Court Opinion

ID: 9553506
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:30:35.636182+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:31:21.473737
License: Public Domain

ORME, Judge
(dissenting in part):
While I otherwise concur in the court’s opinion, I must dissent from the court’s affirmance of the witness tampering charge addressed in Section II of the main opinion. The basis for my disagreement is simple. Phipps’s testimony about his pretrial discussions with Burk does not establish either that Burk “attempt[ed] to induce” Phipps to withhold testimony or that he “attempt[ed] to ... otherwise cause” Phipps to withhold testimony.
Careful review of Phipps’s testimony indicates that Burk wanted Phipps to stick it out while they figured out “good excuses or anything like that;” that the two merely discussed “possible alibis” concerning where Phipps or Burk “could have been”; and that Burk wanted Phipps to testify that he, Phipps, had not committed the crime and knew nothing of the crime. The majority takes comfort in the last of these, but is able to do so only by drawing its own conclusion about what Phipps was really saying, on the basis of facts not in evidence. Phipps’s testimony was that Burk wanted him to testify a particular way. The majority deduces from this testimony that Burk asked him to testify a particular way. I do not believe the deduction fol*889lows. The mere fact that one wants a particular thing, and has made that desire known to another, does not necessarily mean he has asked the other to bring it about.
The most that can be said of Burk’s discussions with Phipps is that Burk registered with Phipps a personal preference that Phipps withhold testimony damaging to Burk. This mere desire, however, where not coupled with some tangible indicia of inducement or causation, is not criminal. If Burk threatened Phipps with harm unless he withheld testimony; if Burk promised Phipps some benefit if he withheld testimony; or perhaps even if Burk set about, only with argument and persuasion, to dissuade Phipps from testifying, Burk’s actions would constitute criminal tampering. But according to Phipps, Burk did none of that. He merely acquainted Phipps with his wish, desire, or preference that Phipps stick it out and that Phipps testify he knew nothing. Additionally, the two shared their thoughts on possible alibis. Burk would no doubt have been perfectly pleased had Phipps elected to withhold testimony incriminating to Burk. But from all that appears, Burk in no way attempted to cause, by inducement or otherwise, that result.
Accordingly, I would reverse the witness tampering conviction, which lacks any basis whatsoever in the evidence.