United States v. Rommy

486 F. App'x 172
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJune 21, 2012
Docket10-3707-cr
StatusUnpublished

This text of 486 F. App'x 172 (United States v. Rommy) 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. Rommy, 486 F. App'x 172 (2d Cir. 2012).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Defendant-Appellant Henk Rommy appeals from the denial of a motion brought pursuant to Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by which he sought a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. A jury previously found Rommy guilty of conspiracy to import ecstasy into the United States in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 963. We affirmed Rommy’s conviction on direct appeal. See United States v. Rommy, 506 F.3d 108 (2d Cir.2007). Thereafter, Rommy brought the Rule 33 motion that is the subject of the instant appeal. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history of the case.

At Rommy’s trial, the prosecution presented evidence that Rommy conspired to import ecstasy into the United States through three transactions. Two of Rom-my’s associates in the drug trade, Thomas Bosch and Daniela Rinaldi, testified regarding the first transaction that they and others conspired with Rommy in an uncompleted plan to import 1,000,000 ecstasy pills into the United States. The second transaction, documented by several recorded telephone calls and a videotape of a meeting in Bermuda, involved discussions between Rommy, an undercover DEA agent, and a government cooperator to arrange importation of 300,000 ecstasy pills into the United States. The third transaction, described by both Bosch and Rinaldi at trial, involved an 800,000-ecsta-sy-pill 1 shipment that Rinaldi and Bosch successfully imported into the United States for a drug trafficker named Thomas Allen. While Bosch did not know the source of the drugs, Rinaldi testified that Allen informed her that Rommy owned fifty percent of the shipment.

Following his appeal, Rommy filed his Rule 33 motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence: statements by Allen provided in a post-trial affidavit. In the affidavit, Allen (whom the defense had been unable to locate for trial) swore that he did not know Rommy personally and that he had never told Rinaldi of Rommy’s involvement in the 800,000-pill transaction. Allen also claimed to have met with DEA agents prior to Rommy’s trial, at which time he specifically denied any involvement with Rommy. The district court denied the motion, stating, inter alia, that “even crediting the assertions in Allen’s affidavit, a new trial is nonetheless unwarranted because the allegedly undisclosed information is cumulative, immaterial and otherwise extremely unlikely to have led any reasonable jury to acquit.” Rommy appeals, asserting three arguments: that Allen’s affidavit was newly discovered evidence that (1) supported acquittal; (2) proved perjury by at least one witness and suggested that the government consented to perjury; and (3) demonstrated a Brady violation.

*174 We review a district court’s denial of a Rule 33 motion for abuse of discretion, United States v. Rigas, 583 F.3d 108, 125 (2d Cir.2009), and the factual findings in support of such a decision for clear error, United States v. Imran, 964 F.2d 1313, 1318 (2d Cir.1992). District courts should exercise their Rule 33 authority only “sparingly” and in “the most extraordinary circumstances.” United States v. Sanchez, 969 F.2d 1409, 1414 (2d Cir.1992). We afford particular deference to the trial court because “its vantage point as to the determinative factor — whether newly discovered evidence would have influenced the jury — has been informed by the trial over which it presided.” United States v. Stewart, 433 F.3d 273, 296 (2d Cir.2006).

As for Rommy’s three arguments, the standards governing each share a common denominator: in order to warrant a new trial, a defendant must show at least a reasonable likelihood that the result of the proceeding would have been different had the newly discovered evidence, proof of perjury, or Brady material been introduced. See United States v. Owen, 500 F.3d 83, 88 (2d Cir.2007) (requiring, inter alia, that newly discovered evidence “would likely result in an acquittal”); United States v. Wallach, 935 F.2d 445, 456 (2d Cir.1991) (where prosecution had knowledge of perjury, “the conviction must be set aside if there is any reasonable likelihood that the false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury” and where the government lacked such knowledge, requiring a new trial “only if the testimony was material and the court is left with a firm belief that but for the perjured testimony, the defendant would most likely not have been convicted” (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted)); United States v. Coppa, 267 F.3d 132, 140 (2d Cir.2001) (requiring the defendant to show, inter alia, that the government’s failure to disclose Brady evidence resulted in prejudice). Even assuming that Allen would be available to testify to the contents of his affidavit or that its contents would otherwise be admissible at trial, Rommy has failed to make such a showing.

First, as to the impact of Allen’s affidavit with respect to Rinaldi’s testimony that Rommy owned half of the 800,000-pill shipment, we note that defense counsel impeached Rinaldi on this very issue at trial. During Rommy’s counsel’s cross examination of Rinadli and during his closing, Rommy’s counsel emphasized that at no time during any of Rinaldi’s pretrial interviews with law enforcement officials did Rinaldi ever claim that Rommy was involved in the 800,000-pill shipment. In particular, Rommy’s counsel drew attention to one interview during which Ri-naldi told officials that she did not know whether Rommy was involved in the shipment. Thus Allen’s statement (set out in the affidavit) that he never told Rinaldi of Rommy’s involvement in the 800,000-pill transaction would have been cumulative impeachment material and is therefore an inadequate basis for granting a Rule 33 motion. See, e.g., United States v. Payne, 63 F.3d 1200, 1210 (2d Cir.1995) (stating that new impeachment evidence is not material when it “merely furnishes an additional basis on which to impeach a witness whose credibility has already been shown to be questionable”).

Second, assuming, arguendo,

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Related

United States v. Rigas
583 F.3d 108 (Second Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Rommy
506 F.3d 108 (Second Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Persico
645 F.3d 85 (Second Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Syed Shafi Imran
964 F.2d 1313 (Second Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Carluin Sanchez
969 F.2d 1409 (Second Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Eric C. Payne
63 F.3d 1200 (Second Circuit, 1995)
United States v. Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic
433 F.3d 273 (Second Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Owen
500 F.3d 83 (Second Circuit, 2007)
Sims v. Blot
534 F.3d 117 (Second Circuit, 2008)
United States v. James
239 F.3d 120 (Second Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Coppa
267 F.3d 132 (Second Circuit, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
486 F. App'x 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rommy-ca2-2012.