Opinion ID: 719815
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Intentional Distortion of the Fact-Finding Process

Text: 14 With regard to the second prong of the Lord test, misconduct is not confined solely to situations where the government affirmatively induces a witness not to testify in favor of a defendant. Westerdahl, 945 F.2d at 1087. In Westerdahl, the government relied heavily on the testimony of two witnesses who had been granted use immunity and one witness who testified as part of a plea bargain in which a host of felony charges pending against him were dropped. Id. We found that the use of this testimony, while denying use immunity to a defense witness who would directly contradict that of the government witness, was the type of distorted fact-finding process that Lord intended to prevent. Id. We reversed Westerdahl's conviction because the district court failed to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine whether prosecutorial misconduct distorted the fact-finding process. Id. 15 Similarly, in the case at bench, the government relied heavily on the testimony of Larsen and Drake, both of whom had entered into favorable plea agreements. In fact, Larsen and Drake were the only witnesses who directly implicated Tamez in the conspiracy. 3 Of the remaining four witnesses who testified against Young, two (Mariani and Nichols) had entered into plea agreements with the government, and two (Faunce and Farline) received immunity. In light of these plea agreements and grants of immunity, there is a serious danger that the government's denial of immunity to Delfs--the only witness who could have impeached Drake as the government's critical witness--distorted the fact-finding process. 16 The only reason that the government proffers for its refusal to grant Delfs immunity is that Delfs was under indictment in a separate case for firearms offenses. Cf. Baker, 10 F.3d at 1414 (noting that the potential defense witnesses were not charged with committing any crimes in the same district). Though the record is meager on this point, the government suggests that Delfs may have been under investigation for various drug offenses as well. Delfs was ultimately never charged with any narcotics offenses. More importantly, the government never linked Delfs's charged firearms offenses or alleged, uncharged narcotics offenses with the instant case against defendants. Nothing in the record explains how use immunity for Delfs in this narcotics case would have adversely impacted the government's case in an unrelated, separate firearms prosecution against Delfs. 17 The government's reliance on Baker is misplaced. In Baker, it was unclear whether the immunized testimony of the potential defense witnesses would have directly contradicted the government's evidence. More importantly, the district court in fact conducted an evidentiary hearing and determined that the defense failed to prove that the government denied immunity with the intent to distort the fact-finding process. Id. at 1415. On appeal, we refused to reverse the district court's finding of fact as clearly erroneous. Id. 18 Here, by contrast, the district court denied Tamez's request for use immunity without an evidentiary hearing, and thus, without any findings of fact as to whether the government intentionally distorted the fact-finding process. Further, Delfs's testimony would have directly contradicted that of Drake, a key government witness. 19 Finally, the error is not harmless. The defense theory of the case was that Drake and Larsen were pointing the finger at Tamez or Young as the fall guy. Drake and Larsen were thus able to obtain favorable deals from the government while protecting their true source of cocaine. Because Drake was the only government witness who could definitively identify defendants as his upper-level suppliers of cocaine, impeachment of Drake's testimony was critical to the defense. Delfs's testimony would not have been cumulative or non-exculpatory. Westerdahl, 945 F.2d at 1086. It would have called into question the cornerstone of the government's case. Its exclusion was not harmless error.