Lead Opinion
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge SILBERMAN.
Opinion dissenting in part and concurring in part filed by Circuit Judge RANDOLPH.
Appellants Donald Holloman and Jermaine Boney appeal their drug trafficking convictions. Both were convicted under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) for distribution of cocaine, and one, Boney, was also convicted of possession of 12.72 grams of cocaine. Boney claims that the district court erroneously permitted an expert witness to testify as to his guilt. Holloman objects to the district court’s failure to give an identification instruction to the jury and contends that the court improperly considered for sentencing purposes the very 12.72 grams of cocaine involved in the possession charge of which he was acquitted. Both appellants assert that their Sixth Amendment right to' an impartial jury was violated because after trial it was discovered that one of the jurors was a convicted felon. We affirm on all issues except the Sixth Amendment juror bias claim. We remand for the district court to hold a hearing into actual bias.
I.
Shortly after midnight on September 12, 1989, an undercover officer of the Metropolitan Police Department, Darrell Young, approached Jeffrey Marks and sought to buy twenty dollars worth of crack cocaine. Marks asked appellant Donald A. Hollo-man, who was standing a short distance away, to “serve” Investigator Young. Hol-loman replied that he might not have enough. Marks thereupon called to appellant Jermaine Boney, who was also standing nearby, and told him to “break ... a piece off the rock.” Boney walked to a pickup truck, reached down behind the rear tire, and retrieved a plastic bag which held what Young described as a large off-white rock. Holloman then said that he had enough for the transaction and gave Investigator Young .199 grams of cocaine base of 84% purity. Young, in exchange, gave Holloman a twenty dollar bill with a prerecorded serial number.
After returning to his car, Young radioed members of his arrest team to move in and told them that Holloman was walking toward a nearby gas station. As they approached, one of the arresting officers saw Boney throw a plastic bag under the pickup truck. Another officer retrieved the bag, which contained 12.72 grams of cocaine base of 69% purity. Boney and Marks were arrested at the scene of the sale. Holloman was arrested while standing at the cashier’s window in the nearby gas station. Holloman and the cashier were the only people at the station, and the pre-marked twenty dollar bill was on the counter in front of Holloman. Young identified all three suspects at the scene of the arrest.
Marks, Holloman, and Boney were tried before a jury for distributing the .199 grams of cocaine purchased by Investigator Young and for possessing with intent to distribute the 12.72 grams of cocaine found under the truck. The government introduced expert testimony from Officer David Stroud, who testified concerning the roles and behavior of participants in drug trafficking operations. The government put to Stroud an elaborate hypothetical involving three people performing exactly the same actions as the defendants in'this case, in exactly the same location, using the same words, and even the same amounts of cocaine. Stroud testified that the scenario suggested to him a common pattern for a cocaine sale; he gave his opinion on who in the described operation was a “runner,” who was a “holder,” and who “was going to actually make the sale.”
Officer Young, who also testified about the transaction, was cross-examined concerning his ability to see Holloman at night and about his later identification of Hollo-man. In closing argument, Holloman’s counsel pressed the theory that Holloman had been misidentified at the time of the arrest. The court, however, declined to give the jury an instruction describing the difficulties often involved in identification testimony and emphasizing that the government must establish the defendants’ identification beyond a reasonable doubt.
The jury, rather puzzlingly, acquitted Marks on both counts, convicted Holloman only of distribution of the .199 grams of cocaine (he was acquitted of possession of the 12.72 grams that police found under the
Even though Holloman had been acquitted of the possession charge, the court calculated both Boney’s and Holloman’s sentences by aggregating the weight of drugs involved in both counts (.199 grams on the distribution count and 12.72 grams on the possession count). Under the Sentencing Guidelines, that amount of drugs produces a sentencing range of 63-78 months for each defendant. The district court sentenced Boney to 78 months, but gave Holloman credit for accepting responsibility and sentenced him to 63 months.
