Opinion ID: 2996499
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Bolster of McPhaul’s Credibility

Text: We review the district court’s evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Bonner, 302 F.3d 776, 780 (7th Cir. 2002); United States v. Lindemann, 85 F.3d 1232, 1242 (7th Cir. 1996). We employ such deference because the district court is in the best position to judge the admissibility of evidence due to the court’s familiarity with the case as a whole. United States v. Curry, 79 F.3d 1489, 1495 (7th Cir. 1996). Consequently, an abuse of discretion occurs only when no reasonable person could take the district court’s view. United States v. Akinrinade, 61 F.3d 1279, 1282 (7th Cir. 1995). In United States v. Lindemann, this Court discussed at length the difference between improperly bolstering a witness’s credibility and rehabilitating that witness following an attack on the witness’s bias. Lindemann, 85 F.3d at 1242-44. We noted that bolstering consists of enhancing a witness’s credibility before that credibility is attacked. Id. at 1242. When the witness has been attacked, however, his 6 No. 02-4195 credibility may be restored through admissible rehabilitation evidence. Id. We further held that an allegation by the defendant that a witness falsely implicated him amounts to an attack on the witness’s bias. Id. at 1243. Such an attack is an attempt to demonstrate that the witness was motivated by self-interest, an obvious form of bias, rather than the truth. Id. When rehabilitating a witness in such a situation, it is permissible to use extrinsic evidence because bias is not a collateral issue. United States v. Scott, 267 F.3d 729, 735 (7th Cir. 2001); Lindemann, 85 F.3d at 1243. Accordingly, the admissibility of rehabilitation evidence following an attack on the witness’s bias is controlled solely by considerations of relevance. Rule 401 of the Federal Rules of Evidence defines relevant evidence as that which has “any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” FED. R. EVID. 401 (2003). Relevant evidence is admissible under Rule 402, but admissibility can be limited by Rule 403. FED. R. EVID. 402, 403 (2003). The parameters of Rule 403 preclude the admission of otherwise relevant evidence “if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.” FED. R. EVID. 403. In this case, Henderson first argues that McPhaul’s credibility was not attacked because McPhaul did not testify at trial and the government solicited evidence of his prior deals from one of the FBI agents. Lindemann deals squarely with the issue of whether McPhaul’s credibility was attacked by Henderson and, though McPhaul did not testify at trial, we find no reason to create an exception to Lindemann. Henderson’s argument that McPhaul framed him No. 02-4195 7 was an attack on McPhaul’s credibility and the government was entitled to introduce admissible rehabilitation evidence. That result leaves us with the question of whether evidence of McPhaul’s cooperation was relevant and not unfairly prejudicial to Henderson. On this issue, Henderson argues that evidence of McPhaul’s cooperation in other cases was not relevant because McPhaul did not yet have other “bargaining chips” with which to negotiate a lesser sentence, thereby giving McPhaul a greater motive to frame him. We do not agree. McPhaul’s cooperation in other cases made it less probable that he framed Henderson because Henderson was the first of several “bargaining chips” with which McPhaul could work. Lindemann, 85 F.3d at 1243. The fact that Henderson was McPhaul’s first deal does not remove this case from the Lindemann rationale. By the time he arranged the deal with Henderson, McPhaul had given other names to the government and eventually assisted with investigations of those people. McPhaul knew that he would have multiple bargaining chips, beginning with Henderson, and the evidence of his further cooperation casts doubt on Henderson’s argument that McPhaul had a greater motive to falsely implicate Henderson. Further, Henderson’s argument speaks only to the proper weight to be given the evidence, not its admissibility. As noted above, Rule 401 defines relevant evidence as that which makes an assertion more probable or less probable. We do not find error in the district court’s decision that this evidence was relevant, nor did the district court err in finding that the probative value of evidence of McPhaul’s cooperation with other government cases was not outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Without this evidence, the jury might have believed that McPhaul’s plea deal rested solely on the Henderson case, thereby making a motive to frame Henderson all the more reasonable. It was not unduly prejudicial to Henderson to present the jury 8 No. 02-4195 with an accurate understanding of the situation and allow the jury to conclude which argument was more plausible. Finally, immediately following the admission of this evidence, the district court appropriately instructed the jury not to infer Henderson’s guilt from evidence of McPhaul’s cooperation in other cases that resulted in guilty pleas. Lindemann, 85 F.3d at 1243-44.