Court Opinion

ID: 9475930
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:42:53.936912+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:01.916430
License: Public Domain

ERVIN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
While I agree with the majority that Henry Crockett’s conviction should be affirmed, I dissent from the view, expressed in part II.B of the opinion, that Thressa Crews was properly prohibited from cross-examining Crockett, her co-defendant. Henry Crockett repeatedly testified that some unnamed woman procured drugs for and received money from his illicit transactions. This woman was identified only as “someone else.” Crews was closely linked to these transactions in the government’s cross-examination of Crockett. The trial judge did not engage in any weighing of incriminatory impact before denying cross-examination, as the majority implies. His stated rationale for denying Crockett’s cross-examination of Crews was “you can’t cross her because she was called as a defendant. You are not entitled to cross-examine another defendant and get in self-serving statements.” When Crews sought to cross-examine Crockett the judge simply *1318said: “Well, its the same problem.” The characterization of Crockett’s testimony as “non-incriminatory” was post hoc rationalization. It is entirely possible that the jury equated Crews with the unnamed woman onto whom Crockett attempted to shift much of the blame for his wrongdoing. Crews should therefore have been allowed to cross-examine Crockett; she is accorded that right under the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment, as interpreted in numerous Supreme Court cases and in United States v. Mercks, 304 F.2d 771 (4th Cir.1962).
The importance of that right is beyond cavil. “There are few subjects, perhaps, upon which this Court and other courts have been more nearly unanimous than in their expressions of belief that the right of confrontation and cross-examination is an essential and fundamental requirement for the kind of fair trial which is this country’s constitutional goal.” Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 405, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 1068, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965).
Mercks, which predated much of the important discussion of the confrontation clause by the Supreme Court, noted that “undoubtedly” a defendant must be allowed to cross-examine a co-defendant whose testimony tends to incriminate the defendant. 304 F.2d at 772. The question, rephrased in its constitutional language, is: when does a witness count as a witness “against” an accused? In Mercks there was no doubt that the original testimony was not “against” the accused, for two reasons: the testimony actually tended to exonerate the accused and the accused was later allowed to clear up any ambiguity by questioning the co-defendant on direct examination. The Mercks court made it clear that these conditions limited its holding: “Under these circumstances we perceive no prejudice to appellant.” Id. (emphasis added).
The trial judge and the majority on this panel relied on Mercks, but erroneously. First, the judge’s “finding” that Crockett’s highly ambiguous testimony did not incriminate Crews is an unsupportable foray into the province of the jury. No one can say with assurance whether that testimony cast doubt on Crews’ case. That inherent uncertainty is the reason why Crews should have been allowed some examination of Crockett. The trial judge should rely on the truthfinding function of cross-examination rather than the judge’s own perception of incriminatory impact, in close cases. Because the statements made by Crockett were not clearly exculpatory, Mercks is not controlling, and this case represents a nibbling away at the constitutional concept of a witness “against” a defendant.
Second, the co-defendants in this case refused to be called directly by each other. This further distinguishes the case from Mercks. Both the trial judge and the majority have completely ignored this second condition under which the Mercks court upheld the denial of cross-examination: the testifying co-defendant in that case was later questioned on direct examination by the accused.
Finally, Mercks is far from the last word on the scope of the confrontation clause. The majority acknowledges this in its general discussion of the reasons behind the clause. But Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968), interpreted by the majority, is also not the final word.1 Two cases from the *1319last term of the Supreme Court illustrate the proper context and process for analyzing confrontation clause cases. In Lee v. Illinois, — U.S. -, 106 S.Ct. 2056, 90 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986), the Court made clear the continuing importance it attaches to confrontation clause issues. See id., at -, 106 S.Ct. at 2061. The truthfinding function said in Lee to be served by the right of cross-examination was severely diluted in this case, by denying Crews the chance to cross-examine Crockett.
In Delaware v. Van Arsdall, — U.S. -, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986), the court readily found a violation of the constitutional right of confrontation when defense counsel was not allowed to explore the possible bias of a prosecution witness. Id., at -, 106 S.Ct. at 1435. The case turned on the harmfulness, not the existence of the error. The majority acknowledges the analytic framework of Van Arsdall by applying harmless error analysis, in part II.C. of the opinion, to Crockett’s inability to cross-examine Crews.2
That route was avoided by the majority in part II.B. of its opinion, perhaps because it is not easily said that the error was harmless. The case against Crews was not strong; it was completely circumstantial. The issue was not whether certain areas could be explored on cross-examination; in this case, as in Van Arsdall, “the trial court prohibited all inquiry.” Id. There was apparently no other evidence to corroborate or to contradict Crockett’s testimony about making arrangements with and giving money to the anonymous female “someone else.” This testimony was not central to the case against Crews, but it certainly may have raised suspicions about her.
The discretion accorded to the trial judge by the majority exceeds that granted in Mercks and that tolerable under the sixth amendment. It is necessary and proper for a trial judge to have discretion over the scope of cross-examination. But discretion over the right to cross-examination is another matter. At the very least, such discretion must be exercised in a principled way. The majority here leaves trial judges without guidance in cases in which a co-defendant’s testimony is neither clearly exculpatory nor clearly incriminatory.
The principle should be: if there is any question whether a co-defendant’s testimony tends to incriminate an accused, the accused should be allowed to explore the facts underlying that testimony either in cross-examination or on direct. If, as in this case, the co-defendant invokes the fifth amendment or is otherwise incapable of being directly examined, then cross-examination must be allowed. Failure to allow any cross-examination in such a case is error, subject to the harmless error rule announced in Van Arsdall.
The error in Thressa Crews’ case cannot be said to be harmless. The exigencies of criminal prosecution, noted by the majority, ought not determine the provision of constitutional rights. Accordingly, I would reverse her conviction.

