United States v. Casiano

133 F. App'x 791
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJune 6, 2005
DocketNos. 04-1455-CR(L), 04-2966-CR(CON)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 133 F. App'x 791 (United States v. Casiano) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Casiano, 133 F. App'x 791 (2d Cir. 2005).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Defendants were tried jointly before a jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Charles F. Sifton, Judge) on charges of conspiracy to distribute narcotics in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. The jury voted to convict and on March 10, 2004, and March 18, 2004, the District Court entered judgments of conviction against Casiano and Perez, respectively. Casiano now appeals, alleging procedural errors, violations of his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him, and sentencing errors. Perez appeals based on alleged sentencing errors. We assert jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, affirm the judgment of conviction, and remand to the District Court for further proceedings consistent with United States v. Booker, — U.S. -, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), and United States v. Crosby, 397 F.3d 103 (2d Cir.2005).

Miguel Casiano

Casiano claims that the District Court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial after the District Court had sustained counsel’s objection to testimony relating to uncharged criminal conduct. In sustaining the objection, the District Court expressed at side-bar its displeasure with the government’s solicitation of the testimony but nonetheless denied the motion for mistrial, electing instead to give the jury a curative instruction. “We review the district court’s decision to deny [a motion for mistrial] for abuse of discretion,” United States v. Carson, 52 F.3d 1173, 1188 (2d Cir.1995), reversing only “upon a showing of actual prejudice,” United States v. Gaskin, 364 F.3d 438, 463 (2d Cir.2004). Given the relative weight of the evidence and testimony admitted at trial and the comparatively slight potential prejudice posed by this stricken testimony, and particularly in light of the clarity and tone of the District Court’s curative instruction, we see no abuse of discretion in the District Court’s denial of the motion for a mistrial.

Casiano next claims that his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him was twice violated during the testimony of the investigating detective; first when the detective testified, by way of background, as to the structure of the overall drug conspiracy and the roles played in that conspiracy by individuals other than Casiano and Perez; and, second, when the detective testified about structured drug buys conducted through confidential informants who did not testify at trial. [794]*794With respect to the first claim, counsel objected to the admission of that testimony at trial. That objection was sustained and, after a brief exchange that provided the District Court an opportunity to clarify its ruling, the government terminated the line of questioning. We see neither error of law in the District Court’s ruling nor abuse of discretion in its conduct of this portion of the trial.

Casiano’s second alleged Sixth Amendment violation relies on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 86,124 S.Ct. 1854, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). Prior to Crawford, an out-of-court, testimonial, statement made by a witness who is not available to testify was admissible in a criminal trial if the statement fell within a firmly-rooted hearsay exception or it otherwise bore sufficient indicia of reliability. See, e.g., Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980). Crawford held that the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause prohibits the admission against criminal defendants of out-of-court, testimonial, statements unless the declarant is not available to testify and the defendant has a prior opportunity to cross-examine. 541 U.S. at 50-55, 124 S.Ct. 1354; United States v. Saget, 377 F.3d 223, 226 (2d Cir.2004). Crawford has no application where there is no hearsay problem or where the proffered hearsay is not “testimonial.” Saget 377 F.3d at 227-28. In Crawford, the Supreme Court declined to provide an exhaustive definition of “testimonial,” but pointed out that “[sjtatements taken by police officers in the course of interrogations are ... testimonial under even a narrow standard.” 541 U.S. at 52, 124 S.Ct. 1354. Consistent with this, we have held that “testimonial” statements, including those made during interrogations, “involve a declarant’s knowing responses to structured questioning in an investigative environment or in a courtroom setting where the declarant would reasonably expect that his or her responses might be used in future judicial proceedings.” Saget, 377 F.3d at 228.

Had the investigating detective testified to statements made to him by confidential informants during the course of structured drug purchases conducted at the direction of law enforcement as part of an ongoing investigation in which the confidential informants where knowing participants, then Crawford might provide a colorable Sixth Amendment claim. We need not reach that issue today, however, because the detective did not report or allude to any statements made by confidential informants during the portions of his testimony that Casiano attacks on this appeal. In response to questioning by counsel for the government, the detective testified that he met with one or both of the informants on several occasions to conduct structured drug purchases from non-defendant Jose Diaz. On each of those occasions, the detective testified that he searched the informant, gave the informant a specified amount of currency, instructed the informant to purchase a specific amount and type of drugs from Diaz, later met with the informant, received from the informant the specified amount and type of drugs, and, again, searched the informant. While the detective did, several times, when asked about a particular date, testify that “[a] confidential informant purchased” a particular amount of narcotics, he did not testify to any statements made by the informants. Given this, the Sixth Amendment argument based on Crawford is without merit.1

Casiano next argues that the District Court erred in admitting into evidence the drugs purchased from Diaz by the confidential informants. Casiano time[795]*795ly objected at trial to the admission of this evidence. The District Court received the evidence subject to connection which, the District Court found, was later made. We review evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion, reversing only if “the decision was manifestly erroneous, and the error was not harmless.” United States v. Yousef, 327 F.3d 56, 157 (2d Cir.2003) (quotation and citations omitted). Though, as the District Court noted, admission of this evidence under Federal Rules of Evidence 402 and 403 was a close call, we see no manifest error in the District Court’s assessment of the totality of the then-hot trial record.

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Bluebook (online)
133 F. App'x 791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-casiano-ca2-2005.