Court Opinion

ID: 9477242
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:18:17.782714+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:46.451180
License: Public Domain

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I join in Parts B and C of the opinion because the record before us simply does not demonstrate that Viera was denied due process. With regard to the alleged intimidation of Viera’s father, the record contains nothing but what the opinion recites. Affidavits filed in this court state additional facts, but I would not in deciding this direct appeal consider either the prosecutor’s post-argument statement or the appellant’s equally belated factual representations. As the opinion states, “We are, of course, in no position to know what evidence might be developed by Viera [or, I add, by the Assistant U.S. Attorney] in a collateral attack upon the conviction.” What happened outside the courtroom; whether or not the representations made by counsel to the district court were factually accurate; what effect, if any, the prosecutor’s actions had on the defendant’s strategy; and whether the defendant was prejudiced by the course of events are all matters that may not be decided by an appellate court except upon the basis of a properly prepared record and with the benefit of a trial judge’s findings of fact. Whether the Assistant U.S. Attorney’s argument to the jury was improper also depends on the answers to these questions.
For these reasons, I join in the judgment affirming the conviction.