USA v. Francisco Padilla
Filing
FILED OPINION (PROCTER R. HUG, DOROTHY W. NELSON and M. MARGARET MCKEOWN) AFFIRMED, Judge: MMM Authoring. FILED AND ENTERED JUDGMENT. [7640880]
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FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
FRANCISCO ARCHIVALDO PADILLA,
Defendant-Appellant.
No. 09-10451
D.C. No.
2:86-cr-00272PGR-1
OPINION
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Arizona
Paul G. Rosenblatt, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted
December 8, 2010—San Francisco, California
Filed February 9, 2011
Before: Procter Hug, Jr., Dorothy W. Nelson, and
M. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Judge McKeown
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UNITED STATES v. PADILLA
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COUNSEL
Dennis K. Burke, Randall M. Howe, and Joan G. Ruffennach,
United States Attorney’s Office, Phoenix, Arizona, for the
plaintiff-appellee.
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Thomas M. Hoidal, The Law Office of Thomas M. Hoidal,
P.L.C., Phoenix, Arizona, for the defendant-appellant.
OPINION
McKeown, Circuit Judge:
The Supreme Court has articulated a hierarchy of protections to guarantee that the Fifth Amendment right to remain
silent has practical meaning in a criminal trial. The principle
that a defendant has the right to remain silent “unless he
chooses to speak in the unfettered exercise of his own will”
is well known. Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. 1, 8 (1964). In a
related vein, the exercise of the right to remain silent may not
be considered as evidence of guilt. Griffin v. California, 380
U.S. 609, 613-15 (1965). By extension, in Carter v. Kentucky,
the Court held that the trial judge has a constitutional obligation to give a “no-adverse-inference” instruction if properly
requested. 450 U.S. 288, 305 (1981). We consider here
whether the district court’s preliminary instruction that the
jury not consider the defendant’s choice not to testify satisfies
the court’s constitutional obligation under Carter. We hold
that it does under the circumstances of this case and affirm the
conviction.
I.
BACKGROUND
Francisco A. Padilla timely appeals the district court’s
judgment finding him guilty of Conspiracy to Import Marijuana (21 U.S.C. § 963); Importation of Marijuana (21 U.S.C.
§§ 952(a) and 960); Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Marijuana (21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(b)(1)(B)); and
Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana (21 U.S.C.
§ 841(b)(1)(B)). Padilla’s first trial ended in a mistrial after
the jury hung. At the second trial, the jury convicted Padilla.
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On appeal, Padilla challenges the admission of testimony
by several witnesses and claims prosecutorial error during
closing argument. We address these issues in an unpublished
memorandum disposition filed concurrently with this opinion
and affirm the district court on each claim. This opinion
addresses Padilla’s contention that the district court’s failure
to give a Carter admonition as part of the closing instructions
requires reversal.
At the outset of the second trial, Padilla filed proposed jury
instructions. Included among those instructions was an
instruction entitled “Effect of Failure of Accused to Testify,”
essentially a Carter instruction:
The law does not compel a defendant in a criminal
case to take the witness stand and testify, and no presumption of guilt may be raised, and no inference of
any kind may be drawn, from the failure of a defendant to testify.
As stated before, the law never imposes upon a
defendant in a criminal case the burden or duty of
calling any witnesses or producing any evidence.
Before opening statements, the district court issued a number of preliminary jury instructions to the sworn jury, including the following: “The defendant has no burden to prove his
innocence or present any evidence or testify. Since the defendant has the right to remain silent, the law prohibits you in
arriving at your verdict from considering that the defendant
may not have testified.” The court went on to state: “The government must prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable
doubt.”
At the conclusion of the evidence, the judge informed
counsel that the court would give the same jury instructions
as those issued in Padilla’s first trial. The court was quite specific in its discussion of the instructions:
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THE COURT: Let the record show we are in
chambers with counsel for the purpose of making a
record.
This morning, prior to starting the trial, the court
and counsel informally reviewed the requested jury
instructions. And the result of that informal discussion was that the court would give the same instructions that were given at the original trial, with the
substitution by the government of its conspiracy
instructions and the addition of a flight instruction,
requested by the government, as well as the deletion
of the willfully — definition of willfully, except as
it applies to the general instruction of conspiracy.
Is that a fair representation of our discussion and
is that agreeable to the government?
[PROSECUTION]: That’s fine with the government.
[DEFENSE]: It is, Your Honor.
The court went on to discuss an instruction withdrawn by
the defense and then, as to “[t]he remaining instructions submitted by the defendant,” stated that “the court felt [they]
were either covered or—well, was there any other instructions
that you wished to—”? Defense counsel quickly informed the
court that he did not wish to request any further instructions.
