Opinion ID: 787516
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Videotapes

Text: 87 Hammoud next asserts that the district court abused its discretion in allowing the Government to play for the jury some of the Hizballah videotapes found in his apartment. Hammoud claims that the contents of the tapes were irrelevant and, alternatively, that if the tapes were relevant, they were unduly prejudicial. See Fed.R.Evid. 403 (Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice . . . .). 11 Hammoud also argues that the manner in which the Government presented the videotape evidence unfairly prejudiced him. We review the evidentiary rulings of the district court for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Leftenant, 341 F.3d 338, 342 (4th Cir.2003), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 124 S.Ct. 1183, 157 L.Ed.2d 1215 (2004). Hammoud's challenge to the means of presenting the videotape evidence will succeed only if the conduct so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process. United States v. Scheetz, 293 F.3d 175, 185 (4th Cir.2002) (internal quotation marks omitted).
88 The indictment alleged that as one of the overt acts of the conspiracy to provide material support to an FTO, Hammoud conducted meetings in his home during which he spoke about Hizballah operations and played Hizballah videotapes. At trial, the Government sought to prove that the meetings were not solely religious meetings, as Hammoud contended, but rather were integral to the operation of a Hizballah cell in Charlotte. In support of this claim, the Government played excerpts from some of the videotapes seized from Hammoud's home. The segments played by the Government included speeches by Hizballah leaders praising men who had martyred themselves and crowds shouting Death to America and Death to Israel. J.A. 2225. Another tape depicted a group swearing to become martyrs to shake the grounds under our enemies, America and Israel. Id. at 2388 (internal quotation marks omitted). Most significantly, some of the tapes depicted Hizballah military operations and encouraged donations from those who could not participate directly in Hizballah operations. 89 We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that the excerpts played for the jury were relevant. The excerpts played for the jury are probative of Hammoud's intent during the prayer meetings — i.e., to solicit donations to Hizballah — and his knowledge of, and agreement with, the terrorist objectives of Hizballah.
90 Hammoud also argues that even if the tapes were relevant, they should have been excluded because their probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Rule 403 requires exclusion of evidence only in those instances where the trial judge believes that there is a genuine risk that the emotions of the jury will be excited to irrational behavior, and that this risk is disproportionate to the probative value of the offered evidence. United States v. Powers, 59 F.3d 1460, 1467 (4th Cir.1995) (internal quotation marks omitted). The mere fact that the evidence will damage the defendant's case is not enough — the evidence must be unfairly prejudicial, and the unfair prejudice must substantially outweigh the probative value of the evidence. United States v. Grimmond, 137 F.3d 823, 833 (4th Cir.1998) (internal quotation marks omitted) (emphasis added). 91 In advocating for the admissibility of the video excerpts, the Government relies on United States v. Salameh, 152 F.3d 88 (2d Cir.1998) (per curiam). In Salameh, the Second Circuit addressed a Rule 403 challenge to the admission of certain materials — including a video of the bombing of an American embassy and instructions for making bombs — in the trial of those accused of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. See id. at 110. The court concluded that the district court had not abused its discretion in ruling that the materials were not unfairly prejudicial, reasoning that even though the items bristled with strong anti-American sentiment and advocated violence against targets in the United States, the danger of unfair prejudice did not substantially outweigh the probative value of the evidence. Id. at 111. 92 In arguing that the video excerpts were unfairly prejudicial, Hammoud relies on United States v. Ham, 998 F.2d 1247 (4th Cir.1993), and United States v. Merino-Balderrama, 146 F.3d 758 (9th Cir.1998). In Ham, this court reversed a conviction on the basis that evidence of defendants' homosexuality and of rampant child molestation in a religious community headed by the defendants was unduly prejudicial. See Ham, 998 F.2d at 1252-54. We concluded that the evidence was highly prejudicial and that its probative impact was limited because, although relevant to prove motive for the charged murder, it was neither direct nor essential proof of motive. Id. at 1253. 93 In Merino-Balderrama, the Ninth Circuit reversed a conviction for possession of child pornography on the basis that the district court abused its discretion in allowing the Government to play for the jury excerpts of films containing child pornography that had been found in the defendant's possession. See Merino-Balderrama, 146 F.3d at 760. The defendant had offered to stipulate that the tapes contained child pornography. The court held that in view of the proffered stipulation, the Government would only be required prove scienter, i.e., that the defendant knew the films contained child pornography. And, the court concluded that in light of the covers of the films — photographs making clear that the film was child pornography — the probative value of the contents of the films was outweighed by their prejudicial impact. See id. at 762-63. 94 We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the Government to play portions of the tapes for the jury. As noted above, the Government was required to demonstrate that Hammoud knew of Hizballah's unlawful activities, and the contents of the videos were probative evidence of Hammoud's knowledge. The tapes also provided evidence of Hammoud's motive in raising funds for Hizballah and tended to contradict Hammoud's claim that he sympathized only with the humanitarian goals of the organization. See Salameh, 152 F.3d at 111 (noting that even though motive is not an element of any offense, evidence offered to prove motive is commonly admitted). This case is thus unlike Ham, in which the proffered evidence was neither directly relevant to motive nor highly probative of motive. And, unlike in Merino-Balderrama, there was no less prejudicial alternative for the Government in proving Hammoud's knowledge of Hizballah's activities. 12
95 Hammoud also challenges the manner in which the Government presented the videotapes, arguing that the tapes were repeatedly rewound and replayed in order to heighten their prejudicial impact. The record does not bear out this claim. The Government played the tapes for the jury while a linguist translated the statements being made. At several points, the linguist asked for the tape to be rewound because his translation had fallen behind the action on the video. The following is a representative episode: 96 Our slogan was, is and will remain to be Death to Israel. And the crowd repeats the same thing three times. 97 Mr. Nasserallah says, And along The Resistance path — can you rewind it just a little? 98 It says, Along The Resistance path, our bodies bleed, our bodies fall to the ground and our heads tumble above our heads — I'm sorry, our houses tumble above our heads. 99 It says — I'm sorry, can you rewind just a little bit? Okay. He talks — I missed that part because of the rewinding, but he talks about The Resistance continues.... 100 J.A. 2227. We see nothing improper or prejudicial in rewinding the videos so that the translator could keep up. 101 Hammoud further asserts that it was improper for the Government to use a translator at all — he contends that the Government should have simply played the tapes and allowed the jury to follow along with a printed translation. We disagree. It would have been exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, for a jury to follow along with a written, English translation of a videotape filmed entirely in Arabic. The district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that playing the video with simultaneous oral translation was a more effective and helpful way of presenting the evidence to the jury.