United States v. Kouri-Perez

47 F. Supp. 2d 211, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6069, 1999 WL 259528
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Kouri-Perez. Read the opinion of the Court — 47 F. Supp. 2d 164
District Court, D. Puerto Rico·Decided April 22, 1999·No. No. Crim. 97-091(JAF)·Published

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

FUSTE, District Judge.

Defendants Yamil H. Kourí-Pérez (“Kouri”), Jeannette Sotomayor-Vázquez (“Sotomayor”), and Armando Borel-Bar-reiro (“Borel”), move for reconsideration of the denial of their motion for a mistrial in this trial.

[212]*212I.

On March 25, 1999, Dr. Jaime Rivera-Dueño, the former Executive Director of ACHS, was on the witness stand. Previous witnesses had characterized Defendant Kourí as a domineering, authoritative, and iron-handed person. Within this backdrop, defense counsel Cerezo asked the witness whether he found Defendant Kourí to be “as persuasive, forceful as Carlos Romero-Barceló,” the ex-Governor of Puerto Rico and present Resident Commissioner. Tr. at 46. The prosecution objected to the comparison, and we ruled that counsel may not compare the Defendant to Puerto Rico political figures.1

Defendants moved for a mistrial alleging that our comments had unfairly prejudiced Defendants. On April 7, 1999, in Order Number 62, we denied Defendants’ motion for a mistrial. Docket Document No. 725. We found that our comments in no way prejudiced Defendants. Defendants now move for reconsideration of Order Number 62 or, in the alternative, a curative instruction.

Defendants’ motion, in its barest form, asserts that our comments were so prejudicial and partial so as to eviscerate Defendants’ Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. Defendants maintain that our comments have infected the jury with the sentiment that Defendant Kourí is guilty and, thus, emasculated any notion of a fair trial for Defendants. Defendants contend that our earlier disposition of this matter grossly miseharacterizes the situation and results in a fundamental injustice and an assault upon Defendants’ constitutional rights.

Although we addressed these concerns in Order Number 62, we shall once again explore this matter in the hopes of extinguishing the issue.

II.

We unreservedly agree with Defendants’ assertions that a paramount duty of the trial court is to ensure each Defendant’s right to a fair and impartial trial in accordance with the Sixth Amendment. In the specter of Defendants’ Sixth Amendment rights, we reexamine what occurred in its proper context. We note that courts review trial-court interlocutory decisions by looking to the record as a whole. United States v. Twomey, 806 F.2d 1136, 1140 (1st Cir.1986) (stating that “a finding of partiality should be reached only ‘from an abiding impression left from a reading of the entire record, and need not be reached on the basis of a few improper comments’ ”) (internal citations omitted); United States v. Filani, 74 F.3d 378, 385 (2d Cir.1996). Federal district judges are “not relegated to complete silence and inaction during the course of a criminal jury trial.” United States v. Musgrave, 444 F.2d 755 (5th Cir.1971); United States v. Marzano, 149 F.2d 923, 925 (2d Cir.1945) (L.Hand, J.) (noting that trial judge’s duty to ensure the proper administration of the law would be perniciously impaired if the judge were to remain inert). The incident occurred in the context of cross-examination, and we must repeat that: “In order to establish that the trial judge abused his discretion in limiting cross-examination, the defendant must show that the restrictions imposed [or suggestions made] were clearly prejudicial.” Twomey, 806 F.2d at 1140 (citing Harris v. United States, 367 F.2d 633, 636 (1st Cir.1966)).

[213]*213In this case, defense counsel Cere-zo was cross-examining Dr. Jaime Rivera-Dueño, a former Secretary of Health under Governor Carlos Romero-Bárceló, concerning his impression of Defendant Kourí. Mr. Cerezo attempted to make a comparison between Defendant Kourí and Carlos Romero-Barceló, the present Resident Commissioner and former Governor of Puerto Rico. The prosecution objected. We ruled that there would be no comparison to political figures and Mr. Cerezo insistently pushed his point. Then, we informed counsel that we would not allow reference to be made to Puerto Rico political figures. We understood that the comparison to Governor Romero-Barceló was unnecessary, polarizing, and extreme. During the course of this exchange, we then suggested other extreme examples, ranging from Khadafy and Hitler to Churchill and Clinton as figures that could be used for comparison purposes if counsel so wished. The purpose was to direct attention away from Puerto Rico political figures in a criminal trial where the charges include diversion of federal monies as contributions to the local political campaigns of Puerto Rico politicians. The use of political figures for comparison purposes could subliminally polarize the jury or distract their attention from the facts of the case.

Carlos Romero-Barceló is a particularly-polarizing political figure in modern Puerto Rico society. Mr. Romero-Barceló was Governor during the 1978 Cerro Ma-ravilla incident which attracted Puerto Rico’s attention for years to come. Stripped to its bare essence, the Cerro Maravilla incident involved Puerto Rico police officers who shot and killed two members of the Puerto Rico independence movement on July 25, 1978, a holiday dedicated to celebrate the present political relation between the government of Puerto Rico and the federal government. Due to the politically-divisive effect this had on society, the Puerto Rico Senate held protracted hearings in which Mr. Romero-Barceló was smeared with ordering and covering the executions as governor and president of his .political party, the New Progressive Party. The First Circuit described the atmosphere as such:

[T]his case involves a publicity issue of unusual seriousness, presenting as it did charges of cold-blooded murder and police corruption that became causes cele-bres throughout Puerto Rico.

United States v. Moreno Morales, 815 F.2d 725, 734 (1st Cir.1987). No formal charges ever materialized, but the impact on society was substantial, virtually splitting society evenly on whether Governor Romero-Barceló was or was not involved in the killings and an alleged subsequent coverup. To many, Mr. Romero-Barceló was the penultimate hero, because he represented. a figure of extreme strength and fortitude in the face of unfair politically-motivated accusations. These citizens had no doubt in Mr. Romero-Barceló’s innocence. On the other side , of the spectrum were those convinced that Mr. Romero-Barceló was evil incarnate. They viewed him as a political criminal, ultimately responsible for the deaths and the subsequent alleged coverup. The Cerro Mara-villa incident remained alive for years to come. Renewed rounds of accusations were periodically begun. Prior to both the 1984 and 1992 elections, the Puerto Rico Senate, controlled by Mr. Romero-Barceló’s political opponents, began a renewed series of hearings focusing on Mr. Romero-Barceló’s possible involvement and culpability for the incidents at Cerro Maravilla.

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United States v. Kouri-Perez, 47 F. Supp. 2d 211, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6069, 1999 WL 259528 (prd 1999).

47 F. Supp. 2d 211 (United States v. Kouri-Perez) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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