United States v. Brown , 805 F.3d 13 ( 2015 )

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 14-1110
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Appellee,
v.
SEAN BROWN,
Defendant, Appellant.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
[Hon. Steven J. McAuliffe, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Torruella, Lynch, and Kayatta,
Circuit Judges.
Theodore M. Lothstein and Lothstein Guerriero, PLLC, was
on brief, for appellant.
Seth R. Aframe, Assistant United States Attorney, with
whom Donald Feith, Acting United States Attorney, was on brief,
for appellee.
November 4, 2015
KAYATTA, Circuit Judge. Convicted of three counts of
distribution of a controlled substance and sentenced to serve 120
months in prison, Sean Brown appeals the denial of his motion for
a new trial based on the inadvertent submission of evidence that
had previously been ruled inadmissible. Finding no reversible
error, we affirm.
I. Facts and Background
Brown's arrest and conviction were the culmination of an
investigation that began when an informant, Douglas Landry,
reported to the Nashua, New Hampshire, Police Department that he
was buying crack from Brown and that Brown had threatened him
because of an outstanding drug debt. Landry agreed to assist the
Nashua police by making three controlled drug purchases from Brown.
Nashua Police also reported making a series of other controlled
purchases of crack from Brown through an undercover officer.
On February 24, 2010, after Landry's last controlled buy
from Brown, Nashua police arrested Brown. Federal prosecutors
procured a six-count indictment charging Brown with five counts of
distribution of crack cocaine arising out of purchases reported by
the undercover officer and one count of possession of crack cocaine
with intent to distribute based on crack Nashua police reported
finding in Brown's hat when they arrested him.
After prosecutors learned of allegations of misconduct
by the undercover officer, they dismissed the original indictment
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with prejudice. Prosecutors thereafter filed a new indictment,
alleging three counts of distribution of crack cocaine based on
the controlled buys by Landry, plus a fourth count again alleging
possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute based on the
crack that Nashua police reported finding in Brown's hat as
described in the original indictment. The court dismissed that
fourth count with prejudice as duplicative of the same count
included in the original indictment that had been dismissed with
prejudice. The court also granted Brown's motion in limine to
exclude evidence related to the dismissed count. After thereafter
receiving an exhibit list from the government that included
evidence related to the dismissed count, Brown renewed his motion
in limine, which the court again granted, this time from the bench
on the second day of trial.
At trial, the government based its case on law
enforcement's surveillance of Landry's controlled buys with Brown,
audio recordings of Brown talking to Landry, and Brown's video-
recorded interview with Nashua Sergeant Francis Sullivan after
Brown's arrest. The government presented the testimony of five
surveilling officers to describe the procedure used to monitor the
controlled buys. Although they did not see Landry give Brown
money, did not see Brown in possession of cocaine, and did not see
Brown give cocaine or any other substance to Landry during the
three controlled buys, the officers testified that they provided
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Landry with cash to make the buys, that they kept him in view
throughout the entire buy, and that Landry gave them a quantity of
crack cocaine immediately after each transaction. Landry and his
vehicle were searched by the police prior to and after the
controlled buys to ensure that he did not have any drugs or other
contraband on his person, and each time no drugs were found on
Landry prior to the buys.
The government admitted and played the audio recordings
for the jury. In the recordings, Brown offered to sell Landry
"soft" or "hard" and expressed his anger with Landry for being
late to their meeting because of "the risk involved." Landry asked
Brown for "the hard."1 Brown also described himself to Landry as
a "businessman" and told Landry that he wished the news was "doing
an exposé" on "drug dealers . . . and the working man . . . like
yourself."
At trial, the government also played a portion of the
post-arrest interview in which Brown denied being a drug dealer,
but nevertheless admitted that he had traded narcotics for other
narcotics, that he believed he was "addicted" to a "hustler"
lifestyle in which "drugs . . . guns . . . illegal substances"
1 When asked about the meaning of "hard" and "soft" "in the world
of cocaine," Sergeant Sullivan Testified that "soft" refers to
powder cocaine and "hard" refers to crack cocaine. See United
States v. Albertelli, 687 F.3d 439, 446 (1st Cir. 2012) ("Police
officers commonly help interpret conversations by translating
jargon common among criminals. . . .").