In the court’s final instructions to the jury, the judge
reminded the jury that “[t]he defendant is presumed to be
innocent, he does not have to testify or present any evidence
to prove innocence. The government has the burden of proving every element of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Asked at the conclusion of the jury instructions whether there
were any objections, Padilla’s counsel did not object to the
instructions given to the jury.
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II.
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ANALYSIS
When a defendant properly requests a Carter instruction,
the court must instruct the jury that it may not make any inferences based on the defendant’s choice not to testify. Carter,
450 U.S. at 305. It is undisputed that Padilla’s counsel
requested a “no-adverse-inference” instruction before the trial
began. Although the court did not give the exact instruction
requested nor reiterate the instruction at the conclusion of the
evidence, it did give a preliminary instruction that included
the gist of the Carter admonition. This appeal presents two
questions: whether the preliminary instruction was sufficient
under Carter and, if so, whether Padilla was entitled to a second Carter instruction as part of the final set of instructions.
Because Padilla’s counsel failed to object to the jury instructions at trial, we review for plain error. See Fed. R. Crim. P.
52(b); see also United States v. Soto, 519 F.3d 927, 930 (9th
Cir. 2008).
A.
THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE PRELIMINARY JURY INSTRUCTIONS
[1] The Supreme Court instructs that a court must honor a
defendant’s proper request for a Carter instruction in order
“to minimize the danger that the jury will give evidentiary
weight to a defendant’s failure to testify.” Carter, 450 U.S. at
305. However, “[a] defendant is not entitled to any particular
form of instruction,” and the district court may in its discretion issue jury instructions in the words of its choosing.
United States v. Lopez-Alvarez, 970 F.2d 583, 597 (9th Cir.
1992).
We have considered the form of the Carter instruction on
two prior occasions. In United States v. Castaneda, the following instruction was deemed sufficient under Carter: “the
defendant is presumed to be innocent and does not have to
testify or present any evidence to prove innocence.” 94 F.3d
592, 596 (9th Cir. 1996) (internal quotations omitted). We
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reasoned that “the instruction sufficiently covered the substance of [the defendant’s] proposed instruction: the defendant’s failure to testify does not lessen the government’s
burden to prove its case.” Id. The opinion goes on to state that
the error was harmless because the jury was told during voir
dire that “an accused cannot be compelled to testify, and if he
exercises that right, you cannot allow that to affect your determination of the issues.” Id. (internal quotations omitted).
More than ten years after Castaneda, in Soto we observed
that “Castaneda is not a model of clarity” as to which ground
serves as the basis of the opinion. 519 F.3d at 931; see also
People v. Evans, 72 Cal. Rptr. 2d 543, 546 (Ct. App. 1998)
(“[T]he [Castaneda] opinion is not entirely clear as to the
grounds on which the court rested its decision.”). Although
the defendant in Soto asked for a Carter instruction—albeit
orally at the close of trial and long after the submission
deadline—we held that any error in failing to give the instruction was harmless error and thus Soto did not require us to
parse Castaneda. 519 F.3d at 931-32. We are mindful of
Judge Gould’s concurrence in Soto that Castaneda may have
been wrongly decided and “should be revisited through our en
banc process.” Id. at 936 (Gould, J., concurring). Judge Gould
took the position that the bare bones instruction in Castaneda
was insufficient. He wrote that “the Supreme Court dismissed
an almost identical ‘presumption of innocence’ jury instruction.” Id. (citing Carter, 450 U.S. at 304). Nor did Judge
Gould embrace the suggestion that an adverse inference
instruction during voir dire was sufficient. Castaneda, 519
F.3d at 936 n.1. We agree that Castaneda is troublesome in
many respects, but this case does not present the appropriate
opportunity to revisit Castaneda. In light of the more expansive instruction provided in Padilla’s case—one that conforms
to the Supreme Court’s dictate in Carter—we need not confront the potential difficulties posed by Castaneda.
[2] The instructions in Padilla’s trial went beyond the
admonitions regarding the presumption of innocence and the
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right not to testify; instead they included an additional instruction that in arriving at a verdict the jury could not “consider[ ]
that the defendant may not have testified.” At least four other
circuits have held similar instructions, referring to the prohibition on considering the choice not to testify, sufficient under
Carter. See United States v. Barraza Cazares, 465 F.3d 327,
332 (8th Cir. 2006) (instructions not to consider defendant’s
failure to testify sufficient under Carter); Welch v. City of
Pratt, 214 F.3d 1219, 1220-22 (10th Cir. 2000) (instruction
that jurors “should not consider the fact that the defendant did
not testify in arriving at [a] verdict” adequate under Carter);
United States v. Ladd, 877 F.2d 1083, 1089 (1st Cir. 1989)
(instruction that “the fact that the defendant does not [testify]
cannot even be considered by you in arriving at your verdict”
sufficient under Carter); United States v. Russo, 796 F.2d
1443, 1454-55 (11th Cir. 1986) (instruction that “if a Defendant elects not to testify, you should not consider that in any
way during your deliberations” adequate under Carter).
