Opinion ID: 717992
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: denial of motion for mistrial on grounds of inadmissible testimony and prosecutorial misconduct

Text: 39 We review the district court's denial of a motion for mistrial or a new trial for an abuse of discretion. United States v. George, 56 F.3d 1078, 1082 (9th Cir.1995).
40 To successfully move for a new trial based on prosecutorial misconduct, a defendant must show that it is more probable than not that the [prosecutorial] misconduct materially affected the verdict. United States v. Hinton, 31 F.3d 817, 824 (9th Cir.1994) (citing to United States v. Christophe, 833 F.2d 1296, 1301 (9th Cir.1987). Reversal will only be necessary if the alleged prosecutorial misconduct actually deprived the defendant of a fair trial. United States v. Yarbrough, 852 F.2d 1522, 1539 (9th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 866, 109 S.Ct. 171, 102 L.Ed.2d 140 (1988). The prosecutor's alleged misconduct must be evaluated in the context of the entire trial. Id. We find significant and may defer to the trial court's view of the prosecutor's conduct. United States v. Sanchez-Robles, 927 F.2d 1070, 1077 (9th Cir.1991) (quotation omitted). 41 We reject Glover's claim of prosecutorial misconduct. The record shows that the prosecutor did not elicit the improper testimony. With respect to the outstanding warrant for Glover's arrest, the prosecutor attempted to stop the detective from elaborating about the warrant. Moreover, Pedrioli's counsel conceded that the prosecutor's question to McNeff did not prompt the answer regarding Pedrioli's parole status.
42 Even if we find that the prosecutor did not intentionally act improperly, we must assess whether the conduct affected the outcome of the trial. The touchstone of due process analysis in cases of alleged prosecutorial misconduct is the fairness of the trial, not the culpability of the prosecutor. Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 219, 102 S.Ct. 940, 947 (1982). 43 In any case, in his prosecutorial misconduct argument, Glover implicitly argues that the trial court erred in concluding that the inadmissible evidence was not sufficiently prejudicial so as to require a mistrial or a new trial. Glover takes issue with the comment about the warrant, the Pedrioli parole testimony, and also with the adequacy of the instruction in addressing the prejudice. 44 The improper admission of evidence mandates reversal unless the reviewing court can say with fair assurance that the error did not influence the verdict. United States v. Brooke, 4 F.3d 1480, 1488 (9th Cir.1993). 2 45
46 In support of his argument, defendant refers to several of our cases involving the improper admission of testimony or physical evidence by the court. See, e.g., United States v. Brooke, 4 F.3d 1480, 1488 (9th Cir.1993); see also United States v. Guerrero, 756 F.2d 1342, 1347 (9th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 934 (1984); United States v. Lehay, 272 F.2d 487 (9th Cir.1959); United States v. Bradley, 5 F.3d 1317 (9th Cir.1994). 47 The above authorities are factually inapposite to the matter before us today. 3 In this case, the district court did not allow the jury to consider the improper testimony in reaching their verdict as to Glover. The court immediately struck the offending testimony about the warrant and later gave a curative instruction with respect to all of the improper evidence. 48 Even if we treat the testimony about Glover's outstanding warrant as improper admission of bad character evidence causing some prejudice to the defendant, reversal does not automatically result. We may affirm the conviction where the lower court gave an admonishment to the jury and there is strong evidence of defendant's guilt. United States v. Aichele, 941 F.2d 761 (9th Cir.1991) (citing to United States v. Johnson, 618 F.2d 60, 62 (9th Cir.1980)). 49 We explained in Aichele,: If the case against a defendant is very strong, though not overwhelming, and the reviewing court is unconvinced that the admission of the evidence influenced the outcome of the case, the court may uphold the verdict. Id. Glover urges that in Aichele, the prejudice to the defendant was much less significant and the government's case was much stronger than in his case. In Aichele, the inadmissible testimony was about the one time defendant was in prison in 1964, about 25 years before the trial. 50 Although testimony about an outstanding warrant would be more prejudicial than the testimony in Aichele, our analysis does not stop here. We consider the prejudice in the context of the government's case. The government's case against Glover is quite powerful. The circumstantial evidence and the witness identifications of Glover as the driver constitute strong evidence tending to show that Glover was a participant in the robbery. As we discussed and concluded above, there is also sufficient evidence to conclude that Glover knew he was helping the use of a gun. Moreover, each time Speckman mentioned the warrant, he did not finish his sentence, and the testimony was not admitted into evidence. 51
52 Glover also argues that the Pedrioli parole testimony was extremely prejudicial to Glover's case. He reasons that the jury now linked Glover with an accomplice, who the jury heard was on parole for the same crime for which the jury now tried Glover. However, the evidence against Pedrioli was very strong--it included the use of his mother's car as the getaway vehicle, Pedrioli's presence at the house of the sister of the person identified as the driver of that car, and the identification of Pedrioli by four employees. The court also instructed the jury to disregard the McNeff comment. 53