Boney and Holloman appeal their convictions. Boney contends that Officer Stroud’s expert testimony was inadmissible because it was both unhelpful to the jury under Fed.R.Evid. 702 and unduly prejudicial under Fed.R.Evid. 403. Holloman charges that the court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the issue of identification. Both claim that the presence of a felon on the jury violated the Sixth Amendment and requires a new trial. Finally, Holloman also argues that the district court violated the Due Process and Double Jeopardy Clauses of the Fifth Amendment by calculating his sentence based on the weight of drugs involved in a count on which he was acquitted.
II.
We turn first to Boney’s challenge to the expert testimony of Officer Stroud. According to Boney, the hypothetical presented by the prosecutor so closely mirrored the facts in this case that by assigning roles to the individuals in the hypothetical, Officer Stroud essentially gave his opinion that Boney and Holloman were playing those roles in a cocaine sale. Boney asserts that such testimony was not helpful to the jury as required by Fed.R.Evid. 702 and that it was unduly prejudicial under Fed.R.Evid. 403.
We consider appellant’s arguments under Rule 702 and Rule 403 separately because only the Rule 702 objection was preserved at trial.
Nevertheless, Boney contends that, although expert testimony on the operations of drug dealers in general may be admissible, Rule 702 prohibits an expert from giving an opinion that a particular defendant played a particular role in alleged criminal activity. His position is that such testimony is barred both because the helpfulness requirement of the rule implicitly prohibits testimony on matters that jurors are expected to infer on their own, and because the testimony comes too close to a direct opinion on guilt or innocence,which would also be proscribed. See, e.g., United States v. Lockett,
Officer Stroud did express an opinion about the actions of the defendants in this case—the government’s thinly disguised hypothetical did not render his statements a mere abstract assessment of an imaginary scenario. Nonetheless, Rule 702 does not bar an expert from drawing conclusions in a specific case, including a conclusion that the defendant was involved in illegal activity or playing a specific role in illegal activity. The Rule does not confine an expert to general statements in the field of his expertise; it does not require that any inferences from the facts in the specific case be left to the jury. Although it may be well that an expert should not draw inferences a jury could make for itself, see, e.g., Boissoneault,
The Second Circuit, however, has objected to such testimony on the slightly different ground that it would be “rather offensive” to allow an expert to approach the ultimate conclusion in the case by testifying that a particular defendant’s actions fit a known pattern of criminal conduct. See United States v. Brown,
We say generally accepted but note that that proposition is by no means obvious from examination of the Federal Rules of Evidence. At one time an expert was prohibited from testifying on any ultimate issue to be determined by the trier of fact. See, e.g., United States v. Spaulding,
Appellant’s contentions, however, would require us to go further. Appellant essentially argues that if we accept the general view — that an expert witness must not testify directly as to a defendant’s guilt or innocence — we are led inexorably to the Second Circuit’s episodic objection to testimony that is the functional equivalent of the forbidden. We disagree. We accept the Fifth and Ninth Circuits’ view that an expert may not testify on the ultimate question of guilt or innocence, but find no warrant in the Federal Rules to extend that prohibition. We think that no coherent line can be drawn beyond that restriction and that the effort to find such a boundary has caused the tension we perceive in the Second Circuit’s opinions.
Indeed, in United States v. Dunn,
Nevertheless, we echo here the cautionary note we sounded in United States v. Anderson: “[TJhere is often an inherent danger with expert testimony unduly biasing the jury ‘because of its aura of special reliability and trust.’ ”
In this case, however, Boney did not ask the trial judge to exercise discretion under Rule 403. Although Boney argues on appeal that Stroud’s testimony was inadmissible under Rule 403, his objections at trial were not specific enough to raise that issue. Our recognition of the threat expert testimony may pose for “unduly biasing the jury,” Anderson,
Even though appellant did not preserve an objection under Rule 403 at trial, we still must review admission of the expert testimony for plain error, see Fed. R.Evid. 103(d), which means we cannot reverse “other than in extraordinary circumstances ‘affectpng] substantial rights and resulting] in a miscarriage of justice.’ ” United States v. Johnson,
III.
