Opinion ID: 397401
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Exclusion of the Frame-Up Evidence

Text: 73 One of the theories of the defense at trial was that the FBI had conspired to frame Thevis by suborning perjury and false evidence. William O. Rhodes testified that Underhill and FBI agent Paul King had collaborated to procure Rhodes' false testimony in the separate trial of Gilbert Deitch, a lawyer who had worked for Thevis. 22 ] Robert Frazier, a deputy United States Marshal, testified that Underhill had said King was trying to get him to lie to frame Thevis. To bolster its spoilation theory, the defense offered the testimony of John Reynolds, the FBI polygraph examiner, that Rhodes had failed polygraph examinations relating to his allegedly procured anti-Thevis testimony; the defense also offered Rhodes' own testimony, as well as that of Reynolds, that agent King was aware of these failures. In addition, the defense offered the testimony of Michael Clutter, an attorney who also had worked for Thevis, to corroborate Rhodes' charge that Deitch had been tried on perjured testimony with the knowledge of government officials. The trial court excluded Clutter's and Reynolds' testimony, and that part of Rhodes' testimony relating to the polygraph examination. The court concluded that because the probative value of the evidence was slight, while the risk of prejudice and jury confusion was high, Fed.R.Evid. 403 mandated exclusion. Appellants contend this ruling constituted reversible error. 74 We disagree. In contrast to the government proffers discussed above, which were highly probative of key facts, the defense offer concerned the conduct of government officials in a wholly separate trial. Rhodes' testimony was admissible only because it tended to impeach Underhill and agent King. Thus the proffered evidence was marginally probative as tending to substantiate Rhodes' credibility, but did not directly attack the evidence offered in this trial. On the other hand, the danger of prejudice and confusion of the jury was relatively high. Although the polygraph evidence was offered ostensibly to show knowledge on the part of agent King, its relevance to the frame-up theory was almost inextricably tied to the reliability of polygraph results as substantive evidence. The danger was great that the jury would have inferred agent King participated in a frame-up because he knew about the polygraph results which by themselves accurately showed Rhodes lying, rather than because King merely believed Rhodes was lying. Thus the danger was substantial that the jury would rely on the polygraph results for their truth, rather than only as evidence of King's state of mind. Clutter's testimony, moreover, related to an entirely different trial, and did not substantiate Rhodes' charge that the government was offering perjured testimony in this case. Against this background we cannot say that the trial judge abused his discretion in excluding the proffered testimony.