United States v. Curtis

494 F. Supp. 279
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 25, 1980
DocketCrim. No. 80-98
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 494 F. Supp. 279 (United States v. Curtis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Curtis, 494 F. Supp. 279 (E.D. Pa. 1980).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BECHTLE, District Judge.

By Order dated May 27, 1980, this Court denied the post-trial motions of defendant William Curtis, III (“Curtis”), for a new trial or, in the alternative, for judgment of acquittal. This Memorandum Opinion serves to set forth the Court’s reasoning and authority for that denial.

This criminal action stems from an indictment charging the defendant with three counts of illegally distributing methamphetamine, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a), and a fourth count of carrying a weapon during the commission of a drug offense, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(2). Following a three-day trial, Curtis was convicted by a jury on all four counts. The principle defense offered by Curtis at the time of trial was that of entrapment. The Government proved its case by offering the testimony of an informant, Daniel Davis (“Davis”), who had purchased drugs from Curtis on two separate occasions, and an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) agent who testified to receiving drugs from Curtis in the last charged transaction. All three transactions took place between September of 1979 and February of 1980 at an office building located in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. The first two transactions involved quantities totalling approximately one ounce of methamphetamine and the last transaction, at which time Curtis was arrested by DEA agents, involved the distribution of approximately one pound of methamphetamine with a value of over $10,000.

After raising entrapment as his major defense, Curtis stipulated: (1) to each of the drug distributions on the dates alleged; (2) that the substances were methamphetamine, an illegal non-narcotic; and, (3) that he was carrying a weapon, without a permit, that was loaded and operable during the last drug transaction. Curtis testified in his own behalf and offered the testimony of several character witnesses.

In his post-trial motions, Curtis raises four points. First, he claims that the Court erred by not limiting the Government [281]*281in its cross-examination of the defendant’s character witnesses under Fed.R.Evid. 4051 and 6082. The defendant objects to the questions posed by the Government as to whether the character witnesses had changed their “opinion” of Curtis after learning that he had admitted at trial that the drug transactions had in fact taken place and that he had been carrying a weapon at the time.3 Curtis claims that [282]*282these questions were intended to inquire of the witnesses’ personal opinions of Curtis, which was impermissible because the witnesses were only questioned on direct examination as to their opinion of the character of Curtis based upon what others in the community thought to be his character, and not as to their individual personal opinion of Curtis. The Court finds that the Government’s cross-examination of the defendant’s character witnesses was permissible as being more probative than prejudicial and within the scope of direct examination. The questions posed by the Government were challenging the credibility and reliability of the opinions of the character witnesses. The challenge went not to their personal opinions of Curtis, but to their opinions of what others in the community thought to be the character of the defendant and whether they had knowledge that those persons knew that Curtis had admitted that he had distributed drugs and carried an illegal firearm at the time. This area of inquiry is permitted under the Federal Rules of Evidence. As the United States Supreme Court stated in Michelson v. U. S., 335 U.S. 469, 69 S.Ct. 213, 93 L.Ed. 168 (1948):

[283]*283The price a defendant must pay for attempting to prove his good name is to throw open the entire subject which the law has kept closed for his benefit and to make himself vulnerable where the law otherwise shields him. The prosecution may pursue the inquiry with contradictory witnesses to show that damaging rumors, whether or not well-grounded, were afloat—for it is not the man that he is, but the name that he has which is put in issue. Another hazard is that his own witness is subject to cross-examination as to the contents and extent of the hearsay on which he bases his conclusions, and he may be required to disclose rumors and reports that are current even if they do not affect his own conclusion. It may test the sufficiency of his knowledge by asking what stories were circulating concerning events, such as one’s arrest, about which people normally comment and speculate. Thus, while the law gives defendant the option to show as a fact that his reputation reflects a life and habit incompatible with commission of the offense charged, it subjects his proof to tests of credibility designed to prevent him from profiting by a mere parade of partisans.

335 U.S. at 479, 69 S.Ct. at 220 (footnotes omitted). See also 2 Weinstein, Evidence ¶ 405[03] at pp. 405-21-30 (1979).

The Government, in the within case, attempted and intended to accomplish exactly what the Michelson case allows, even though here, unlike Michelson, the factual events about which questions were posed related to knowledge of the facts surrounding the very charges for which the defendant was on trial. Nevertheless, the purpose and probative value of the questioning was the same as in Michelson —that being to assess the character witnesses’ opinion of the character traits of the defendant and was not a “random shot” or a “groundless question” intended to inject unwarranted innuendo to the jury. 335 U.S. at 472 n.3, 481, 69 S.Ct. at 217 n.3, 221. The Government was not questioning the witnesses concerning the arrest and indictment for which Curtis was then on trial. See U. S. v. Lewis, 482 F.2d 632, 640-641 (D.C.Cir.1973). Rather, the questions went to factual issues concerning the distribution of drugs and the possession of a firearm that Curtis had stipulated to at the beginning of trial in conjunction with his defense of entrapment. Curtis was denying he possessed the guilty mind to commit the acts, but he was admitting the occurrence of the very factual acts for which he was on trial. Placed in that unique posture, the Court finds that, in this case, the questioning was permissible and probative of the character traits of Curtis allegedly known in the community at the time of trial for which the character witnesses were being challenged. See also N.T. 4-25 (Court’s charge concerning character testimony); N.T. 2-2 (Court’s instructions to the jury prior to testimony of character witnesses); N.T. 4—4,11 to 13 (charge of Court concerning elements of entrapment defense and defendant’s admission of factual events).

Second, Curtis objects to the following comment by the Government in its rebuttal argument:

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Related

People v. Pratt
759 P.2d 676 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1988)
United States v. Lehr
562 F. Supp. 366 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1983)
United States v. William Curtis, III
683 F.2d 769 (Third Circuit, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
494 F. Supp. 279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-curtis-paed-1980.