Appellant Holloman argues that the district court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the issue of identification. He claims that when identification is a prominent issue, our decisions in Salley v. United States,
In Salley we held that it was reversible error for the district court to refuse the defendant’s request for an instruction on mistaken identification. See Salley,
Our holding in Macklin was similarly limited. Although we said that in cases in which identification is a major issue the court should instruct the jury on identification sua sponte, see Macklin,
Officer Young’s identification of Holloman in this case presented no special difficulties. Young executed a single transaction face to face with Holloman in an area lit by streetlights. Within minutes he radioed a description of Holloman to his team, and shortly thereafter he identified Holloman at the scene of the arrest.
IV.
Boney and Holloman also argue that the district court erred in refusing to grant their motion for a new trial in light of the discovery, after conviction but before sentencing, that one of the jurors in their trial was a felon. The appellants contend that in this situation the Sixth Amendment guarantee of an impartial jury requires a new trial. They urge us to interpret the Sixth Amendment in light of 28 U.S.C. §§ 1865-1867 which govern the jury selection process.
Insofar as 28 U.S.C. §§ 1865-1867 are relevant to our analysis, moreover, they counsel against any rule that would lead to automatic reversal. The statutory scheme permits a conviction to stand in the face of an untimely allegation that the district court allowed a felon juror to serve in violation of the proper jury selection, process. For example, if a juror acknowledged his felon status on the jury qualification form but was permitted to serve in violation of § 1865, § 1867 would bar an untimely challenge to his service. See, e.g., United States v. Uribe,
The Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury similarly does not require an absolute bar on felon-jurors. The Supreme Court has stressed repeatedly that the touchstone of the guarantee of an impartial jury is a protection against juror bias. See, e.g., McDonough Power, Equipment, Inc. v. Greenwood,
Even though the Sixth Amendment does not require automatic reversal, there is still the question whether appellants were entitled to a hearing to determine whether the juror was in fact biased. Although the discovery of the juror’s felon status does not by itself require a new trial, we think the juror’s failure to disclose his status in response to the voir dire examination presents serious added concerns. After all, lying or failing to disclose relevant information during voir dire itself raises substantial questions about the juror’s possible bias. While refusing to adopt a per se rule requiring a new trial in United States v. North,
In this case, however, the district court judge denied the defendant’s motion for an evidentiary hearing. To be sure, our reliance in North on the district judge’s evidentiary hearing did not settle the question whether a hearing is required when it is revealed after trial that a juror had concealed relevant information. The Supreme Court, likewise, has not directly faced this issue, but it has noted the general principle “that the remedy for allegations of juror partiality is a hearing in which the defendant has the opportunity to prove actual bias.” Smith v. Phillips,
We therefore remand this case for the district court to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the juror’s failure to disclose his felon status resulted in actual bias to the appellants.
V.
Appellant Holloman also claims that his sentence was improper. Although Hollo-man was convicted only of distribution of .199 grams of cocaine and acquitted of possession with intent to distribute the 12.72 grams that Boney had under the pickup truck, the presentence report aggregated the two amounts of cocaine and calculated an offense level based on the combined weight of 12.919 grams. The offense level determined a sentencing range of 63 to 78 months, well within the statutory maximum of 20 years set by 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C), but far above the range of 10 to 16 months that would have applied had only the .199 grams been used to calculate the offense level.