. Bruton established the rule that limiting instructions to the jury are an insufficient substitute for the right of confrontation when the evidence introduced against one is "devastating,” 391 U.S. at 136, 88 S.Ct. at 1628, and the credibility of the direct testimony is suspect given the "recognized motivation to shift blame onto others." Id. The Bruton rule was expanded in Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). In Davis, defense counsel was not allowed to cross-examine a prosecution witness to explore bias. The conviction was reversed.
Two other cases suffice to set the stage for the Court’s current approach to confrontation clause problems. In both, convictions were allowed to stand despite one defendant’s inability to cross-examine a nontestifying co-defendant whose confession was introduced. Both decisions rested this result, however, on the strength of the case against the defendant absent the co-defendant’s confession. See Schneble v. Florida, 405 U.S. 427, 92 S.Ct. 1056, 31 L.Ed.2d 340 *1319(1972); Harrington v. California, 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 (1969). In this respect they anticipated the application of harmless error analysis to confrontation clause violations, announced in Delaware v. Van Arsdall, — U.S. -, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986).

. The majority’s recitation of other Fourth Circuit cases to support its decision herein merely reinforces the view that Crews should have been given the chance to cross-examine Crockett. In Chavis v. State of North Carolina, 637 F.2d 213 (4th Cir.1980), we reversed the convictions of defendants who were not allowed to explore the bias of a prosecution witness in cross-examination. 637 F.2d at 226. We noted that judicial limits on cross-examination were confined to instances of harassment, violation of the witness’s fifth amendment rights, or danger to the witnesses. Id. In Hoover v. State of Maryland, 714 F.2d 301 (4th Cir.1983), we affirmed the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus for a prisoner who was not allowed to cross-examine a ''hostile" witness. Id. at 305. The question in the instant case is whether a trial judge may properly conclude that a witness is not “hostile” merely because he is also on trial. Neither case addressed that issue, but both reinforced the importance of sixth amendment rights, citing Davis v. Alaska.