United States v. Reginald Eugene Grimes, Sr.

705 F. App'x 897
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 25, 2017
Docket15-14533, 15-14625 Non-Argument Calendar
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 705 F. App'x 897 (United States v. Reginald Eugene Grimes, Sr.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Reginald Eugene Grimes, Sr., 705 F. App'x 897 (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Reginald Grimes appeals his convictions and concurrent 168-month imprisonment sentences for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and possession with intent to distribute heroin. First, he argues that the district court violated his Sixth Amendment rights by restricting his cross-examination of Gary Moore regarding Moore’s prior conviction and plea agreement. Next, he argues that the district court erred by deny- *899 mg his motion to dismiss the charges against him based on the government’s failure to correct perjured testimony before the grand jury and his motion for judgment of acquittal based on perjured testimony at trial. Finally, he argues that the district court erred by applying a firearm enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(b)(l) despite a lack of evidence that Grimes possessed a firearm in furtherance of the offense.

I.

We review limitations on the scope of cross-examination for a clear abuse of discretion, but address de novo whether a defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights were violated. United States v. Rushin, 844 F.3d 933, 938 (11th Cir. 2016).

A defendant has a right to conduct a cross-examination that exposes the jury to facts sufficient for it to infer a witness’s bias. Id. However, trial judges retain wide latitude to impose reasonable limits on cross-examination based on concerns about confusion of the issues or repetitive or marginally relevant interrogation. Id.

Even where a defendant’s Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause rights are violated, the error may be harmless. United States v. Jones, 601 F.3d 1247, 1264 (11th Cir. 2010) (citing Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 684, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986)). To determine whether the denial of a defendant’s opportunity to impeach a witness was harmless, the court analyzes five factors: (1) the importance of the witness’s testimony to the prosecutor’s case; (2) whether the testimony was cumulative; (3) the presence or absence of evidence corroborating or contradicting the testimony of the witness on material points; (4) the extent of cross-examination otherwise permitted; and (5) the overall strength of the prosecution’s case. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. at 684, 106 S.Ct. 1431.

The district court did not abuse its discretion by limiting his cross-examination of Gary Moore regarding his prior conviction and plea agreement because that testimony was repetitive and irrelevant. Grimes’s Sixth Amendment rights were not harmed by this limitation because the jury had sufficient information to assess Moore’s credibility. The jury already heard that Moore was previously convicted for a drug-distribution offense and that he pleaded guilty to that offense in exchange for a lesser sentence. Rushin, 844 F.3d at 938.

The district court also sustained the government’s objection to Grimes’s attempt to introduce Moore’s plea agreement from his prior drug conviction and Grimes’s statement that the plea agreement still bound Moore. The district court did not abuse its discretion by finding that the statement was argumentative and that the plea agreement was irrelevant. Neither limitation affected the jury’s ability to assess Moore’s credibility, because Moore repeatedly admitted that he was cooperating with the government in exchange for a lesser sentence. Moreover, Grimes failed to present an argument that any error was not harmless given the significant impeachment evidence admitted. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. at 684, 106 S.Ct. 1431.

n.

The denial of a motion to dismiss the indictment is reviewed for an abuse of discretion, although the legal sufficiency of the allegations in an indictment is a question of law reviewed de novo. United States v. York, 428 F.3d 1325, 1332 n. 8 (11th Cir. 2005). A defendant alleging an error in the grand jury proceedings must show prejudice by showing that the violation substantially influenced the decision to indict. Id. at 1332-33.

*900 The denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal is reviewed de novo. United States v. Evans, 473 F.3d 1115, 1118 (11th Cir. 2006). The district court’s denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal will be upheld if a reasonable trier of fact could conclude that the evidence establishes the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Rodriguez, 218 F.3d 1243, 1244 (11th Cir. 2000). Where properly preserved, the district court’s decision on sufficiency of the evidence is not entitled to deference. United States v. Taylor, 972 F.2d 1247, 1250 (11th Cir. 1992). However, we must view the facts and draw all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the government. United States v. Hansen, 262 F.3d 1217, 1236 (11th Cir. 2001).

We previously indicated that the possibility that a witness provided false testimony before the grand-jury does not automatically vitiate an indictment based on that testimony; to dismiss an indictment, the district court must also find an abuse of the grand jury process such as perjury or government misconduct. United States v. Garate-Vergara, 942 F.2d 1543, 1550 (11th Cir. 1991). Testimony that constitutes perjury must be (1) given under oath or affirmation; (2) false; (3) material; and (4) given with the willful intent to provide false testimony and not as a result of a mistake, confusion, or faulty memory. United States v. Moran, 778 F.3d 942, 981 (11th Cir. 2015) (citing United States v. Dunnigan, 507 U.S. 87, 94, 113 S.Ct. 1111, 122 L.Ed.2d 445 (1993)). Likewise, if the government not only fails to correct materially false testimony at trial, but also affirmatively capitalizes on it, the defendant’s due process rights are violated. United States v. Stein, 846 F.3d 1135, 1147 (11th Cir. 2017). To overturn the conviction, the alleged perjury must affect the jury’s verdict, meaning that it must be material to the conviction and corrupt the truth-seeking function of the trial process. United States v. Bailey, 123 F.3d 1381, 1396 (11th Cir. 1997).

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705 F. App'x 897, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-reginald-eugene-grimes-sr-ca11-2017.