The district court, finding by at least a preponderance of the evidence that Hollo-man also possessed the 12.72 grams of cocaine discovered under the pickup truck,
The appellants’ argument is offered in the face of overwhelming prior judicial rejection; a full ten circuits have authorized the use of acquitted conduct in sentencing under the Sentencing Guidelines. See United States v. Coleman,
The “relevant conduct” upon which the Guidelines require that an offense level be based is, for drug related offenses, sweepingly defined to include “all such acts and omissions that were part of the same course of conduct or common scheme or plan as the offense of conviction.” U.S.S.G. § lB1.3(a)(2). That language is certainly broad enough to include acts underlying offenses of which the defendant has been acquitted. Indeed, the application notes make clear that conduct may be relevant for sentencing even if the defendant was not convicted on any count involving that conduct. See id. § 1B1.3, Commentary Application Note 2. Section 6A1.3(a) of the Guidelines allows a broad range of information to be used in sentencing and requires simply that the information have “sufficient indicia of reliability to support
Holloman’s constitutional challenges are not significant. Holloman argues that use of the acquitted conduct to enhance his sentence violated the Double Jeopardy Clause by punishing him for an offense of which he was acquitted. Even assuming that the Double Jeopardy Clause, rather than the Due Process Clause, would protect a defendant from being sentenced for a charge of which he was acquitted, Holloman's argument “misperceives the distinction between a sentence and a sentence enhancement.” Mocciola,
Holloman’s due process argument is based on the false assumption that his acquittal is equivalent to a finding of complete innocence. But a not guilty ver-diet simply indicates that guilt was not proved beyond a reasonable doubt; it does not establish that the defendant played no part in the charged conduct. See, e.g., Fonner,
Admittedly, Holloman received the same sentence he would have had if he had been convicted on the possession count. That result is rather anomalous and is certainly unlucky from Holloman’s perspective, but it is not unconstitutional. Neither due process nor the Double Jeopardy Clause requires that a defendant convicted on multiple counts under the same statute receive a different sentence from a defendant convicted on only one count. The result in Holloman’s case is merely a consequence of Congress’ decision to make both distribution and possession with intent to distribute the same substantive offense under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) and to base sentencing on the weight of drugs involved.
* * * * * *
It is so ordered.
Notes
. Contrary to the government's assertion, Boney’s counsel did raise an objection under Rule 702 at trial. Before Officer Stroud began to testify, Boney’s counsel protested that "you really don’t need an expert. There is nothing complicated in this case.... ” He also objected to testimony concerning the defendants' "roles and so forth." Finally, he objected to the government’s detailed hypothetical after the prosecutor had described it but before Officer Stroud had answered. These objections were sufficiently specific, see Fed.R.Evid. 103, to alert the district court and opposing counsel that appellant's counsel considered expert testimony unhelpful to the jury and thus barred by Rule 702.
. Other circuits have stated that a district court's admission of expert testimony will be overturned only if manifestly erroneous. See, e.g., United States v. Boissoneault,
. The Brown court nevertheless held that expert testimony concluding that the defendant had played the role of a "steerer" in a narcotics operation was admissible. See Brown,
. Although Boney claims that in Cruz the Second Circuit barred testimony connecting a specific defendant to a common criminal modus operandi, the law in that circuit is not as clear as he suggests. The Second Circuit has stated recently that an "expert may generally suggest inferences that should be drawn from the facts,
. That confusion was apparent in this case, for while appellant relied solely on Rules 702 and 403 in pressing his appeal, the government responded as if appellant's argument had been based on Rule 704(b).
. The government argues that appellant Hollo-man did not properly object to the jury instruction at trial. In fact, Holloman’s counsel effectively objected to the instruction twice. Before the charge was given, Holloman's counsel stated that she would make objections on behalf of all three defendants and that counsel for Marks and Boney would "chime in.” Counsel for Boney then objected to the decision not to give an identification instruction. The earlier statement by Holloman’s counsel was sufficient, however, to alert the court that all three defendants were joining each other’s objections. Furthermore, after the charge had been given, but before the jury retired, the trial court allowed another opportunity for objections. Counsel for Holloman then clearly objected to the lack of an identification instruction. Because Fed. R.Crim.P. 30 requires only that an objection to the charge be raised before the jury retires to consider its verdict, Holloman’s objection was sufficient.
. Although McDonough involved a juror’s failure to disclose information during the voir dire examination in a civil case, we have applied McDonough to criminal trials. See United States v. North,
. The dissent finds support for a per se rule in the power of a trial judge to strike jurors for cause and grant a new trial in the interests of justice. Dissent at 639; 643. That the trial judge possesses this power does not suggest that it was error for him to decline to exercise it. Our review of that decision is governed by the abuse of discretion standard. The dissent, however, would use the existence of the trial judge’s discretion to fashion a rule promulgated by the court of appeals — a rule which permits a defendant to challenge his conviction, because a felon sat on his jury, at least at any time before judgment is entered and presumably later through a post-judgment motion for a new trial or on direct appeal and perhaps years later under § 2255. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255. That appears to be straightforward federal policymak-ing, which we think is reserved to Congress.
