U.S. v. McGill

• Citation: 952 F.2d 16
• Decision Date: 07 November 1991
• Docket Number: No. 91-1588,91-1588
• Parties: 34 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 667 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. Steven McGILL, Defendant, Appellant. . Heard
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

Page 16

952 F.2d 16

34 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 667

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. Steven McGILL, Defendant, Appellant.

No. 91-1588.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard Nov. 7, 1991.

Decided Dec. 19, 1991.

David N. Cicilline, Providence, R.I., for defendant, appellant.

Marie K. McElderry, Atty., U.S. Dept. of Justice, with whom John R. Dunne, Asst. Atty. Gen., David K. Flynn, Atty., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., Lincoln C. Almond, U.S. Atty., and Anthony DiGioia Asst. U.S. Atty., Providence, R.I., were on brief for plaintiff, appellee.

Before BREYER, Chief Judge, SELYA and CYR, Circuit Judges.

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-appellant Steven McGill was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charged violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242 (1982). ¹ The government alleged in substance that McGill was a correctional officer at a state prison in Rhode Island; that on July 10, 1984, while on duty, he subjected an inmate, Roger Alessio, to a simulated version of "Russian Roulette"; that, in the course of this perilous fandangle, McGill aimed a firearm at Alessio's head and pulled the trigger; and that the gun discharged, sending a bullet into Alessio's skull, killing him and thus violating his civil rights. Following trial in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, a jury found McGill guilty as charged. The district court sentenced him to a twelve-year prison term. McGill appeals. We affirm. ²

We need not linger long over this appeal. We discuss the assigned errors in decurtate fashion, indicating the general basis for our rulings. In our view, no more is merited.

A.

The first two assignments of error relate to the district court's jury instructions. In fine, McGill alleges that the court erred both in defining "willfulness" and in describing section 242's "under color of ... law" requirement. The short, conclusive response to these importunings is that no contemporaneous objection was lodged in either respect when the district court delivered its jury instructions. Hence, the objections were waived. ³

To be sure, an appellate court can vacate a defendant's conviction on the basis of instructional error, even in the absence of a contemporaneous objection, if the error is "plain." See United States v. Natanel, 938 F.2d 302, 311 (1st Cir.1991); United States v. Mejia-Lozano, 829 F.2d 268, 272 (1st Cir.1987); United States v. Griffin, 818 F.2d 97, 100 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 844, 108 S.Ct. 137, 98 L.Ed.2d 94 (1987). But, although the possibility is often discussed, the actuality is seldom seen. When all is said and done, "[t]he plain error hurdle is high." United States v. Hunnewell, 891 F.2d 955, 956 (1st Cir.1989).

In this instance, the hurdle is insurmountable. While the appellant's points appear to possess a patina of plausibility when bits and pieces of the district court's charge are wrested out of context, the patina dissolves completely when the charge, as needs must, is "taken in its entirety." Griffin, 818 F.2d at 100. The judge's instructions as a whole, spelled out the elements of the offense and the government's burden of proof. They also adequately communicated the theory of McGill's defense and the workings of the presumption of innocence. In the last analysis, we are hard pressed to discern instructional error to any degree--and we are completely unable to discern anything approaching a mistake so grave that it could have "seriously affect[ed] the fundamental fairness and basic integrity of the proceedings conducted below." Id. There was no plain error in the district court's charge.

B.

There was testimony before the jury that McGill, after narrating several self-serving accounts, finally admitted, within hours of the homicide, that he was imitating the depiction of a game of Russian Roulette played by Vietnamese guards at a prisoner-of-war camp in a feature film entitled "The Deerhunter." There was also testimony that, immediately prior to pulling the trigger, McGill shouted the words "mau, mau"--a cry imitative of conduct occurring in the film. The prosecution sought to show the Russian Roulette scene at McGill's trial. Defense counsel endeavored to avoid an excerpted rendition. In what seems to have been a compromise, both sides agreed to let the jury see the entire film, rather than just the single scene. Recognizing that his acquiescence in the admission of the evidence at trial constitutes a waiver, see Fed.R.Evid. 103(a)(1) (requiring timely objection to admission of evidence), McGill attempts to resurrect the point on appeal by a claim that allowing the jury to view the motion picture constituted plain error. See Fed.R.Evid. 103(d) (with respect to admission of evidence, appellate court may notice "plain errors affecting substantial rights" even if such errors were not brought to the trial court's attention); Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b) (similar).

This claim sounds a particularly dissonant chord. Counsel jointly presented the trial judge with a stipulation that a certain piece of evidence--a three-hour-long movie, the exact content of which was beyond the judge's ken--should be received into evidence. Given the stipulation and the attendant circumstances, any error in admitting the film could not possibly have been apparent to the trial judge when the proffer was made. It is, therefore, not surprising that, in cases like this one, where a party has stipulated to the admission of particular evidence, courts have been especially slow to find plain error when the party belatedly decides that the stipulation was improvident. See, e.g., United States v. Vogt, 910 F.2d 1184, 1192 (4th Cir.1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 955, 112 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1991); United States v. Sisto, 534 F.2d 616, 624 n. 9 (5th Cir.1976) (warning against dangers of "sandbagging").

We do not go so far today as to hold that where evidence is received pursuant to stipulation, plain error can never be found. In the end, our focus must be on whether the "fundamental fairness of the trial" has been undermined, see United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 16, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1046-47, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985); or, put another way, whether, apart from deploying plain error, "a miscarriage of justice would otherwise result." United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 163 n. 14, 102 S.Ct. 1584, 1592 n. 14, 71 L.Ed.2d 816 (1982). We are convinced that, in the case at hand, these rubrics cannot conceivably apply. We explain briefly.

The movie was clearly relevant. See Fed.R.Evid. 401 (evidence is relevant if it has "any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence"). So long as evidence is relevant, it is hen's-teeth rare that we, from the vista of a cold appellate record, can justifiably say, particularly in the absence of a contemporaneous objection, that the evidence's probative value was so outweighed by the specter of unfair prejudice that its introduction constituted reversible error. ⁴ Indeed, the cases are legion in which we, and other courts, have refused to overturn verdicts notwithstanding the trial judge's allowance of evidence which, though relevant, was grisly, sensational, or otherwise daunting. See, e.g., Foley v. Lowell, 948 F.2d 10, 15 (1st Cir.1991) (approving lower court's admission of evidence anent particularly vile incident of police brutality); Real v. Hogan, 828 F.2d 58, 61 (1st Cir.1987) (evidence of plaintiff's bloodstained hands); United States v. Cintolo, 818 F.2d 980, 997-98 (1st Cir.) (evidence of order to commit murder), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 913, 108 S.Ct. 259, 98 L.Ed.2d 216 (1987); United States v. Moreno Morales, 815 F.2d 725, 739-40 (1st Cir.) (evidence of murder), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 966, 108 S.Ct. 458, 98 L.Ed.2d 397 (1987); Kealohapauole v. Shimoda, 800 F.2d 1463, 1466 (9th Cir.1986) (habeas court upholds admission of autopsy film into evidence), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1068, 107 S.Ct. 958, 93 L.Ed.2d 1006 (1987). We think it crystal clear that the district court did not commit plain error in accepting counsels' agreement and permitting the jury to see "The Deerhunter" from start to finish.

C.

The appellant's final assignment of error piggybacks on the contentions previously discussed. He claims to have been deprived of proficient representation because his trial attorney failed to object to the jury instructions and stipulated to the cinematic display. Whatever the merits of this claim--and we do not suggest it possesses merit--it is...