Court Opinion

ID: 9487702
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:24:05.58223+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:26.251010
License: Public Domain

MANSMANN, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the judgment of the majority and in its opinion in all respects except one. I would apply the logic and reasoning of our decision in United States v. Joshua, 976 F.2d 844 (3d Cir.1992), to this ease and hold that where a trial court finds that the introduction of evidence of a defendant’s prior felony conviction would be unduly prejudicial, such evidence may be severed from the trial of the remaining elements of an 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) offense.
In ruling on Jacobs’ motion to exclude or limit the evidence pertaining to his prior conviction, the district court found that Joshua was not controlling because it addressed severance of counts of an indictment, rather than the severance of elements of an offense, as Jacobs requested here. In addition, the court did not believe that any prejudice to the defendant existed under the circumstances and found that, even if it did, the probative value substantially outweighed the prejudice to the defendant under the circumstances. (App. 87-88.)1
Although Jacobs was charged in a single count indictment, I find that the logic and reasoning of Joshua is nonetheless applicable here. In Joshua we held that in order to prevent prejudicing the jury, a count of a multi-count indictment which charged possession of a gun by a convicted felon could be severed to avoid exposing the jury to the defendant’s previous conviction for armed bank robbery. We found that the bifurcated trial procedure adopted by the court struck the appropriate balance between the concern about prejudice to the defendant and considerations of judicial economy. 976 F.2d at 848.
Our overriding concern in Joshua was the exposure of the jury to prejudicial information. Specifically, our concern was that the necessity of introducing evidence of the defendant’s criminal record, in order to prove the felon in possession of a weapon charge, would prejudice the jury’s deliberations on other counts. See also United States v. Bu-*1228sic, 587 F.2d 577 (3d Cir.), rev’d on other grounds, 446 U.S. 398, 100 S.Ct. 1747, 64 L.Ed.2d 381 (1980) (severance could be granted where evidence of the prior conviction would not be independently admissible with respect to the remaining counts of the indictment).
The potential for the type of prejudice that concerned us in Joshua is the same potential for prejudice that exists in this case. Thus, I do not see any reason for distinguishing between a criminal defendant who faces multiple counts of an indictment where one count of the indictment alleges a prior conviction as an element of the offense, and a criminal defendant who is charged in a single count with an offense that has a prior conviction as one of its elements.2 Here, there was tremendous potential for prejudice to Jacobs from the jury’s hearing the evidence regarding Jacobs’ prior burglary conviction while it was deciding whether or not Jacobs possessed the firearm. The entire dispute, in this case, concerned whether Jacobs, in fact, possessed the firearm. At trial, police officers George Ciganik and Maurice Jones testified that Jacobs possessed a large revolver which he pulled from his waistband and pointed at the officers. (App. 165-66 and 129-30.) Jacobs took the stand and testified that he did not have a gun. Another witness, June Coleman (an unindicted co-conspirator of Jacobs), testified that Jacobs did not have a gun and that he was wearing a cast on his arm that night. (App. 229-30.) In deciding whether or not Jacobs possessed the firearm, there was absolutely no need for the jury to be informed that Jacobs had a prior criminal record.3 In resolving this disputed issue of fact, it is possible, and maybe even probable, that the jury was unduly influenced by the fact that Jacobs had been previously convicted for burglary. Nonetheless, based on the cold record before us, I cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in refusing Jacobs’ bifurcation or severance request. The district court is obviously in the best position to decide whether the fact or type of prior conviction would unduly influence a jury in deciding other elements of an offense. It is within the district court’s discretion to decide what procedure should be employed, and if any is necessary, to insulate a jury from prejudicial information.
It has always been within the district court’s discretion under Federal of Evidence 403 to exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Moreover, control over the order of proof at trial is a matter that is committed to the discretion of the trial judge. United States v. Ammar, 714 F.2d 238, 246 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 936, 104 S.Ct. 344, 78 L.Ed.2d 311 (1983); United States v. Continental Group, Inc., 603 F.2d 444, 456 (3d Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1032, 100 S.Ct. 703, 62 L.Ed.2d 668 (1980). Although 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) requires proof of a prior conviction as an element of this offense, I see no reason why a trial court could not require that the jury determine the issue of possession before being informed that a defendant has a prior conviction. Accordingly, I would extend Joshua’s, application to indictments which allege a prior conviction as an element of the offense.

. In response to the district court's ruling, defense counsel made an alternative request. This request, too, was designed to limit the impact of prejudicial information. Defense counsel asked the court to inform the jury that "Jacobs was charged with being in possession of a firearm after having received a conviction for a crime punishable by more than a year” (which is the language of the statute), rather than informing the jury that Jacobs had been convicted for burglary. The court denied the request, responding, "I intend to read exactly what the indictment charges, which I think is precise and to the point.” (App. 88-89).

. I find the government's argument that the jury needed all the elements of the offense before it prior to deliberating on a single count, to be without merit. Severing the elements of this offense, or adopting a bifurcated trial procedure, is no different from the bifurcation which occurred in Joshua where the jury returned verdicts on three counts of the indictment and then returned to render a verdict on the fourth count which charged possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

. Because Jacobs’ prior conviction was not relevant to the specific issue of whether Jacobs possessed a revolver on October 22, 1992, Joshua's requirement that the evidence of the prior conviction not be otherwise independently admissible is also satisfied. Indeed, after presentation of the government's case-in-chief, (during which evidence of Jacobs' prior burglary mentioned in the indictment was admitted), the district court granted Jacobs' motion to exclude evidence of his additional prior convictions, finding that the prejudicial value of these prior convictions outweighed their probative value. The court found this evidence had “nothing to do with the issue of whether the defendant possessed a revolver on October 22, 1992” and the court did "not want to impede his [Jacobs’] ability to tell his version of what happened.” (App. 223-24.)