US v. Danine Rydland

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 3:10-cr-00053-JPB-DJJ-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998757945].. [11-4566]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 11-4566

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee,
v.
DANINE A. RYDLAND,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern
District of West Virginia, at Martinsburg. John Preston Bailey,
Chief District Judge. (3:10-cr-00053-JPB-DJJ-1)

Argued:

December 9, 2011

Decided:

January 5, 2012

Before WILKINSON, MOTZ, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

ARGUED: James T. Kratovil, KRATOVIL & KRATOVIL, Charles Town,
West Virginia, for Appellant.
Erin K. Reisenweber, OFFICE OF
THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Martinsburg, West Virginia, for
Appellee.
ON BRIEF: William J. Ihlenfeld, II, United States
Attorney, Wheeling, West Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Dr. Danine Rydland appeals her conviction on 34 counts of
health care fraud.

See 18 U.S.C. § 1347.

We affirm.

I
Rydland was charged with 38 counts of health care fraud
arising

from

her

medical

office

billing

practices.

Before

trial, Rydland prepared notes that she intended to use at trial
to assist her while testifying.

As Rydland prepared to take the

stand for her direct testimony, her attorney presented the notes
to the government, which then objected to her use of them.

In

response to the objection, Rydland’s attorney explained that the
notes are

her

records.

J.A. 648.

rule

would

“recollection”

permit

after

her

review

of

the

office

When questioned by the court as to what
Rydland

to

use

the

notes,

her

attorney

responded that he did not know any rule that would not permit
her to use them.

Id.

After reviewing caselaw, the court orally

ruled that Rydland could not use the notes while she was on the
stand.

Rydland then testified on direct examination without the

notes.
Before cross-examining Rydland, the government notified the
district court of its intention to use the notes in the crossexamination.

During the ensuing discussion, Rydland’s attorney

asked the district court why the government would be permitted
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to use the notes.
contain

prior

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When the court answered that the notes may

inconsistent

statements,

her

attorney

asserted

that the notes were “subsequent statements” rather than prior
statements.

J.A.

794-95.

Although

Rydland’s

attorney

then

noted that he did not understand why the notes contain prior
statements,

he

offered

no

substantive

government from using the notes.

basis

to

preclude

the

The court then permitted the

government to use the notes during cross-examination for the
purpose of establishing that Rydland had made prior inconsistent
statements.
The

jury

eventually

convicted

acquitted her on four counts.

Rydland

on

34

counts

and

Thereafter, the court sentenced

her to 34 concurrent terms of imprisonment of 12 months plus one
day.

II
On

appeal,

appropriate

Rydland

material

primarily

for

argues

refreshing

that

her

the

notes

recollection

are
and,

therefore, the district court erred by denying her the use of
them during her direct testimony.
the

notes

Cranson,

for

453

refreshing

a

abuse

F.2d

of

123,

witness’

We review the order excluding

discretion.
124

(4th

See

Cir.

recollection

and

United

States

v.

1971)

(“The

matter

of

the

manner

used

are

largely within the discretion of the Trial Judge.”).
3

A district

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court

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Date Filed: 01/05/2012

abuses

discretion

irrationally,
constraining

its
fails
its

when

to

consider

exercise

of

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it

acts

judicially

discretion,

arbitrarily

recognized

relies

on

or

factors

erroneous

factual or legal premises, or commits an error of law.

United

States v. Thompson-Riviere, 561 F.3d 345, 348 (4th Cir. 2009).
The district court did not elaborate on its reasoning in
sustaining the government’s objection, but its citation to three
cases

for

support

implies

that

it

based

its

ruling

on

two

principles: (1) a party may not attempt to introduce otherwise
inadmissible evidence under the guise of refreshing recollection
and (2) a witness may not use a document to refresh recollection
unless she has exhibited a failure of memory. 1

This ruling is in

accord with the controlling law in this circuit:

1

The court cited the following cases, to which we have
added the accompanying text: United States v. Balthazard, 360
F.3d 309, 318 (1st Cir. 2004) (“It is hornbook law that a party
may not use a document to refresh a witness’s recollection
unless the witness exhibits a failure of memory.”); Goings v.
United States, 377 F.2d 753, 759-60 (8th Cir. 1967) (“Refreshing
a witness’s recollection by memorandum or prior testimony is
perfectly proper trial procedure and control of the same lies
largely in the trial court’s discretion.
However, if a party
can offer a previously given statement to substitute for a
witness’s
testimony
under
the
guise
of
‘refreshing
recollection,’ the whole adversary system of trial must be
revised.”); Thompson v. United States, 342 F.2d 137, 140 (5th
Cir. 1965) (“The trial judge has a duty to prevent a witness
from putting into the record the contents of an otherwise
inadmissible writing under the guise of refreshing recollection,
. . . and . . . counsel should not be permitted to give a
witness a written statement, especially prepared for his use in
testifying, to obviate the necessity of introducing original
(Continued)
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It is, of course, obvious from everyday experience
that the latent memory of a witness may be revived by
prior written statements which he or others may have
made. Thus, most courts today hold that in examining
a witness at trial, counsel may hand him a memorandum
to inspect for the purpose of refreshing his memory,
with the result that when he testifies, he does so on
the basis of his own recollection, not the writing.
Proper foundation for such procedure requires that the
witness’ recollection be exhausted.
A contrary
holding would permit a party to substitute the prior
statement of a witness for his actual testimony.
United States v. Morlang, 531 F.2d 183, 190-91 (4th Cir. 1975)
(citations omitted).
Although Rydland may have believed that it would have been
helpful to use her notes while testifying, she did not lay the
proper foundation for using them to refresh her recollection.
Therefore, under these circumstances, the district court did not
abuse its discretion in denying Rydland the use of her notes.

III
For

a

district
government

variety

court
to

of

abused
use

the

reasons,
its

Rydland

also

discretion

notes

during

by

her

argues

that

permitting

the
the

cross-examination.

Specifically, she appears to contend that the government’s use
of the notes (1) violated the procedure set forth in Rule 612 of
the Federal Rules of Evidence, (2) permitted the government to

records, on the assumption that anything can be used to refresh
recollection.”).
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introduce

Date Filed: 01/05/2012

otherwise

inadmissible

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evidence,

(3)

violated

her

work-product privilege, and (4) is unfair.
As

noted,

Rydland

asked

the

district

court

why

government could use the notes in its cross-examination.

the
Even

if we construe her question as a proper objection, it is clear
that she did not object on any of the grounds she now asserts on
See generally United States v. Parodi, 703 F.2d 768,

appeal.

783 (4th Cir. 1983) (noting that in order to preserve appellate
review an objecting party must object with a reasonable degree
of specificity that would have adequately apprised the trial
court

of

the

true

basis

review for plain error.

for

the

objection).

Therefore,

we

United States v. Pratt, 239 F.3d 640,

644 (4th Cir. 2001).
Interpreting Rule 52(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal
Procedure, which governs plain error review, the Supreme Court
has instructed:
[A]n appellate court may, in its discretion, correct
an error not raised at trial only where the appellant
demonstrates that (1) there is an error; (2) the error
is clear or obvious, rather than subject to reasonable
dispute; (3) the error affected the appellant’s
substantial rights, which in the ordinary case means
it affected the outcome of the district court
proceedings; and (4) the error seriously affect[s] the
fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial
proceedings.
United States v. Marcus, ––– U.S. –––, 130 S.Ct. 2159, 2164
(2010)

(internal

punctuation

and

6

citation

omitted).

“[T]he

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burden of establishing entitlement to relief for plain error is
on

the

defendant

claiming

it,”

United

States

v.

Dominguez

Benitez, 542 U.S. 74, 82 (2004), and “[m]eeting all four prongs
is difficult, as it should be,” Puckett v. United States, 556
U.S. 129, 129 S.Ct. 1423, 1429 (2009) (internal punctuation and
citation omitted).
After

carefully

reviewing

Rydland’s

contentions,

we

are

unable to find that she has met her burden of establishing that
the district court plainly erred.
acquitted

Rydland

of

four

Moreover, because the jury

counts

notwithstanding

the

government’s use of the notes, we are not convinced that she was
unduly prejudiced by any such error or, in any event, that we
should exercise our discretion to notice any such error.

IV
Based

on

the

foregoing,

we

affirm

the

judgment

of

conviction.
AFFIRMED

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