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were the only things "providing for" him, and that, in order to
"get by," he "mov[ed]" "[a]nything illegal that you're not supposed
to . . . profit from."
In addition to playing portions of the post-arrest
interview at trial, the government put into evidence a video
recording containing both the short portions played at trial and
the lengthier remainder not played at trial. Inadvertently and
unbeknownst to either party at the time, the full recording
included a short passage referring to drugs found in Brown's hat
after his arrest, evidence of which had been excluded based on the
order granting Brown's motions in limine. The portion that both
parties agree should not have been admitted included the following
exchange:
Sgt. Sullivan: Okay and I made contact
with you a short time
later upon your
arrest . . .
The Defendant: No problem.
Sgt. Sullivan: You recall that there was
a substance that was
removed from you hat? Do
you remember this?
The Defendant: I recall a camera . . . I
recall your phone . . . I
recall saying you had
something . . . I recall
me asking to see it.
Sgt. Sullivan: Right.
The Defendant: And I remember you showed
me what I asked you to
see.
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Sgt. Sullivan: So you are telling me that
you didn't have anything
in your possession prior
to me making contact with
you and taking a
photograph of what I
allegedly found in your
hat?
The Defendant: I am saying to my
knowledge I said exactly
what happened. I came
out. I didn't want to get
shot. You know what I'm
saying.
***
Sgt. Sullivan: [The arrest] was fine and
you ended up having some
stuff on you that is
corroborative of the
investigation . . . you
had product on
you . . . this cocaine
that was in your hat. I
found it and I took a
photograph of that . . .
The Defendant: You actually.
Sgt. Sullivan: I'm not Houdini.
The Defendant: Is your phone video
capable as well.
Sgt. Sullivan: I usually take
photographs though.
The Defendant. Oh.
Sgt. Sullivan: It takes like thirty
second videos.
The Defendant: Yeah like short ones--is
I'm talking about.
Sgt. Sullivan: Right, but I just took a
picture of it.
The Defendant: Wouldn't it have
been . . . I mean for the
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sake of the
investigation . . . you
know like have the
video . . . you know be
recording while you're
actually doing it so you
can say okay well we know
this independently
corroborative evidence
right here.
Sgt. Sullivan: Right.
The Defendant: The video camera don't
care if you're black or
white.
During closing arguments, both the prosecutor and Brown
himself2 encouraged the jury to listen to the entire recording of
the interview. During their deliberations the jury asked if they
could have equipment to hear audio when playing a video.
The jury found Brown guilty of three counts of
distribution of a controlled substance (crack cocaine) in
violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Based on the admission of the
unredacted video recording, Brown filed a motion for a new trial
under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33. The district court
denied the motion "essentially for the reasons given in the
government's opposition." The district court then sentenced Brown
to 120 months in prison.
2 Prior to and during trial, Brown proceeded pro se, with so-
called standby counsel in the wings. During deliberations, Brown
informed the court that he no longer wished to proceed pro se and
the court ordered Brown's standby counsel to represent him from
that point forward. He has been represented by counsel since that
time.
