Flores v. United States

• Decision Date: 22 June 1967
• Docket Number: No. 23523.,23523.
• Citation: 379 F.2d 905
• Parties: Roy Delgado FLORES, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

379 F.2d 905 (1967)

Roy Delgado FLORES, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 23523.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

June 22, 1967.

Maurice Amidei, Fort Worth, Tex., for appellant.

Reese L. Harrison, Jr., Andrew L. Jefferson, Jr., Asst. U. S. Attys., San Antonio, Tex., Ernest Morgan, U. S. Atty., Western District of Texas, for appellee.

Before BELL and GODBOLD, Circuit Judges, and NOEL, District Judge.

GODBOLD, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was charged on a three-count indictment alleging that he, Susie Fernandez and Modesto Martinez Briones had fraudulently forged the name of the payee on a check drawn on the Treasurer of the United States, had knowingly uttered the check as true (both in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 495) and had possessed the check in violation of 18 U.S. C.A. § 1708. Fernandez and Briones had been charged under an earlier indictment, and Fernandez had pleaded guilty.¹

Before trial Flores moved for a separate trial under Fed.R.Crim.P. 14. The government moved under Fed.R.Crim.P. 13 to consolidate Flores' trial with that of Briones, arguing that both defendants were "engaged in a joint enterprise, and that much of the evidence admissible against one * * * would be admissible against the others." Appellant also sought extensive pre-trial discovery.

At a hearing on the pre-trial motions, the district court ordered consolidation of the cases but indicated its willingness to consider at any time up to five days before trial any information showing that Flores would be prejudiced by the consolidation. The court requested, and the government agreed to, considerable discovery, including production of the check, prior convictions of all defendants and government witnesses and a list of government witnesses. (The record shows that Flores received before trial a copy of statements made by Fernandez.)

The government's evidence (primarily the testimony of Fernandez) tended to establish the following: Briones approached Fernandez and Guzman, her common-law husband, with the stolen check and gave it to Guzman who requested Fernandez to cash it. All three proceeded to a nearby grocery store, Fernandez wrote the name of the payee on the reverse side of the check, entered the store alone and cashed the check. She then rejoined Briones and Guzman and gave the money from the check to Briones; all three then went to a nearby drive-in restaurant where they met Flores. Briones told appellant that "he had gotten the check cashed." Flores and Briones left the restaurant.

It was stipulated that Flores' right thumbprint appeared on the check.

The government called Kenneth Wiseman, a Special Agent of the United States Secret Service, who testified that he had arrested Briones. Counsel for Briones objected to testimony of any conversations that Wiseman might have had with Briones on the ground Briones had not been taken immediately before a magistrate and had not been given the preinterrogation warnings required by recent Supreme Court decisions. The court, after excusing the jury, asked the government to develop the facts related to Briones' objection. Agent Wiseman then testified as follows:

Q. Upon arrival at your office, did you have a conversation with Mr. Briones?

A. Yes, sir, we did.

* * * * * *

Q. What did he say about the check, if anything?

A. He said that he had seen the check previously one day while standing in his yard, that Ray Flores brought this check to him, told him it was not his, and asked Briones to assist him in cashing it * * * Briones further stated that he looked at the check but that he refused to give him any assistance.

Counsel for Flores immediately objected that the testimony was a complete surprise and that he had been assured the day before (by government counsel) that the thumbprint and the testimony of Fernandez were all the evidence against Flores. Counsel for the government responded that he had gone as far in pretrial discovery as in good conscience he felt he could, and acknowledged that he had not divulged the substance of agent Wiseman's testimony to appellant's counsel:

"Appellant\'s counsel asked me was there any other statements made by any other witnesses. Well, Mr. Briones is a co-defendant. He is not a witness for the government as Susie Fernandez * * * was, and secondly, this statement, if it is admissible, the jury would have to be instructed * * * not to consider it against Ray Delegato Flores."

Briones' objections to the testimony were overruled, the jury was returned and Wiseman testified to the statement by Briones. Flores moved to strike and for a mistrial on the ground that no instruction could prevent the jury from considering the statement as evidence against Flores. The district court granted the motion to strike and instructed the jury that the statement was to be considered against Briones only; the motion for mistrial was overruled.²

At the close of the government's case, Flores moved for an instructed verdict; this was denied. The only evidence introduced by Flores was his wife's testimony as to his birthplace, marriage and job.

