Court Opinion

ID: 9463867
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:18:38.558111+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:19.805570
License: Public Domain

DENIAL OF PETITION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM:
In this case the main issue is presented by the evidence of defendant’s statement at the police station. The defendant testified that he did not know a bank robbery had occurred and that he tried to evade the plainclothesmen in the subsequent car chase not knowing they were policemen. In rebuttal, a detective testified that at the stationhouse defendant had put the situation quite differently, in an attempt to exculpate himself. Then, defendant had said that he had not tried to outrun the police and that no one had chased him anywhere.
On appeal the defense argues that his constitutional rights were impaired because the detective, after relating this impeaching testimony, volunteered: “He then stated that he wanted to talk to a lawyer before he answered any more questions, at which time I concluded my interview with him.” (Tr. 165).
Counsel for appellant argues denial of constitutional rights under the doctrine of Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965), which precludes comment on the failure of a defendant to testify or give a statement at the stationhouse. It is also clear that the fifth amendment precludes a prosecutor from eliciting the defendant’s action in hiring an attorney, in view of the tendency of such testimony to serve as the base for an inference of guilt based on such an act. United States v. Liddy, 166 U.S.App.D.C. 95, 110-12, 509 F.2d 428, 443-5 (en banc, 1974).
In this case the testimony as to defendant’s silence and desire of counsel was not elicited by the prosecutor. It was not pointed up in summation. It was blurted out by the witness. After a bench conference the judge instructed the jury to “disregard that statement by the detective to the effect that the defendant asked for a lawyer.” (Tr. 167). Defense counsel sought no further instruction. His position was that he was entitled to a mistrial.
Our review leads us to the clear conclusion that the testimony that led to the conviction of this defendant, following the hung jury at the first trial, was the impeachment testimony at the second trial that solidly cut across his alibi. What was damaging was not any testimony of defendant's silence, but the testimony of what defendant said before he decided to say no more.
*67A prosecutor has no right to introduce evidence that defendant was silent. United States v. Hale, 422 U.S. 171, 95 S.Ct. 2133, 45 L.Ed.2d 99 (1975); Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91 (1976); United States v. Wycoff, 545 F.2d 679 (9th Cir. 1977). If the defendant makes an admissible statement, the recounting witness may conclude the account in a natural fashion by indicating that there is nothing more to say, because the defendant chose to stop. Otherwise, the jury, may erroneously infer that it was the police who cut the interview short, before the defendant had full opportunity to give his account. Of course, the prosecution may not draw attention to the exercise of the right to become silent after speaking some.
Testimony about the desire or request for a lawyer is impermissible. Such statements can be excised without making the narrative stilted, with the effect of avoiding prejudice to or unfair inference against either party. In this case the testimony about wanting to talk to a lawyer was blurted out without any elicitation by the prosecutor. While the prosecutor might be faulted for not anticipating this information and alerting the witness to the bar on its use, we do not find the exposure of the jury to that information to require reversal of the conviction. The dominant feature of the detective’s rebuttal testimony, and its overriding impact, was its contradiction of defendant’s alibi. These considerations, together with the strong evidence of guilt, the judge’s cautionary instruction and the absence of prosecution emphasis on the exercise of constitutional rights, lead us to conclude that the error in the testimony as given, did not play a significant role in producing the verdict. The law must take account of improbabilities as well as probabilities, and the conviction can stand by reference to the doctrine of harmless error. The petition for rehearing is denied.

So ordered.