added)). 60