The jury, again carefully instructed to consider Wiseman's testimony only in relation to Briones, acquitted Flores on counts one and two but convicted him on count three (charging possession). His motions in arrest of judgment and for an instructed verdict and judgment or acquittal were overruled and he now appeals on numerous grounds. Because we find that the motion for a mistrial should have been granted, we do not reach the other grounds asserted.

This court frequently has recognized in reviewing motions for severance made under Fed.R.Crim.P. 14 the rule of Opper v. United States, 348 U.S. 84, 75 S.Ct. 158, 99 L.Ed. 101 (1954) that it is "within the sound discretion of the trial judge as to whether the defendants should be tried together or severally."³

We have found occasion to reverse rulings on such motions. See Barton v. United States, 263 F.2d 894 (5th Cir., 1959) where a confession by one co-defendant which implicated the appellant was introduced after a severance had been denied. In reversing and remanding for a new trial Judge Rives stated:

"The sole reliance for Mitchell\'s protection was the court\'s instruction to the jury, * * * not to treat the statement of evidence against Mitchell. Considering the substance and terms of Barton\'s statement, we doubt whether it was at all possible to carry out that instruction. To do so would certainly require twelve minds more disciplined than those of the average human juror."

See also Schaffer v. United States, 221 F.2d 17 (5th Cir., 1955) also reversing for failure to grant a separate trial. In Belvin v. United States, 273 F.2d 583 (5th Cir., 1960), cert. denied, 372 U.S. 922, 83 S.Ct. 737, 9 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963), no motion for a severance had been made but during trial there was introduced a confession by one codefendant which implicated the others. The other defendants, claiming surprise, moved for a mistrial, which was overruled. Whether this was error was not reached, for this court reversed on other grounds.⁴

In the present case we find that, on the facts presented, the denial of a mistrial was error.

At the time of the pretrial motions there was no showing that a single trial would in any way prejudice Flores. The district court was careful to avoid the only specific possibility of prejudice then raised by Flores, which was admission of possible evidence of narcotics addiction. (The witness Fernandez was instructed out of hearing of the jury to omit any references to use of narcotics.) But in an analogous context the Supreme Court has noted that "the trial judge has a continuing duty at all stages of the trial to grant a severance if prejudice does appear." Schaffer v. United States, 362 U.S. 511, 4 L.Ed.2d 921, 80 S.Ct. 945 (1960).

The duty of the trial court in ruling on a motion for mistrial under such circumstances is similar to its duty in ruling on a pretrial motion for severance: "In any given case the court must weigh prejudice to the defendant caused by the joinder against the obviously important considerations of economy and expedition in judicial administration." Drew v. United States, 118 U.S.App.D.C. 11, 331 F.2d 85, 88 (1964). Each case must be determined on its own facts.

The potential prejudice to Flores was high; the statement of Briones was direct evidence of knowing possession, and there was no other direct and little circumstantial evidence of Flores' guilt. Under these circumstances, there was a high probability that the jury would not "as a practical matter" be able to "keep separate the evidence that is relevant to each defendant and render a fair and impartial verdict as to him." Peterson v. United States, 344 F.2d 419, 422 (5th Cir., 1965) (quoting from United States v. Kahaner, 203 F.Supp. 78, 81-82 (S.D. N.Y.1962), aff'd., 317 F.2d 459 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, Keogh v. United States, 375 U.S. 836, 84 S.Ct. 74, 11 L.Ed.2d 65 (1963).) The case was not a complex one and granting a mistrial would not seriously have inconvenienced judicial administration.

Nor was Flores' counsel derelict in failing to discover the substance of the testimony and call it to the attention of the district court within the period set for establishment of prejudice. He diligently sought pretrial discovery and obtained (upon specific request) Fernandez's statements. But the record shows no indication to him that Briones had made any statement to the arresting officer, nor did the government offer that information either to appellant or the court. Counsel was, the record establishes, genuinely and understandably surprised when at trial the statement was revealed.

We also must consider in the balancing process the potential prejudicial effect of the testimony in relation to its importance to the government's case. The prosecution already had introduced direct evidence (Fernandez's testimony) that Briones had actively...