Court Opinion

ID: 992026
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-03 23:45:41.022719+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:20:32.988782
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                    No. 96-4220

XUYEN THI VU,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria.
Albert V. Bryan, Jr., Senior District Judge.
(CR-95-354-A)

Submitted: March 11, 1997

Decided: April 21, 1997

Before HALL, MURNAGHAN, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

Gerald I. Fisher, FISHER & HANSEN, P.C., Washington, D.C., for
Appellant. Helen F. Fahey, United States Attorney, Robert A. Spen-
cer, Assistant United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, for
Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).
OPINION

PER CURIAM:

In August 1995, a grand jury indicted Appellant Xuyen Thi Vu on
one count of conspiracy to commit malicious destruction of property
by fire,1 and one count of aiding and abetting the malicious destruc-
tion of property by fire.2 A jury convicted Vu on both counts of the
indictment. Vu appeals her convictions and sentence of fifty-one
months incarceration, and the court's order of $58,000 in restitution.
Finding no reversible error, we affirm Vu's convictions and sentence.

On appeal, Vu challenges various evidentiary rulings by the trial
court to admit or exclude evidence, including certain witness testi-
mony. Specifically, Vu contends that the trial court's evidentiary rul-
ings pertaining to her control of vending locations in Washington,
D.C., a witness's testimony regarding out of court statements made
by Vu, and a form requesting a police report, denied her the right to
a fair trial. Vu's claims are without merit.

A trial court's evidentiary rulings are entitled to substantial defer-
ence, United States v. Russell, 971 F.2d 1098, 1104 (4th Cir. 1992),
and will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion. United States
v. Lancaster, 96 F.3d 734, 744 (4th Cir. 1996) (en banc), cert. denied,
117 S.Ct. 967 (1997). Additionally, a court has great discretion on
limiting witness testimony that leads away from the main controversy.
See Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 316 (1974); United States v.
McMillon, 14 F.3d 948, 956 (4th Cir. 1994). After reviewing the
record, we find no abuse of discretion by the district court. The evi-
dence admitted by the district court was relevant to the crimes
charged, and the evidence excluded was either irrelevant to the crimes
charged or cumulative.

Additionally, Vu's assertions of prosecutorial misconduct are
devoid of merit. To merit a reversal, Vu must establish that the prose-
cutor's alleged improper comments were: 1) in fact improper, and 2)
_________________________________________________________________
1 18 U.S.C. § 371 (1994).

2 18 U.S.C. § 844(i) (1994).

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so prejudicial to Vu's substantive rights as to deny her a fair trial.
United States v. Morsley, 64 F.3d 907, 913 (4th Cir. 1995), cert.
denied, 116 S.Ct. 749 (1996). Vu fails to carry her burden because
none of the allegedly improper comments during opening or closing
argument were in fact improper. Moreover, Vu fails to establish that
the prosecutor's argument so misled the jury that she was denied a
fair trial.

Accordingly, we affirm Vu's convictions and sentence. We dis-
pense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument
would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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