. All other things equal, the likelihood that a juror who conceals information is biased increases with the likelihood that disclosure of the information will lead to his disqualification. Because the disclosure of a felon status during trial leads to almost certain disqualification, concern about concealing that status is particularly appropriate.
. In fact, the sentencing court suggested that Holloman’s possession of the 12.72 grams of cocaine had been shown beyond a reasonable doubt.
. Relying on the above provisions we have already approved the use in sentencing of the weight of drugs involved in uncharged criminal conduct and dismissed counts. See United States v. Chaikin,
Concurrence Opinion
dissenting in part and concurring in part:
I do not agree with my colleagues’ assessment of what consequences flow from the discovery, after a jury trial, that the foreman of the jury happened to be a recently-convicted felon. Assuming that the juror’s civil rights have not been restored, I would reverse the convictions and require a new trial. In my view, the status of the juror as a felon plus the juror’s deception of court and counsel during voir dire demonstrates that this individual could not be trusted to conform to the court’s instructions and to discharge faithfully his duties as a juror.
I also write separately with respect to the question whether the Double Jeopardy Clause forbids a district court from calculating a defendant’s sentence for committing one drug offense in light of the quantity of drugs involved in a charge of which the defendant was acquitted. Although I agree with the result my colleagues reach, the case is close and I believe the effect of our ruling on the nullification power of the jury ought to be brought out in the open.
A. The Felon-Juror
My colleagues apparently view the felon-juror’s deceptive silence on voir dire as the source of the problem. They treat this case as if it is governed by United States v. North,
Felons are disqualified from serving on juries in both criminal and civil cases. 28 U.S.C. § 1865(b)(5). It is not their “bias” that disables them. The Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968 (the Act), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1861-1878, excluded felons to preserve the “probity” of the jury. H.R.Rep. No. 1076, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 6 (1968).
Where all this should lead today is not altogether certain. The defendants think the congressional determination of unfitness conclusively establishes that the presence of a disqualified felon denies them the “impartial jury” guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. The government objects that section 1865 has no bearing here because Boney and Holloman failed to comply with the time limits set forth in section 1867(a). This requires a criminal defendant to raise alleged violations of the Act “before the voir dire examination begins, or within seven days after [he] discovered or could have discovered, by the exercise of diligence, the grounds therefor, whichever is earlier....” 28 U.S.C. § 1867(a).
The extent to which the “jury” requirement of the Sixth Amendment (and Article III) immutably incorporates the common-law bar to service by a felon is unclear. United States v. Wood,
As to the government’s objection, the time limits of section 1867(a) cannot be read to allow a felon, barred under section 1865(b)(5), to sit on a jury whenever no one objects prior to the start of voir dire. Those time limits did not revoke a litigant’s time-honored right to challenge a prospective juror for cause. No one would suppose that upon the discovery of a felon on voir dire the court could not exclude him because the time for doing so had passed. 2 C. Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure: Criminal 2d § 383 (1982). Another provision of the Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1866(c)(4), expressly confirms the court’s power to strike venire members “upon a challenge by any party for good cause shown.” The Act imposes no time limits on the exercise of this authority, an authority derived from the inherent power of the federal courts to provide for the conduct of their criminal trials, and a source of protections in excess of those required by the Constitution. Murphy v. Florida,
There is no reason to suppose that the time limits of section 1867 were meant to work a wholesale (and absurd) limitation of that power. Nothing magical happens at the moment voir dire begins. A felon’s character is not suddenly altered, a juror completely unfamiliar with the English language does not suddenly become fluent. At any rate, the Jury Selection and Service Act primarily concerns how prospective jurors are selected; its purpose was to ensure that venires reflect a “fair cross section of the community,” 28 U.S.C. § 1861, by replacing the old “key man” system of selection with a more neutral methodology. S.Rep. No. 891, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 9-12 (1967). Challenges to the way in which the venire was chosen are unlikely to be aided by any information gained by individually examining prospective jurors. The qualifications set out in section 1865 are a different matter. Whether a juror is unable to speak English, section 1865(b)(3); is under the age of 18, section 1865(b)(1); is physically or mentally infirm, section 1865(b)(4); or is a convicted felon, section 1865(b)(5), are all susceptible to detection upon questioning of the individual. Congress also supposed that trial judges retained the power to exclude section 1865(b)-unquali-fied jurors by “checkpng] in court whether the qualification determinations made up to that point were valid,” and eliminated as “redundant” a section so providing in the bill leading to the Act. S.Rep. No. 891, supra, at 32 n. 33. Congress thought “that power [was] not limited by any time requirement.” Id.