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II. Analysis
The parties spill much ink in debating the standard of
review applicable to this appeal. In substance, what happened is
that, by agreement, a videotape was put into the record in normal
course, with the mutually-expressed intent that the jurors be able
to view the video in its entirety. This is therefore simply not
a case in which a jury became privy to extrinsic prejudicial
material or information not in the record. See, e.g., United
States v. Santana, 175 F.3d 57, 66 (1st Cir. 1999) ("[T]he jury's
consideration of extrinsic information raises a presumption of
prejudice and the government bears the burden of showing beyond a
reasonable doubt that the extrinsic information did not contribute
to the conviction." (internal citations omitted)). Rather, it is
a case in which a defendant now argues on appeal that evidence
should not have been admitted. In normal course, such an appeal
would proceed on plain error review where the evidence went in
without objection. Arrieta-Agressot v. United States, 3 F.3d 525,
528 (1st Cir. 1993) (applying plain error when no objection was
made to the mistake at trial). Here, though, the general substance
of the objection was previously raised by Brown and actually
accepted by the district court in its in limine orders, with the
lack of a subsequent particularized objection to the pertinent
portion of the video flowing, perhaps in part, from reliance on an
expectation that counsel for the government would comply with that
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order. Of course, there is no suggestion here that government
counsel did not try to comply. Rather, this is a case of
overlapping oversight, and defendant shared in the responsibility
of ensuring the exclusion of the inadmissible evidence.
In the end, we need not decide how to frame or gauge our
review because, even under the harmless error test advocated by
Brown, Brown would lose. Under that test, the government bears
the burden of persuasion to show that "it is highly probable that
the error did not influence the verdict." United States v. Piper,
298 F.3d 47, 56 (1st Cir. 2002).3 The evidence against Brown was
powerful. Brown's defense reduced itself to suggesting that Landry
framed him by supplying the police with his own drugs that he
falsely claimed to have received from Brown, a subterfuge made
possible, Brown posits, because the police admittedly did not go
so far as to search Landry's anus before each of the controlled
buys. The problem with this defense (apart from its failure to
explain what happened to the cash provided for each buy, how Landry
could have afforded to arrive at the buys with drugs, and how
Landry extricated and produced the bags to the officers while under
3 In his brief, Brown applies the "constitutional error"
standard which requires the beneficiary of the error to "prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not
contribute to the verdict obtained." Chapman v. California, 386
U.S. 18, 24 (1967)(emphasis added). There is, however, no
constitutional issue at stake in Brown's evidentiary challenges to
the admission of the full video on the grounds that it is more
prejudicial than probative.
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constant surveillance without creating suspicion) was Brown's own
words as memorialized in his several recorded conversations with
Landry and in his jailhouse recorded interview. It is highly
unlikely that any reasonable person who listened to the admissible
portions of those recordings would have had any doubt that Brown,
not Landry, was supplying the drugs.
Conversely, the inadmissible portion of the interview
was itself minimally prejudicial. United States v. Dunbar, 553
F.3d 48, 60 (1st Cir. 2009) (finding harmless error when the
evidence was minimally prejudicial). This portion of the recording
was neither mentioned nor referenced at trial and Brown never
explicitly admitted that he had crack cocaine in his hat at any
time during trial or during the interview. The inadmissible
portion of the interview was brief and ambiguous--there is little
context for what is being discussed, the word "cocaine" is used
only once by Sullivan, and Brown never admits to whether there was
actually anything in his hat. United States v. Wood, 924 F.2d
399, 402 (1st Cir. 1991) (finding harmless error "[i]n light of
the other evidence and the ambiguous content" of the evidence).
Without additional context for or explanation of this
conversation, it is hard to imagine that a "hypothetical average
juror," United States v. Boylan, 898 F.2d 230, 262 (1st Cir. 1990)
(quoting United States v. Calbas, 821 F.2d 887, 896 (2d Cir.
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1987)), would understand or place much weight on this dialogue in
reaching his or her verdict.
In short, we find it "highly probable" that the
submission of the inadmissible portion of the recording, even if
actually viewed and considered by the jury, did not influence the
verdict. See United States v. Tejeda, 974 F.2d 210, 215 (1st Cir.
1992) (upholding defendant's conviction under the non-
constitutional harmless error test despite an evidentiary error
because it was "highly probable" that it did not influence the
verdict in light of other "overwhelming" circumstantial evidence
against the defendant).
III. Conclusion
Because we conclude that any error in offering and
admitting the pertinent portion of the video was harmless, we
affirm.
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