00-3963 U.S. v. Centracchio, et al.

Listen to this article

“[W]e find that Sapoznik’s redacted plea allocution contains the particularized guarantees of trustworthiness that justify its admissibility under the Confrontation Clause. … [T]he mere fact that Sapoznik may have pleaded guilty to get a ‘good deal’ does not mean he lied about his actual guilt. And, while the government was admittedly involved in the production of the text of the plea allocution, this is distinguishable from our cases addressing custodial confessions. No one has presented evidence in this case to suggest that the wording of the plea colloquy was coerced or manipulated for the purpose of indicting other individuals. The mere fact that the prosecutor recited the actual content of the plea agreement and Sapoznik just acknowledged with a short reply that he agreed with it does not persuade us that the allocution is inherently unreliable. Of course, it would be preferable if every sentencing judge encouraged defendants to put their guilty pleas into their own words, rather than merely adopting the prosecutor’s statements. This would allow the reviewing court to more easily determine whether the defendant understood the charges before him and whether he freely admitted those crimes. … Nevertheless, we find that the circumstances before us, the fact that the statements were genuinely self-inculpatory and did not seek to downplay his own role, that Sapoznik had the benefit of counsel, that he was under oath in front of a federal judge, with no promise of leniency, and risking a prison term, and the limiting instruction proposed by the government, constitute sufficient guarantees of trustworthiness such that the plea allocution’s admission into evidence will not violate the defendants’ rights under the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause.”

Reversed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Gettleman, J., Manion, J.