The time limits of section 1867(a) thus do not absolutely preclude a challenge, based on the fact that the panel contained an individual disqualified by section 1865(b), just because that challenge was made after the start of voir dire. This comports with the longstanding practice of replacing an original juror with an alternate during the trial when the original juror is determined to be unqualified. See, e.g., United States v. Gottfried,
I therefore move on to the defendants’ argument for vacating their convictions. Supreme Court precedent of old vintage, cited by neither side, seems to point against their position. In Raub v. Carpenter,
A middle ground, one suggested by North, is to remand for a hearing on the prejudicial effect of the felon-juror’s presence. This is my colleagues’ solution. The difficulty is that the hearing, if it got off the ground, would go but a short distance. What would be the nature of the inquiry? Whether the felon actually was able to render adequate service as a juror? Apart from the felon himself, who could be called' as a witness? Not the other jurors. Rule 606(b), Fed.R.Evid., forbids jurors from testifying about their deliberations. The rule also would foreclose such questioning of the felon-juror. See Tanner v. United States,
What I have just written should not be taken to pertain to post-verdict inquiries into a juror’s actual bias. As I have said, North approved such inquiries, and rejected Judge Winter’s view for the Second Circuit that a juror’s intentional nondisclosure on voir dire requires the conviction to be vacated if a truthful answer would have revealed a “view on the merits” that might have led to the juror’s being struck either peremptorily or for actual bias. Compare North,
“Technically a juror who fails to meet the statutory qualifications is subject to challenge ‘for cause ’ while a juror who is biased is subject to challenge ‘for favor.’ ” 2 C. Wright, supra, at 361 (emphasis added). Though Professor Wright states that the “distinction [is] lost on the present generation of lawyers,” id., I would revive it here. A judge confronted with a challenge “for favor” must first determine which type of bias challenge he is facing: a challenge for “actual bias,” or one for “implied bias.” The former is “bias in fact,” the latter is “conclusively presumed as a matter of law.” Wood,
When concealment has frustrated a challenge “for cause,” however, a post-trial inquiry into actual bias lacks purpose, and in no way replicates what ideally would have happened before trial. In this respect it is similar to a challenge for implied bias, which leads to the per sé exclusion of the veniremember. If a felon correctly completes the juror qualification form, he is not even summoned for jury duty. See Modified Plan for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for the Random Selection of Grand and Petit Jurors (As Amended Through August 15,
This bar is not absolute. It applies only to felons whose “civil rights have not been restored,” 28 U.S.C. § 1865(b)(5) (a determination made by each state), and thereby preserves some state influence on who may sit on federal juries. The District of Columbia does not appear to have a formal procedure for the restoration of a felon’s civil rights, see Williams v. United States,
Nor can it be said that a felon inevitably must be biased for the defendant and against the prosecution, so that in criminal cases, involving guilty verdicts, no difficulty is presented. First, I am disinclined to interpret a statute based on suppositions about felon psychology. Second, were I to indulge in such hypothesizing, I might see at least two reasons why a felon could be prejudiced towards a guilty verdict. He may have developed a callous cynicism about protestations of innocence, having no doubt heard many such laments while incarcerated. Or his desire to show others— and himself — that he is now a good citizen might lead him to display an excess of rectitude, both in his deliberations and in his vote. Given the constraints on what evidence can be developed at a post-trial hearing, see supra p. 640, a defendant is unlikely ever to be able to show how the felon-juror reached his conclusions, or how he may have influenced the other jurors. And unlike cases involving bias, there are no facts extrinsic to the jury’s deliberations (other than the felon’s status under section 1865(b)(5)) that are likely to reveal whether the reasons underlying the exclusion were implicated in a particular case.
