United States v. Santiago

110 F. App'x 161
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedSeptember 16, 2004
DocketNo. 03-1148
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 110 F. App'x 161 (United States v. Santiago) 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. Santiago, 110 F. App'x 161 (2d Cir. 2004).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Defendant Hector Santiago, who was convicted for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), possession of a firearm by a felon, challenges the statute under which he was convicted as exceeding Congressional authority under the Commerce Clause and argues that he was denied his constitutional rights to due process and confrontation by the introduction of hearsay testimony and by the district court’s charge to the jury on constructive possession. The parties’ familiarity with the facts and the law is assumed.

On appeal, we review de novo a constitutional challenge to the validity of a federal statute. See United States v. Pettus, 303 F.3d 480, 483 (2d Cir.2002). We evaluate for abuse of discretion the district court’s evidentiary rulings, United States v. LaFlam, 369 F.3d 153, 155 (2d Cir.2004) (per curiam), and “[ujnless a district court’s determination of relevance is arbitrary or irrational, it will not be overturned,” id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Furthermore, in cases where evidence was admitted erroneously, “[t]his Court will order a new trial only if the introduction of inadmissible evidence was a clear abuse of discretion and was so clearly prejudicial to the outcome of the trial that we are convinced that the jury has reached a seriously erroneous result or that the verdict is a miscarriage of justice.” Parker v. Reda, 327 F.3d 211, 213 (2d Cir.2003) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks omitted). Finally, “[w]e review a district court’s jury instructions de novo. Cweklinsky v. Mobil Chemical Co., 364 F.3d 68, 73 (2d Cir. 2004). We deem “[a] jury instruction ... erroneous if it misleads the jury as to the correct legal standard or does not adequately inform the jury on the law.” United States v. Pimentel, 346 F.3d 285, 301 (2d Cir.2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). However, “[ejven if a jury instruction is erroneous ... we will vacate a criminal conviction only if the error was prejudicial and not simply harmless. Such error is harmless only if it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have found the defendant guilty absent the error.” Id. at 301-02 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).

Santiago first argues that, under the Supreme Court’s Commerce Clause decisions in United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, 120 S.Ct. 1740, 146 L.Ed.2d 658 (2000), Jones v. United States, 529 U.S. 848, 120 S.Ct. 1904, 146 L.Ed.2d 902 (2000), and United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995), the “felon in possession” statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), lacks a sufficient relation to interstate commerce to fall within Congress’ authority to regulate. This Circuit’s [163]*163precedent, as articulated most recently in United States v. Gaines, 295 F.3d 293, 302 (2d Cir.2002), forecloses this line of reasoning. According to Gaines, “only a minimal nexus with interstate commerce is necessary under § 922(g).” Id. The government has amply demonstrated such a nexus in this case, as the trial evidence established that “the firearm at issue ... was manufactured in Spain and imported into the United States through New Jersey.”

Santiago also claims that the district court abused its discretion in deciding to permit Officer Feola to testify that Officer Uliano had reported that the defendant had a gun when Officer Uliano radioed for backup because the testimony constituted hearsay. Under Rule 802 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, hearsay is generally inadmissible. Fed.R.Evid. 802. The Rules define hearsay as “a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” Fed.R.Evid. 801(c). The government contends that the information was offered to allow the jury to understand why Officer Feola had responded to the radio call in the manner that he did, and not for the truth of the matter asserted. Although a court may allow introduction of an out-of-court statement to “show[ ] an investigating agent’s state of mind,” we have previously stated that “[t]he government’s identification of a relevant non-hearsay use for ... evidence ... is insufficient to justify its admission if the jury is likely to consider the statement for the truth of what was stated with significant resultant prejudice.” United States v. Forrester, 60 F.3d 52, 59 (2d Cir.1995) (internal quotation marks omitted). Here, the court issued a limiting instruction specifying that the jury should not consider Officer Feola’s testimony for the truth of the underlying assertion by Officer Uliano. But even assuming, arguendo, that the district court abused its discretion in admitting Officer Feola’s report of Officer Uliano’s radioed statement about the gun, “we will not order a new trial because of an erroneous evidentiary ruling if we conclude that the error was harmless.” United States v. Abreu, 342 F.3d 183, 190 (2d Cir.2003). Here, any erroneous admission of Officer Feola’s testimony was harmless because the same information had already been introduced without any objection from the defense — first, by Officer Uliano himself, who testified that he had seen Santiago throw down a gun, and again, by Officer Ronan, who testified that he had heard Uliano call out that the suspect had thrown a gun.

Santiago’s final argument is that the district court erred in instructing the jury by including language suggesting that he could be guilty if they determined that he had constructively, rather than actually, possessed the gun. It is undisputed that the prosecution did not present a theory of constructive possession to the jury, but only one of actual possession.

The district court’s instruction on the element of possession stated:

The second element that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that on our about the date set forth in the indictment Hector Santiago knowingly possessed a firearm.

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Related

Nevins v. Giambruno
596 F. Supp. 2d 728 (W.D. New York, 2009)
Santiago v. United States
544 U.S. 934 (Supreme Court, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 F. App'x 161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-santiago-ca2-2004.