Opinion ID: 792547
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Representation of Stipulation

Text: 60 Lore claims that the prosecution misrepresented the contents of a stipulation related to the 1990 civil RICO action that the government brought against Local 1588. The parties agreed on the stipulation after defendants' counsel sought to impeach G'Sell and Angelone with inconsistent deposition testimony in connection with the RICO action that alleged a background of organized crime and corruption in Local 1588. The government asserted that this impeachment opened the door to the underlying subject matter of the civil RICO action. In lieu of evidence concerning the civil suit, the parties agreed on a stipulation which the prosecutor read to the jury. But before the prosecutor read it, the district court explained to the jury that: 61 [A stipulation] is a long word that means that the parties have agreed that a certain fact or facts exist. So, the Government and each of the defendants have entered into this as a stipulated fact. And you may, therefore, regard these facts that [the prosecutor] is going to read to you as proven in the case. 62 J.A. at 3735. The prosecutor then read the following stipulation to the jury: 63 The parties hereby stipulate in 1992 and thereafter, the Executive Board of Local 1588 agreed with the Federal Government that the officers and employees of the Local were not permitted to associate with Joseph Lore who was neither a member nor an employee of the Local with regard to any business of the Local. The Board further agreed that it would not prohibit purely social contact between Denise Bohn, who was then an employee of the Local[,] and Mr. Lore. As long as that contact did not occur in or about the waterfront, including the Local's offices. 64 J.A. at 3735-36. Defendants aggressively cross examined G'Sell concerning his prior deposition testimony in the civil RICO litigation in which he denied that Lore had been involved in the affairs of Local 1588. At trial, G'Sell explained that he lied during his depositions to protect Lore. 65 Lore moved for a mistrial based on the prosecution's representation in summation that the stipulation supported the inference that Lore had been involved in the affairs of Local 1588. This challenge lacks merit. As the court explained to the jury, it could regard the facts contained in the stipulation as proven in the case. Defendants do not point to limitations that the parties placed on the stipulation. Absent limitations, it was not improper for the prosecution to draw fair inferences from the stipulation. United States v. Sullivan, 803 F.2d 87, 91 (3d Cir.1986) ([T]he prosecution may ask the jury to draw permissible inferences from anything that appears in the record.) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). It was reasonable and permissible to infer that Lore's participation in the affairs of Local 1588 precipitated its agreement with the government to bar Lore from its affairs. Moreover, even if there had been an error stemming from the prosecutor's argument, it would have been harmless under even the most exacting standard in light of the extensive testimony that defendants elicited from G'Sell that he lied in connection with the civil RICO investigation to obscure Lore's involvement in union affairs. 66 Lore also challenges certain remarks from the rebuttal summation relating to the stipulation. However, contrary to Lore's argument, it does not appear that any defendant contemporaneously objected to the purported misrepresentations he now cites in his brief. Accordingly, we review these comments for plain error. Brennan, 326 F.3d at 182 (Any non-contemporaneous objections are subject to plain error review.). Our review of these remarks in the context of the full trial does not reveal egregious error or a manifest miscarriage of justice necessary to support a finding of plain error, or indeed any error at all, warranting a new trial. Rather, as with its original summation remarks, the prosecution was asking the jury to draw inferences from the stipulated facts in evidence that were entered without limitation.