That a felon has been unwilling to conform his conduct raises doubts about his capacity to honor the juror’s oath, and to comply with the trial judge’s instructions. These concerns intensify when, as occurred here, the felon deceives court and counsel about his status on voir dire. Such a person simply cannot be trusted to perform faithfully the solemn duty of sitting in judgment of others.
The reasons underlying the exclusion of felons from juries and the limitations on what evidence may be received mean that “[ejfforts to prove or disprove ... preju
Rule 33 gives the district court the power to grant a motion for new trial “in the interest of justice,” Fed.R.Crim.P. 33, and the Supreme Court has noted that such post-verdict inquiries are proper so long as they are conducted within the strictures imposed by Fed.R.Evid. 606. Tanner,
B. Sentencing on the Basis of Acquitted Conduct
The jury convicted Holloman of distributing cocaine base — the .199 grams sold to
In determining the base offense level, the Guidelines instruct the sentencing court to take into account “relevant conduct,” which for drug offenses means “all ... acts ... that were part of the same course of conduct or common scheme or plan as the offense of conviction.” U.S.S.G. § lB1.3(a)(2). The application notes to this section indicate that the Commission meant to include acts for which the defendant had not been convicted. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 application note 2; background commentary ¶ 3. The weight of drugs involved in uncharged criminal conduct and in conduct underlying dismissed counts may therefore be added to the amount of drugs involved in the charge on which the defendant was found guilty. United States v. Salmon,
When it comes to sentencing under the Guidelines, all circuits agree that the government may prove relevant conduct by a preponderance of the evidence, rather than beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Burke,
This widespread practice under the Guidelines comports generally with the system prevailing prior to the Guidelines. Judges in pre-Guidelines cases had “very broad discretion” to impose any sentence “within the statutory limits,” and “could properly refer to ... evidence introduced with respect to crimes of which [a] defendant was acquitted.” United States v. Sweig,
Although the Guidelines hedged in the courts’ discretion to impose particular sentences, the Guidelines were intended to continue the practice of permitting sentencing courts to consider a wide array of information, see U.S.S.G. § 1B1.4; see also 18 U.S.C. § 3661.
Holloman argues that the Double Jeopardy Clause complicates the picture. Ashe v. Swenson,
In light of the overwhelming agreement of the courts of appeals before and after the Guidelines, and the absence of any contrary indication from the Supreme Court, I agree that § 1B1.3(a)(2) of the Guidelines is not unconstitutional when applied in this manner. Holloman’s argument entails the minor premise that a defendant may be punished only for conduct of which the defendant has been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If “punishment” means “plays any role in the setting of a sentence,” McMillan puts the argument to rest — it allows sentences to be adjusted based on facts not proven at trial.
I recognize that this conceptual nicety might be lost on a person who, like Hollo-man, breathes a sigh of relief when the not guilty verdict is announced without realizing that his term of imprisonment may nevertheless be “increased” if, at sentencing, the court finds him responsible for the same misconduct. That the Double Jeopardy Clause protects him from reprosecution on the acquitted count, or that his acquittal means that his maximum potential sentence will be determined solely on the basis of the count on which he was convicted is doubtless of little comfort. My analysis, and my colleagues’, also rests somewhat uneasily with the “special weight” the Supreme Court has accorded acquittals in its Double Jeopardy jurisprudence. See United States v. DiFrancesco,
At any rate, I cannot disregard the Court’s decision in McMillan, its broader implications, and the accumulated weight of twenty years’ decisions from our sister circuits. The Guidelines clearly require, and McMillan clearly allows, sentencing courts to take account of uncharged conduct proven by a preponderance of the evidence. To bar the sentencing court from considering acquitted conduct that also can be so proven would be anomalous. The Supreme Court has never held, indeed so far as I am aware no appellate court has ever held, that the Double Jeopardy Clause forbids sentencing courts from looking at conduct underlying an offense on which the defendant was acquitted. The hard logic of the differing-burdens-of-proof analysis has been accepted by the Supreme Court in other contexts, as well as by ten other courts of appeals in this context. See supra p. 645. I agree that we should not reject it today, and so join the majority’s holding that the use of conduct underlying an acquitted count as “relevant conduct” under § lB1.3(a)(2) for purposes of sentencing does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause.
