Court Opinion

ID: 9580848
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:09:32.913202+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:33.900799
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I have no objection to remanding this matter to apply the rather complex and finely articulated framework the majority has supplied. On remand, the district *824court will apparently not be Judge Shadur, who has recused himself from further participation in this case. As indicated in his recusal order, it appears that feelings were running high based on Judge Shadur’s objection to certain tactics employed by the government as the case neared trial. It is because of this background tension that I write separately, not because of anything written in the majority opinion.
I believe Judge Shadur’s recusal reflects, at least in part, his concern that there might be some doubt of his capacity to rule impartially on matters involving propensity evidence under Rules 413-415. In my view, his recusal on this account or any other arising in this case was entirely unnecessary and his impartiality, especially as to propensity evidence, is unquestioned. Many judges hold reservations about the law they must apply, but, like Judge Shadur, are able to generally cabin these concerns to the appropriate forum.
I categorically reject any suggestion by the government that Judge Shadur may have clung in an improper way to his own beliefs about the admissibility of propensity evidence or used Rule 403 as a vehicle to advance an agenda. This Court today and others previously have broadly accepted Rule 403 as a necessary bulwark against improper inferences to be drawn from evidence admitted through Rules 413-415. See, e.g. United States v. LeMay, 260 F.3d 1018, 1026-27 (9th Cir.2001) (“As long as the protections of Rule 403 remain in place to ensure that potentially devastating evidence of little probative value will not reach the jury, the right to a fair trial remains adequately safe-guarded.”); United States v. Enjady, 134 F.3d 1427, 1433 (10th Cir.1998). Likewise, in applying Rule 403, Judge Shadur appropriately weighed prejudicial inferences that this Court today finds within the scope of Rule 403 balancing in criminal trials for sexual assault. See Op. at 822-23.
That written, the foregoing should only be read as an aside supporting my belief that Judge Shadur properly discharged his duty to dispassionately preside over this case until he very conscientiously, but unnecessarily, exercised his discretion to recuse.