United States v. Jose Reyes ( 2015 )

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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 12-13417
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 1:11-cr-00060-ODE-RGV-2
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
JOSE REYES,
a.k.a. Tulile,
JOHANN BRITO,
a.k.a. Pi,
ALBERT ESPINAL,
a.k.a. Remy,
Defendants-Appellants.
________________________
Appeals from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
________________________
(January 5, 2015)
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Before WILSON and ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judges, and CONWAY, * District
Judge.
PER CURIAM:
In this multi-defendant criminal appeal, Defendants-Appellants Jose Reyes,
Albert Espinal, and Johann Brito appeal their convictions and sentences for various
robbery, drug, and firearm-related offenses. Collectively, Appellants raise more
than twenty issues in this appeal. We find that only one issue—Appellants’ claim
that the trial judge failed to swear the jury—warrants any discussion.
I. BACKGROUND
Trial in this case began on February 13, 2012. After more than a day of jury
selection, the district court empaneled a jury and Appellants made opening
statements on February 14, 2012. The trial lasted more than two weeks, eventually
concluding on March 1, 2012, when the jury returned guilty verdicts against all
three Appellants. After trial, the district court sentenced Appellants to terms of
imprisonment varying from 240 to 840 months. Appellants timely appealed. On
November 5, 2012, the trial court reporter filed official transcripts of the trial and
sentencing proceedings. Shortly thereafter, on November 26, 2012, the district
court clerk filed a certificate of readiness of record on appeal.
*
Honorable Anne C. Conway, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Middle
District of Florida, sitting by designation.
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On December 30, 2013, more than a year later, Espinal filed his initial brief
in this court, arguing, inter alia, that the jury had never been sworn by the trial
court. Espinal asserted that this defect rendered the entire trial a nullity. In support
of this argument, and attached to his initial brief, Espinal filed (1) affidavits from
himself and Brito swearing that, based on their review of the trial transcript and
minute sheet entries, the district court did not swear the jury, (2) the minute sheet
entry from February 14, 2012, which does not show that the jury was sworn, and
(3) an affidavit from Espinal’s trial counsel swearing that, upon his review of the
transcript, it is clear to him that the trial jury was never sworn. Appellants Brito
and Reyes subsequently adopted this enumeration of error.
On February 20, 2014, after Espinal filed his initial brief, the district judge
issued an order of certification pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure
10(e)(2)(B), certifying as true and accurate a supplemental transcript of the
proceedings of February 14, 2012. The certification order stated that correction of
the transcript was warranted based on the discovered omission in the original
transcript of the swearing of the jury. The district court stated that the court
reporter’s stenographic notes reflected that the jury was, in fact, sworn after it had
been empaneled and before opening statements, but that indication of
administration of the oath was inadvertently omitted from the official record. The
court certified that the oath administration is properly reflected in the supplemental
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transcript. The district court’s order also reflects that it had been prepared by
counsel for the government.
On March 19, 2014, the government filed its response brief in this appeal,
arguing that, notwithstanding that the original certified record failed to reflect that
the jury had been sworn, the corrected supplemental transcript showed that the
district judge did administer the jury oath. The government attached an affidavit to
its response brief from the trial court reporter who swore that his stenographic
notes “clearly contain [his] notation that [the district judge] requested that the
Courtroom Deputy swear the jury and that the oath was administered to the jury
shortly after it was empaneled and before opening statements.” The court reporter
further swore that in comparing his stenographic notes to the transcript he prepared
from the February 14, 2012, court proceedings, he discovered that any mention of
the jury being sworn was inadvertently omitted from the record. The court reporter
stated that he prepared a corrected transcript, which he then submitted to the
district court for certification.
II. ANALYSIS
The government argues that the jury oath administration issue is moot
because the court reporter merely overlooked his notation that the jury was sworn
and, upon discovery, the district court certified a corrected transcript which
reflected that the court swore the jury. By way of reply, Appellants do not concede
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that the issue is moot. Instead, Appellants take issue with the certified corrected
transcript in that the district judge supplemented the record (1) after the record had
been certified as true and correct in this Court, (2) after Appellants filed their initial
briefs, (3) ex parte with counsel for the government, (4) without any open and
public hearing, (5) without notice to Appellants, and (6) while this Court retained
jurisdiction over the case. Relying on the former Fifth Circuit’s opinion in United
States v. Selva, 546 F.2d 1173 (5th Cir. 1977), 1 Appellants argue that remand to
the district court for an evidentiary hearing on the issue is appropriate. Appellants
further argue that the district court and counsel for the government should be
disqualified from the case upon remand, and that a special master should be
appointed to conduct the evidentiary hearing.
Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 10(e)(2) states:
If anything material to either party is omitted from or misstated in the
record by error or accident, the omission or misstatement may be
corrected and a supplemental record may be certified and forwarded:
(A) on stipulation of the parties;
(B) by the district court before or after the record has been
forwarded; or
(C) by the court of appeals.
Rule 10(e) specifically permits a district court to correct an accidental
omission in the record after the record has been forwarded to the appellate court.
1
This Court adopted as binding precedent all Fifth Circuit decisions prior to October 1,
1981. Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc).
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Fed. R. App. P. 10(e)(2); see also United States v. Mori, 444 F.2d 240, 246 (5th
Cir. 1971) (“Under Rule 10(e) it is clear that the district court may consider a
motion to correct the record even after appeal has been taken.”). Moreover, the
Rule does not, in itself, require an evidentiary hearing to correct such an omission.
While there have been instances when this Court has remanded a case to the
district court so that it could “conduct an appropriate hearing . . . for the purpose of
supplementing the record, if possible, to disclose what transpired during the . . .
trial,” see, e.g., Selva, 546 F.2d at 1174, those cases involved a remand so that the
district court could “attempt to reconstruct the record,” see id.
Here, there is nothing in the record to reconstruct. The court reporter
provided a sworn statement that he recorded the jury being sworn, but
inadvertently omitted this information from the official transcript. The district
court thereafter certified the supplemental transcript based on this inadvertent
omission. As certified by the district court, the oath administration is properly
reflected in the supplemental transcript. See Mori, 444 F.2d at 246 (“The trial
judge ordered the record corrected pursuant to his recollection of the events at
issue, and that determination, absent a showing of intentional falsification or plain
unreasonableness, is conclusive . . . . Since defendant has not effectively
challenged the conclusions reached by the trial court, we must read the record [as
determined by the trial court].”). Therefore, inasmuch as Appellants argue that the
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district court erred in failing to hold an evidentiary hearing, the district court did
not abuse its discretion. See United States v. Brown, 441 F.3d 1330, 1373 (11th
Cir. 2006) (evaluating district court’s failure to hold an evidentiary hearing in
evaluating a Rule 10(e) motion for an abuse of discretion); cf. United States v.
Pagan-Ferrer, 736 F.3d 573, 582 (1st Cir. 2013) (stating that Rule 10(e) “requires
that the district court settle the matter, not that it hold an evidentiary hearing”);
Mori, 444 F.2d at 246 (noting that there was no need for a full evidentiary hearing
on Rule 10(e) motion).
With respect to Appellants’ argument that they were not given proper notice
or an opportunity to respond to the correction of the record, such notice and an
opportunity to respond does not apply to the district court’s correction of the record
on its own motion based on an inadvertent omission. Rather, Appellants would be
given that opportunity if (1) the record was reconstructed by a party, or (2) a
dispute between the parties regarding the record was submitted to the court by one
of the parties. Compare Fed. R. App. P. 10(c) (allowing party to respond to
statement of evidence that has been reconstructed), and Fed. R. App. P. 10(e)(1)
(discussing disputes regarding the record being “submitted to and settled by” the
court), with Fed. R. App. P. 10(e)(2)(B) (allowing the district court to correct error
omitted by error or accident).
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Finally, to the extent Appellants challenge the Rule 10(e) order on the
ground that it was ex parte, the only basis for doing so appears to be that the
district court requested the government to draft a proposed Rule 10(e) order
addressing the court reporter’s disclosure. Although we have “repeatedly
condemned the ghostwriting of judicial orders by litigants,” particularly after an ex
parte communication between the court and one party, we have also explained that
we will vacate such orders “only if a party can demonstrate that the process by
which the judge arrived at them was fundamentally unfair.” In re Colony Sq. Co.,
819 F.2d 272, 274-76 (11th Cir. 1987). On this record, we do not find that
Appellants have satisfied this burden. The district court relied entirely on its court
reporter’s sworn affidavit in its order certifying the corrected transcript. The court
reporter’s affidavit, in turn, certified that the court reporter’s detailed notes of the
trial “contain[ed] [his] notation that [the district judge] requested that the
Courtroom Deputy swear the jury and that the oath was administered to the jury
shortly after it was empaneled and before opening statements.” The court reporter
has no interest in the proceedings other than to serve the court. He is not paid by
nor does he share any other interest with any party before the court. Appellants
have presented no evidence at all to suggest that the district court’s reliance on its
own court reporter’s sworn affidavit to certify the record was somehow
fundamentally unfair. Under these circumstances, we find no reversible error.
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III. CONCLUSION
The district court did not abuse its discretion in modifying the record under
Rule 10(e) or in failing to hold an evidentiary hearing on the jury oath issue.
Accordingly, remand is not necessary and Appellants’ request for disqualification
of the district court and government counsel on remand is moot. We find no merit
to the remaining arguments Appellants raise in this appeal.
AFFIRMED.
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