Court Opinion

ID: 9482298
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:45:56.645706+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:53.505133
License: Public Domain

WOLF, District Judge
(concurring dubitante).
I concur in the judgment in this case, including the decision to order a new trial for the defendant Eduardo Ocampo Hoyos. I also concur generally in the court’s thorough opinion. I write separately, however, to amplify one point relating to the admission of Ocampo Hoyos’ Colombian identification card and to differ respectfully concerning the characterization of the prosecutor’s closing argument concerning the card.
I agree that the district judge abused his discretion in admitting Ocampo Hoyos’ Colombian identification card under Federal Rule of Evidence 403. I believe that the card was relevant because Ocampo Hoyos’ possession of it might tend to prove he and Libardo Sierra were “friends,” as Libardo Sierra claimed. Possession of the card, however, had little, if any, probative value concerning whether Ocampo Hoyos knew the criminal nature of the “errand” he was running for his friend — an issue critical to proving Ocampo Hoyos was a knowing and willful co-conspirator, rather than a mere messenger.
I agree with my colleagues that the district court’s primary reason for giving the identification card significant weight in the *548Rule 403 balancing process was an impermissible reason. The district court found that “a Colombian would be more willing to trust another Colombian than anybody else ...” This analysis relies on an ethnic stereotype involving an assumed propensity to commit drug crimes based on national origin.
I also agree with my colleagues that giving significant weight to an impermissible factor in the Rule 403 balancing process constitutes an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Hastings, 847 F.2d 920, 924 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 925, 109 S.Ct. 308, 102 L.Ed.2d 327 (1988) (a trial judge abuses his or her discretion if significant weight is given to an irrelevant or improper consideration); see also Independent Oil & Chemical Workers v. Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Co., 864 F.2d 927, 929 (1st Cir.1988) (same). Finally, I agree that where, as here, the erroneous ruling does not constitute “harmless error,” a new trial is required.
If the opinion regarding Ocampo Hoyos ended with this analysis, I would not write separately. However, the opinion goes on to indicate that while not “misconduct,” the prosecutor’s closing argument concerning the identification card was the type of “appeal to the jury to find the defendant guilty by reason of his national origin” which was condemned in United States v. Doe, 903 F.2d 16 (D.C.Cir.1990). I do not concur in this characterization of the closing argument.
In Doe, the court held that, “The line of demarcation is crossed ... when the argument shifts its emphasis from evidence to emotion.” Id. at 25. In the instant case, the prosecutor did not bring to the jury’s attention the district court’s improper reasoning in admitting the identification card. Nor did the prosecutor make an emotional appeal based on the Ocampo Hoyos’ Colombian connection. Rather, he addressed the evidence and argued a single, appropriate factual inference, stating: “This young man has ties with Colombia, from there you can reasonably infer why Libardo Sierra was calling him his friend.” Thus, I do not believe the argument was improper under the reasoning of Doe. Rather, this case is closer to the admission of Jamaican passports which was affirmed in United States v. Blackwood, 913 F.2d 139, 143 (4th Cir.1990).
My view on the prosecutor’s closing argument does not affect the disposition of Ocampo Hoyos’ appeal. I have stated my view, however, because it may be of professional and personal importance to the prosecutor in this case, and to others similarly situated.