. McDonough was a civil action for damages arising from an allegedly defective product. Counsel had asked the prospective jurors whether they or any member of their family had ever been "seriously injured” by a defective product. One juror had remained silent even though his son’s leg had been broken when a tire exploded. It later turned out he did not consider the broken leg a "serious" injury. In North, a criminal case, one juror did not speak up when the court asked the jury panel if they or any members of their families had ever been convicted of a crime, though one of this juror’s brothers had been convicted.
. Section 1865 provides in pertinent part that:
(a) The chief judge of the district court, or such other district court judge as the plan may provide, on his initiative or upon recommendation of the clerk or jury commission, shall determine solely on the basis of information provided on the juror qualification form and other competent evidence whether a person is unqualified for ... jury service.
(b) In making such determination the chief judge of the district court, or such other district court judge as the plan may provide, shall deem any person qualified to serve on grand or petit juries in the district court unless he—
(1) is not a citizen of the United States eighteen years old who has resided for a period of one year within the judicial district;
(2) is unable to read, write, and understand the English language with a degree of proficiency sufficient to fill out satisfactorily the juror qualification form;
(3) is unable to speak the English language;
(4) is incapable, by reason of mental or physical infirmity, to render satisfactory jury service; or
(5) has a charge pending against him for the commission of, or has been convicted in a State or Federal court of record of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year and his civil rights have not been restored.
The exclusions have been thus enumerated since 1948. Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 869, 952. Prior to that time, the qualifications for a juror in federal court were those for a juror in the highest court of the state in which the federal court sat. See H.R.Rep. No. 1652, 95th Cong., 2d Sess. 5 & n. 4 (1978), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1978, pp. 5477, 5478 n. 4; see abo § 29 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, ch. 20, 1 Stat, 73, 88. Though I have not undertaken a survey, it is probable that felons were excluded from jury service in all of those courts. Cf. Special Project, The Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction, 23 Vand.L.Rev. 929, 1051 (1970).
. The government also claims the defendants waived their argument because, in their motion for a new trial on the basis of the felon-juror, they did not specifically cite § 1865 to the district court. I think the issue was preserved. Though defendants did not cite § 1865, they certainly made clear the basis of their objection. The proposition that felons should be excluded from juries is not a novel one, and could not have come as a surprise to the district court. The government itself cited § 1865, invoking and relying on cases from other circuits discussing the provision. Government’s Opposition to Defendants’ Motion for a New Trial at 4-5 & n. 2 (filed Aug. 15, 1990). The district court therefore had the statute before it, and we may properly consider it. Cf. Duignan v. United States,
An additional consideration impels this course. To hold the statute “waived” would lead directly to defendants’ constitutional argument. "If there is one doctrine more deeply rooted than any other in the process of constitutional adjudication, it is that we ought not to pass on questions of constitutionality ... unless such adjudication is unavoidable.” Spector Motor Co. v. McLaughlin,
. Diligence distinguishes this case from United States v. Uribe,
. The state courts are split on the issue. Compare Beasley v. State,
. The government in its Brief protests that there is no evidence that the juror’s civil rights had not been restored. Brief for Appellee at 22. Though the formulation strikes me as somewhat inverted, the district court could address the issue on remand. As noted supra p. 642, the District of Columbia does not seem to have a formal procedure for the restoration of a felon's civil rights. The Fourth Circuit has concluded that some "affirmative act” is required in order for civil rights to be restored within the meaning of § 1865(b)(5). United States v. Hefner,
. I read Holloman's reference to the Fourteenth Amendment, by its terms not applicable to federal criminal trials, as an inelegant reference to the demands of Due Process which do apply to such cases. U.S. Const. Amend. V.
. Which reads:
No limitation shall be placed on the information concerning the background, character and conduct of a person convicted of an offense which a court of the United States may receive and consider for the purpose of imposing an appropriate sentence. That section recodified 18 U.S.C. § 3577, enacted in 1970. See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.4 background.
. This court has since made clear that the quantity of the drugs involved is relevant only to sentencing and is not an issue for the jury. United States v. Patrick,
. The district court judge did not agree with that verdict. 11/21/90 Tr. at 12-13.