Court Opinion

ID: 9493290
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:03:39.046813+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:45.579014
License: Public Domain

WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
While I agree with the majority that sufficient evidence supports the jury’s verdict and that the district court properly denied Russell’s motion for a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence, I cannot agree with the majority’s conclusion that the district court abused its discretion in denying Russell’s motion for a new trial based upon ineffective assistance of counsel. Even assuming that his defense counsel’s performance was deficient, Russell was not prejudiced by the introduction of the two vacated felony convictions. Any danger that the jury convicted him solely because those convictions destroyed his credibility and improperly focused its attention on his “bad character” was significantly diminished by the quality of the evidence against him and the fact that the jury never knew the nature of the vacated convictions. Most importantly, although two of Russell’s prior felony convictions had been vacated, his Maryland con*624viction for conspiracy to commit arson had not, and, therefore, still could have been used to impeach his credibility. The fact that the jury was told that Russell had three felony convictions instead of one should not undermine this Court’s confidence in the outcome of the trial. Because I also believe that Russell was not prejudiced by his counsel’s failure to call witnesses who, according to him, would have testified that he made picture frames out of white paper, I would affirm the district court’s decision not to grant Russell’s motion for a new trial based upon ineffective assistance of counsel.
I.
As the majority correctly states, we review a district court’s decision to deny a motion for new trial based upon ineffective assistance of counsel for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Adam, 70 F.3d 776, 779 (4th Cir.1995). In order to succeed on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must show (1) that his counsel’s actions, in light of all the surrounding circumstances, were professionally unreasonable, i.e., “outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance,” Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 690, 104 S.Ct. 2062, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); and that (2) “there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different,” id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052. “A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.” Id.
A.
The majority holds that the district court abused its discretion in denying Russell’s motion for a new trial because Russell’s counsel rendered ineffective assistance that prejudiced Russell at trial. According to the majority, Russell was prejudiced because once the jury heard that Russell had three prior felony convictions, two of which had been vacated, his credibility was shattered: The jury would not believe his story that he made picture frames out of the same kind of white paper used to wrap the heroin and that the paper he discarded while making the frames was accessible to other inmates. See ante at 623. The majority also states that, because the Government’s case rested solely upon Russell’s credibility, there is a reasonable probability that the jury convicted him on the ground that he possessed “bad character.” Ante at 622. Thus, the majority concludes that our confidence in the trial’s outcome should be undermined. See ante at 623.
Even assuming that the performance of Russell’s counsel was deficient, I cannot agree with the majority’s conclusion in regard to the alleged prejudice suffered by Russell. The flaws in its conclusion begin with the majority’s characterization of the evidence in this case. After holding that the evidence used to convict Russell was sufficient under Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942), the majority then back-pedals as much as it possibly can without disturbing that holding by characterizing the Government’s case against Russell as both “thin” and “marginal.” Ante at 621. To be sure, the evidence against Russell was circumstantial, but a simple recitation of the evidence belies the notion that it was either “thin” or “marginal.” First, ten of Russell’s fingerprints were found on seven of the heroin packets. These packets were found in a recreation yard to which only thirty-nine inmates, including Russell, had access. John T. Massey, a supervisory fingerprint specialist with the FBI, testified at trial that, if someone had subsequently touched the packets on which Russell’s prints were found, the prints would most likely have been of no value for identification purposes. By Russell’s own admission, he had access to the kind of white paper that was used to fashion the heroin packets. Finally, in regard to Russell’s claim that he used white paper to fashion picture frames for fellow prisoners and prison employees, Major Kenneth Washington testified that, in his twenty-one years of working in the Department of Corrections, while he had seen picture *625frames made of cigarette packages, he had never seen picture frames made of white paper.