54 Glover contends that the jury instruction failed to alleviate and even aggravated the prejudice caused by the evidence erroneously presented to the jury. 55 The court instructed the jury as follows, in relevant part: Ladies and gentlemen, just prior to the noon hour, you heard some testimony relating to criminal acts by the defendant and a violation of parole. You are admonished and instructed to disregard that testimony. Glover asserts that the court erroneously spoke of a violation of parole and of criminal acts, when the testimony only informed the jury about an outstanding arrest warrant and about parole. 56 Neither defendant objected to the instruction during the trial. Glover explains that any objection would have drawn more attention to the fact that there was an outstanding warrant. 57 Nonetheless, when a defendant fails to object to the instruction at trial, we review the instruction for plain error. United States v. Ponce, 51 F.3d 820, 830 (9th Cir.1995). Reversal is warranted only when viewing the error in the context of the entire record, the impropriety 'seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings, or where failing to reverse a conviction would amount to a miscarriage of justice.'  United States v. Necoechea, 986 F.2d 173 (9th Cir.1993). We have the authority, but are not required, to correct a forfeited error which is plain and affect[ing] substantial rights. United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1779 (1993). 58 After weighing all the relevant factors and considering especially the strength of the government's case, we have a fair assurance that neither the Speckman statements about the warrant nor the McNeff comment about Pedrioli's parole influenced the jury's verdict as to Glover. We also find that the instruction did not amount to plain error which we must recognize to prevent a miscarriage of justice. 59
Defense Counsel 60 On the day of his arrest, Glover made a statement to government Agent Scott. Inadvertently, this statement was not produced to defendant until Agent Scott was on the stand. As a sanction for the untimely production, the district judge barred the government from using the statement for any purpose. 61 We review for abuse of discretion the district court's choice of remedy for violation of a discovery order. United States v. Jennings, 960 F.2d 1488, 1490 (9th Cir.1992). The trial court may exercise wide discretion in choosing a sanction for violation of Fed.R.Crim.Pro. Rule 16(a)(1)(A). United States v. Burgess, 791 F.2d 676, 681 (9th Cir.1986). In Burgess, we found that suppression of a defendant statement not produced in discovery prevented prejudice and failure to impose a more severe sanction was not an abuse of direction. Id. 62 Glover chose not to make the statement part of the record and it is not before us. Glover has not shown how the government's failure to produce this statement prejudiced the preparation or presentation of his defense. He contends that the statement is incriminating only because the jury heard that the defendant made a statement about his whereabouts without ever learning what that statement was due to a defense objection. 4 63 There is no testimony that Glover responded to Agent Scott's question in any way and certainly no testimony suggesting that he responded with some incriminating information. Defendant reaches too far when he argues that the simple knowledge on the part of the jury that the agent had a discussion with Glover concerning Glover's whereabouts is incriminating to Glover. 64 Accordingly, we find that the district court properly exercised its discretion in choosing the sanction.
65 Finally, Glover summarily contends that the prejudice from the jury learning that he made some unspecified statement about his whereabouts adds to the prejudice caused by the other errors in the case. Glover appears to argue that cumulative error occurred. 66 Even if no individual error rises to the level of reversible error, the cumulative effect of errors may be so prejudicial as to mandate reversal. Necoechea, 986 F.2d at 1282. In reviewing for cumulative error, we review all plain errors and all errors preserved for appeal. Id. We also consider whether any traces remain from an error cured by instruction. Id. 67 We have in the past declined to apply the cumulative error analysis when we found that defendant pointed to no errors in the proceedings. See United States v. Gutierrez, 995 F.2d 169, 173 (9th Cir.1993) (defendant who failed to establish single error in the admission of evidence has no basis for asserting cumulative error in receiving evidence). 68 Glover's statement was suppressed before it was used and no information about the existence of the statement or its content went to the jury. Accordingly, there was no error on that issue. Nevertheless, because traces may remain from Speckman's testimony about the warrant and McNeff's testimony about Pedrioli's parole, we will consider whether these traces amount to cumulative error. 69 The court's rulings on these evidentiary matters individually is subject to non-constitutional harmless error analysis. 5 Therefore, we affirm if we have a fair assurance that the cumulative error did not influence the verdict. United States v. Berry, 627 F.2d 193, 201 (9th Cir.1980) (using more probably than not standard to analyze for cumulative non-constitutional error). 70 The trial court admonished the jury and struck the evidence. The government presented a very strong case. We find that any lingering prejudice from the cured errors was minimal and did not affect the jury's verdict as to Glover.