United States v. Cavigliano
659 F. App'x 65
| 2d Cir. | 2016Background
- Defendant Robert Cavigliano was tried and convicted after a jury verdict for five counts of distributing child pornography, one count of possessing child pornography, and one count of making a false statement to law enforcement.
- Law enforcement traced the GigaTribe user "Snowy23" to IP addresses originating at Cavigliano’s home; searches of his bedroom recovered a laptop with child pornography and other evidence linking him to the Snowy23 account (passwords, Skype chat referencing Snowy23, checkbook with account password).
- Cavigliano's principal defense was that a guest, Steven Roides, had used the home computer and might have been Snowy23.
- The district court excluded proposed testimony from Roides (who asserted the Fifth Amendment at a proffer) and excluded out-of-court statements by Roides through investigator Bryant Graham.
- Cavigliano challenged those evidentiary rulings and also argued insufficiency of the evidence for both the distribution and false-statement convictions.
- The Second Circuit affirmed, finding no abuse of discretion in the exclusion of Roides’ testimony, any error in excluding Graham’s hearsay testimony harmless given overwhelming evidence, and the sufficiency challenges meritless.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Admissibility of Roides’s live testimony | Gov: exclusion proper given Fifth Amendment invocation and district court discretion | Cavigliano: court improperly excluded testimony without Rule 403 balancing | Court: exclusion within discretion; no need to articulate balancing on record; affirmed |
| Admissibility of investigator Graham’s testimony about Roides’s out-of-court statements | Gov: hearsay exception inapplicable; exclusion appropriate | Cavigliano: statements were against penal interest and admissible under Rule 804(b)(3) | Court: assumed arguendo error but held any error harmless because evidence of guilt was overwhelming |
| Sufficiency of evidence — distribution (Snowy23 identity) | Gov: IP logs, laptop files, account links, passwords, Skype messages tie defendant to Snowy23 | Cavigliano: evidence insufficient to prove he was Snowy23 beyond a reasonable doubt | Court: evidence viewed favorably to gov’t was overwhelming; conviction sustained |
| Sufficiency of evidence — false statement to agents | Gov: defendant denied usable computers, a statement capable of influencing search scope | Cavigliano: statement not material | Court: statement could influence officers’ search; materiality met; conviction sustained |
Key Cases Cited
- United States v. Miller, 626 F.3d 682 (2d Cir.) (standard for reviewing evidentiary rulings)
- United States v. Deutsch, 987 F.2d 878 (2d Cir.) (court may exclude witness who will invoke Fifth Amendment)
- United States v. Morgan, 786 F.3d 227 (2d Cir.) (district court need not articulate Rule 403 balancing on record)
- Leopold v. Baccarat, Inc., 174 F.3d 261 (2d Cir.) (assumption that district court gave due consideration)
- United States v. Cuti, 720 F.3d 453 (2d Cir.) (standard for sufficiency review: view evidence in light most favorable to government)
- United States v. Stewart, 433 F.3d 273 (2d Cir.) (definition of materiality for false-statement offenses)