Only by downplaying the evidence against Russell that existed independently of his credibility can the majority conclude that there is a reasonable probability that the jury found him guilty solely because the two vacated convictions destroyed his credibility and improperly focused the jury’s attention on his “bad character.” In light of the evidence — certainly not insignificant even when viewed outside the framework of Glasser — arrayed against Russell, this conclusion is untenable. Even more damaging to this conclusion is the fact that, at trial, the district court did not allow the prosecution to state the nature of Russell’s prior felony convictions. The prosecution could state only the number of the prior felony convictions. Thus, even though the jury heard that Russell had been convicted of three felonies, it never learned that the two vacated convictions were for the offenses of arson and assault with intent to kill. This fact significantly diminishes both the vacated convictions’ impact on Russell’s credibility and the “probability that the jury’s attention was diverted from the crimes charged to the issue of Russell’s bad character.”* Ante at 622.
Finally, and most importantly, although two of Russell’s prior felony convictions had been vacated, his Maryland conviction for conspiracy to commit arson had not. Thus, that conviction was still admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a)(1) for the purpose of impeaching Russell’s credibility. The majority dismisses this fact, stating only that it is “axiomatic” that while one prior felony conviction has little evidentiary value against a prisoner witness such as Russell, three prior felony convictions are “devastating.” Ante at 622. Assuming that this proposed “axiom,” for which the majority cites no authority, is truly self-evident, I have difficulty seeing how it operates with any force in a situation where the jury never knew the nature of Russell’s prior felony convictions, even the one that had not been vacated. The majority points to the questions the jury sent to the district court judge as “strikingly indicative of the jury’s concern with the veracity of Russell’s explanation for the presence of his fingerprints on the contraband,” ante at 622-23, yet it fails to explain how this concern (1) would have been lessened had the jury been told, properly, that Russell had only one prior felony conviction and (2) demonstrates that the jury’s attention was focused on the issue of Russell’s “bad character.” Indeed, I believe that the most logical inference to be drawn from the jury’s questions is that its focus was on the evidence presented linking Russell to the heroin packets, not that its “attention was diverted ... to the issue of Russell’s bad character.” Ante at 622. Thus, I conclude that Russell has failed to meet his burden of showing that his counsel’s failure to investigate the validity of the vacated convictions should undermine our confidence in the outcome of the trial.
B.
Because I conclude that Russell was not prejudiced by his counsel’s failure to discover that two of his prior felony convictions had been vacated, I would address his argument that he is entitled to a new trial because his counsel was ineffective for failing to call witnesses to corroborate his explanation for the presence of his fingerprints on the heroin packets — that the packets were fashioned by other inmates *626from paper he discarded while making picture frames. Even if counsel’s performance was deficient in this regard, Russell cannot demonstrate prejudice. Russell, at the hearing in which the district court considered his motion for a new trial, stated that the witnesses he wished to call would testify that he made picture frames. Significantly, however, none of these witnesses could have offered corroborating testimony challenging Massey’s statement that Russell’s fingerprints on seven of the packets would most likely have been obliterated had someone touched the packets after he did. Thus, even if Russell really did fashion frames out of white paper, a jury could still reasonably believe that he also used white paper to fashion the heroin packets. I, therefore, conclude that Russell has failed to meet his burden of showing that his counsel’s failure to call corroborating witnesses should undermine our confidence in the outcome of the trial.
II.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding that the district court abused its discretion in denying Russell’s motion for new trial based upon ineffective assistance of counsel.

The majority cites to Foster v. Barbour, 613 F.2d 59 (4th Cir.1980), for the proposition that the assertion that a defendant has been convicted of crimes for which no valid conviction exists destroys the fairness of the trial. See ante at 622. Unlike in this case, however, the prosecution in Foster did more than note the number of Foster’s prior convictions. In Foster’s trial on the charge of homicide in the course of a robbery of a store, the prosecution actually described the nature of several convictions on charges, such as larceny and robbery, that had been dismissed. See Foster, 613 F.2d at 60. Foster, therefore, is not apposite to this case.