Johnson v. United States

537 A.2d 555, 1988 D.C. App. LEXIS 9, 1988 WL 8001
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 5, 1988
Docket86-521
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 537 A.2d 555 (Johnson v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. United States, 537 A.2d 555, 1988 D.C. App. LEXIS 9, 1988 WL 8001 (D.C. 1988).

Opinions

BELSON, Associate Judge:

In this appeal from his convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license, D.C. [556]*556Code §§ 22-502, -3204 (1981), appellant contends that the government’s failure to disclose the juvenile record of one of its witnesses deprived him of his sixth amendment right to confrontation. In light of United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985) and Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, — U.S. -, 107 S.Ct. 989, 94 L.Ed.2d 40 (1987), we hold that such a failure is not a confrontation clause violation. Nor, on the facts of this case, was the witness’ juvenile record such as to raise a reasonable probability that its disclosure would have led to a different outcome at trial; thus, the government’s failure to disclose the record did not violate appellant’s due process rights as defined by Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). We also reject appellant’s arguments that the trial court abused its discretion by improperly restricting defense counsel’s closing argument or by denying his motion for a new trial.1 We therefore affirm appellant’s convictions.

I.

Appellant’s convictions arose from the beating and shooting of Everett Barber, apparently in retribution for Barber’s failure to repay appellant and his brother for a drug debt. Barber testified that the two brothers first threatened him that “something was going to happen” if he did not pay them the money he owed. Barber saw appellant’s brother hand appellant a gun, then remove a baseball bat from appellant’s car. Appellant’s brother began hitting Barber on the shoulder with the bat; while the two men struggled, Barber was shot in the buttocks. A total of seven eyewitnesses, six of whom were minors, testified and corroborated Barber’s version of the events.

Appellant denied having been present at the scene of the assault. In addition to presenting alibi evidence, defense counsel sought to undermine the credibility of the government witnesses by eliciting testimony that the prosecutor had exerted pressure on them to testify at appellant’s trial. The witnesses readily admitted that they had been reluctant to testify, but denied that the prosecutor had told them what to say in court. A jury found appellant guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license, D.C. Code §§ 22-502, -3204 (1981). This appeal followed.

II.

Appellant first argues that he was denied his sixth amendment right to confront witnesses because the prosecutor failed to disclose the juvenile record of one of the government witnesses.2 The witness had been adjudicated a delinquent on a charge of burglary, and had been placed on probation for that offense. The witness’ probation was revoked, however, and he was placed in custody at a juvenile facility for thirty days. The day before his custody began, the witness was charged with another offense. As a result, when the witness’ thirty-day commitment for burglary expired, he remained in custody pending further proceedings on the subsequent charge.

It is not clear from the record whether the witness first spoke with the prosecutor about appellant’s case while he was in cus[557]*557tody consequent to revocation of the burglary probation, or thereafter while he was being held on his subsequent charge. In any event, by the time the witness testified in front of the grand jury, he was in custody on the subsequent charge. That charge was dismissed by the government after the witness’ grand jury testimony, but before his testimony at appellant’s trial.

In that he did not have access to the witness’ juvenile record, appellant argues, he was deprived of his sixth amendment right to cross-examine the witness about his potential bias in testifying. Specifically, appellant argues that he was denied the opportunity to explore whether the witness may have cooperated with the prosecution, and possibly lied, in order to get the government to drop his pending charges.

While appellant’s position finds support in earlier precedent from this jurisdiction, the sixth amendment basis for his argument has been undermined by United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985). Prior to Bagley, in Lewis v. United States, 408 A.2d 303 (D.C.1979) (“Lewis II”), aff'g on rehearing, 393 A.2d 109 (D.C.1978) (“Lewis ”), we had distinguished between evidence of a witness’ juvenile adjudications that imply the witness’ bias against the accused, and evidence of adjudications that merely reflect on the witness’ general credibility. Id. at 312.3 In the case of the former, i.e., when the juvenile proceedings reflect on the witness’ bias, we subsequently held that the confrontation clause requires the prosecutor to disclose the record of those proceedings to the defense. See Tabron II, supra note 3, 444 A.2d at 943; Tabron v. United States, 410 A.2d 209, 212-13 (D.C.1979) (“Tabron I”); cf. Davis, supra note 2, 415 U.S. at 316-19, 94 S.Ct. at 1110-11 (state’s interest in confidentiality of juvenile proceedings outweighed by defendant’s sixth amendment right to cross-examine witness as to possible bias).

In Bagley, however, the Supreme Court apparently rejected a similar line of reasoning advanced by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.4 In that case, the prosecutor had failed to disclose evidence of the “deals, promises or inducements made to witnesses in exchange for their testimony,” as requested by the defense. 473 U.S. at 669-70, 105 S.Ct. at 3377. Because such deals, promises or inducements might implicate the witnesses’ bias, the circuit court reasoned, the prose[558]*558cutor’s failure to disclose them violated the defendant’s right to confront adverse witnesses, and required automatic reversal.5 Id. at 674, 105 S.Ct. at 3379. The Supreme Court, however, eschewed a sixth amendment analysis, rejecting “any such distinction between impeachment evidence and [other] exculpatory evidence.” Id. at 676, 105 S.Ct. at-. The Court distinguished Davis, supra note 2, in which the trial court had prohibited defense counsel during cross-examination from asking questions that specifically referred to the witness’ juvenile record. Bagley’s deprivation, on the other hand,

[did] not involve any direct restriction on the scope of cross-examination. The defense was free to cross-examine the witnesses on any relevant subject, including possible bias or interest resulting from inducements made by the Government. The constitutional error, if any, in this case was the Government’s failure to assist the defense by disclosing information that might have been helpful in conducting the cross-examination.

Id. at 678, 105 S.Ct. at 3381.

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Johnson v. United States
537 A.2d 555 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
537 A.2d 555, 1988 D.C. App. LEXIS 9, 1988 WL 8001, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-united-states-dc-1988.