[3] Like other circuits, we do not read Carter to require the
precise instruction requested by the defendant. See United
States v. Imran, 964 F.2d 1313, 1317 (2d Cir. 1992); Ladd,
877 F.2d at 1089. Rather, Carter requires an instruction adequate to inform jurors of their obligation to draw no adverse
inference from the defendant’s choice not to testify. See Carter, 450 U.S. at 305; see also James v. Kentucky, 466 U.S.
341, 350 (1984) (“The Constitution . . . does not afford the
defendant the right to dictate, inconsistent with state practice,
how the jury is to be told [that it may not draw an adverse
inference from a defendant’s choice not to testify].”). We conclude that the instructions given here, including the admonition that “the law prohibits you in arriving at your verdict
from considering that the defendant may not have testified,”
are sufficient to put the jury on notice of its obligation to draw
no adverse inference, thereby “minimiz[ing] the danger” that
the jury will penalize the defendant for exercising his Fifth
Amendment right not to testify. See Carter, 450 U.S. at 305.
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B.
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THE TIMING OF THE JURY INSTRUCTIONS
[4] Having concluded that the district court gave a sufficient Carter instruction, the dispute now shifts to a question
of timing. Padilla argues that the failure to provide the Carter
instruction at the conclusion of the evidence constitutes plain
error. In essence, Padilla argues for a second Carter instruction. The Supreme Court in Carter said nothing about the timing of the instruction and certainly gave no indication that
duplicate instructions were required. As a general matter, we
follow the rule that a defendant is not “entitled to an instruction that merely duplicates what the jury has already been
told.” Lopez-Alvarez, 970 F.2d at 597. In this case, not only
was the language of the preliminary Carter instruction sufficient, the timing—after the jury was sworn—was sufficient to
pass constitutional muster.
[5] The significance of the sworn jury is well established.
When a jury is sworn, it is entrusted with the obligation to
apply the law, and we in turn presume that juries follow
instructions given to them throughout the course of the trial.
See Richardson v. Marsh, 481 U.S. 200, 211 (1987). In light
of the attachment of jeopardy, the jury’s oath has been
referred to as the start of the “actual trial.” United States v.
Dilg, 700 F.2d 620, 624 (11th Cir. 1983); see also Crist v.
Bretz, 437 U.S. 28, 37-38 (1978) (jeopardy attaches when jury
is sworn). Other decisions have similarly pinpointed the jury’s
oath as the essential moment with respect to constitutionally
required instructions. See United States v. Davila-Nater, 474
F.2d 270, 284-85 (5th Cir. 1973) (presumption of innocence
instructions given before testimony and alluded to during final
jury charge do not constitute reversible error). And in Soto,
where the court gave the Carter instruction only during voir
dire, we held only that any error in failing to issue a Carter
instruction at the close of evidence was harmless beyond a
reasonable doubt. 519 F.3d at 929-30. See also United States
v. Payne, 944 F.2d 1458, 1465 n.5 (9th Cir. 1991) (giving presumption of innocence instructions only prior to the jury’s
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being sworn does not necessarily constitute reversible error).
But see Dilg, 700 F.2d at 624-25 (issuing the presumption
instruction only before the jury is sworn constitutes reversible
error).
[6] A trial court has substantial discretion in formulating
jury instructions. Arizona v. Johnson, 351 F.3d 988, 994 (9th
Cir. 2003) (“A trial judge, as governor of the trial, enjoys
wide discretion in the matter of charging the jury.”) (internal
citations and quotations omitted); see also United States v.
Rewald, 889 F.2d 836, 865 (9th Cir. 1989) (trial court’s discretionary authority includes the timing of admonishments
and instructions to the jury). The analysis of whether the timing or omission of a particular jury instruction constitutes
reversible error “must be based on the individual circumstances of the particular case.” See Payne, 944 F.2d at 1464.
Here, the court instructed the sworn jury that it could not consider the defendant’s choice not to testify only four days
before deliberations began. At the conclusion of the trial, the
defense failed not once but twice to request an additional Carter instruction when specifically invited to propose instructions or object. The court reminded the jury in its final charge
that the defendant had no obligation to testify, and notably
nothing in the prosecution’s closing argument implicated or
undermined this constitutional right. Under these circumstances, not giving a duplicate Carter instruction at the close
of evidence can hardly be characterized as plain error.
AFFIRMED.
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