Court Opinion

ID: 9481705
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:28:56.720571+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:31.297031
License: Public Domain

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I would defer to the decision of the district court. In the instant case, the district judge, who, having presided over the trial, is in a far better position to know the atmosphere and climate during the course of the proceedings, granted appellee a new trial. In so doing, the district court found that the “[cjircum-tances surrounding the tapes ... preponderated sufficiently heavily against the verdict that a serious miscarriage of justice may have occurred ... and that an entrapment defense existed, yet the jury was not instructed on the defense.” United States v. Van Kirk, No. C2-89-97, slip op. at 5 (D.N.D. Apr. 3, 1990). In addition, as the district court noted, Mr. Niswonger’s repeated requests for advice as to how he should answer questions put by the grand jury,1 “call into question whether [appellee] had the subjective intent to obstruct justice.” Id. at 7. This observation clearly demonstrates the serious concerns that the district judge had about the outcome of the trial.
*936Rule 33 or the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that the district court “on motion of a defendant may grant a new trial to that defendant if required in the interest of justice.” (emphasis added). The district court has wide discretion in deciding whether the interest of justice mandates a new trial, and such decision will not be reversed absent clear and manifest abuse on that discretion. United States v. Offutt, 736 F.2d 1199, 1202 (8th Cir.1984) (citing United States v. Bohn, 508 F.2d 1145, 1150 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 947, 95 S.Ct. 1676, 44 L.Ed.2d 100 (1975)). If the district court concludes that, “despite the abstract sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict, the evidence preponderates sufficiently heavily against the verdict that a serious miscarriage of justice may have occurred, it may set aside the verdict, grant a new trial, and submit the issues for determination by another jury.” United States v. Lincoln, 630 F.2d 1313, 1319 (8th Cir.1980).
This circuit has also recognized that, in ruling on a motion for a new trial, Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure “requires the district court to balance the alleged errors against the record as a whole and evaluate the fairness of the trial.” United States v. McBride, 862 F.2d 1316, 1319 (8th Cir.1988) (McBride). In the instant case, it is apparent from the district court’s memorandum opinion that it found that the alleged errors were such as to undermine its confidence in the fairness of the trial.
Clearly, the district judge who presided at trial is in a better position to decide whether the errors in the trial proceedings justify a new trial than an appellate court whose evaluation is limited to a reading of a cold record. See Arizona v. Washington, 434 U.S. 497, 514, 98 S.Ct. 824, 834, 54 L.Ed.2d 717 (1978) (the trial judge “is far more ‘conversant with the factors relevant to the determination’ than any reviewing court can possibly be”) (citation omitted). As this circuit has observed, “ ‘it is difficult for an appellate court on a cold record to reproduce accurately for itself the warm vigor and atmosphere of the jury trial.’ ” McBride, 862 F.2d at 1320 (quoting La Barge Water Well Supply Co. v. United States, 325 F.2d 798, 801 (8th Cir.1963)). Today’s decision not only departs from the reasoned judgment of McBride, but also engages in the dangerous practice of substituting our judgment, on the basis of a cold record, for the discretion of the presiding district judge, who heard and saw the witnesses and observed the jury during the entire course of the trial proceedings.
Even though none of us may have granted appellee’s motion for a new trial, the issue of whether the district court abused its discretion in so doing is a question of a different order. Because I find no clear abuse of discretion, I would affirm the judgment of the district court.

. In one conversation, Niswonger asked appel-lee nineteen times for advice on how to answer investigators’ questions.