Court Opinion

ID: 9472633
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:06:09.504012+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:03.016840
License: Public Domain

LOGAN, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the judgment affirming the defendant’s conviction, but I would reach that result by a different route.
The privilege against adverse spousal testimony and the privilege for confidential marital communications are closely related; both are intended to encourage “marital confidences, which confidences in turn promote harmony between husband and wife.” McCormick’s Handbook of the Law of Evidence, § 86, at 172 (E. Cleary 2d ed. 1972). In Trammel v. United States, 445 U.S. 40, 100 S.Ct. 906, 63 L.Ed.2d 186 (1980), the Supreme Court limited the privilege against adverse testimony to make it available only at the option of the testifying spouse. Arguably, the reasoning of that opinion undercuts the rule protecting confidential marital communications and presages a similar limitation or the demise of that rule. I also acknowledge that some commentators question whether the confidential communications rule effectively serves its purpose. See, e.g., McCormick’s Handbook of the Law of Evidence § 86, at 172-73; Preliminary Draft of Proposed Rules of Evidence for the United States District Courts and Magistrates, Rule 5-05, 46 F.R.D. 161, 264-65 (1969). However, in Trammel the Supreme Court recognized the rule’s continued existence. 445 U.S. at 45 n. 5, 51, 100 S.Ct. at 909 n. 5, 912. This Court also has acknowledged that the confidential marital communications privilege survived Trammel. United States v. Crouthers, 669 F.2d 635, 641-42 (10th Cir.1982).
Other circuits, although recognizing that the confidential marital communications privilege exists, have held it inapplicable when a husband and wife engage in joint criminal activity. E.g., United States v. Ammar, 714 F.2d 238, 258 (3d Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Stillman v. United States, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 344, 78 L.Ed.2d 311 (1983); United States v. Price, 577 F.2d 1356, 1364-65 (9th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Mitchell v. United States, 439 U.S. 1068, 99 S.Ct. 835, 59 L.Ed.2d 33 (1979); United States v. Mendoza, 574 F.2d 1373 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 988, 99 S.Ct. 584, 58 L.Ed.2d 661 (1978); United States v. Kahn, 471 F.2d 191, 194-95 (7th *1448Cir.1972), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 986, 93 S.Ct. 2271, 36 L.Ed.2d 964 (1973), rev’d on other grounds, 415 U.S. 143, 94 S.Ct. 977, 39 L.Ed.2d 225 (1974).
If carried to its logical conclusion the crime-fraud exception would effectively abolish the marital communication privilege. In the case before us, for instance, the wife actively assisted her husband in covering up the murder and robbery and thus was an accessory. Colo.Rev.Stat. § 18-8-105. An early case in Colorado held that when a husband simply confessed to his wife that he had committed a crime and she failed to report it, she would not be guilty of a crime. See Lowe v. People, 135 Colo. 209, 309 P.2d 601 (1957). Since that case, however, Colorado has passed an act imposing a duty on everyone to report crimes, with an exception for “any communication privileged by law.” Colo.Rev.Stat. § 18-8-115. Moreover, other specific criminal statutes might place a spouse’s failure to report outside the marital communication privilege. See id. § 18-8-107 (refusing to aid a peace officer); § 18-8-109 (concealing death). It is difficult to predict what the courts may regard as aid to the criminal spouse; a court could characterize the suppression of nearly any communication by a spouse concerning criminal activity as a crime itself that thus falls within the crime-fraud exception.
I would not adopt a crime-fraud exception to the privilege for confidential marital communications for several reasons. First, I do not think we are free to abolish or modify a rule the Supreme Court has explicitly recognized within the past four years. Second, even if we were free to abolish, modify, or create exceptions to the rule, in view of its ancient lineage I would require persuasive evidence of the need before making a change. No one has presented such evidence. Finally, I see problems in creating a crime-fraud exception or even in making the privilege available only at the option of the testifying spouse or ex-spouse. Prosecutors will be tempted to threaten the spouse they deem less culpable and offer reduced charges or immunity for testimony that will convict but destroy the marriage. Additionally, the reliability of the spousal testimony might be questionable. Confidential communications, by definition, are conversations with only the spouses present. The spouse charged with the crime must surrender the constitutional right not to testify at his or her criminal trial, with all its attendant consequences, in order to refute the other’s testimony. And, particularly if the marriage has ended in divorce, the testifying ex-spouse may be tempted to lie or to stretch the truth.
We do not have to adopt a crime-fraud exception or modify the rule in any way in order to affirm the conviction in the instant case. I believe the trial court properly applied the privilege for confidential marital communications. The privilege applies only to confidential communications. Certainly, confidential communications include words exchanged between spouses. They also include physical acts that are entirely communicative, such as sign language. However, many acts have both a testimonial and a non-testimonial aspect. Although the line is extremely difficult to draw, the situation is analogous to that in which courts must decide whether blood and handwriting samples, physical presence in line-ups, and other evidence that may incriminate violate the privilege against self-incrimination. I am satisfied that the spouse’s statements in the instant case, which included references to her own actions in burning bills, secreting money and spending it, did not violate the confidential communication privilege.
On the impeachment issue, I believe that Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222, 91 S.Ct. 643, 28 L.Ed.2d 1 (1971), supports the trial court’s ruling that otherwise inadmissible testimony involving the marital communication privilege can be used to impeach a defendant who testifies on his own behalf. See United States v. Benford, 457 F.Supp. 589 (E.D.Mich.1978).
I also agree that the wife’s testimony that she told her boyfriend her husband had killed a woman and robbed a bank does *1449not require a reversal. Her statement was only relevant to prove that defendant had killed a woman and robbed a bank. But the wife had no first-hand knowledge of that fact. Fed.R.Evid. 602. If defendant had told his wife that he had killed a woman and robbed a bank, her testimony about this admission would not be hearsay, Fed. R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(A), but would violate the confidential marital communications privilege. The government suggests that the wife’s testimony was proper because it was simply her opinion. Her opinion, however, is not competent evidence. Nonetheless, I agree that the improper testimony did not justify a mistrial in light of the overwhelming weight of the other competent evidence.
For the reasons stated above I concur in the judgment affirming the conviction.