Appeal - Transcripts

SEE ALSO: TRANSCRIPTS

United States v. Delgado, 631 F.3d 685 (5th Cir. 2011)

Several errors in this case – when considered cumulatively – required that the conviction be set aside: (1) there was insufficient evidence offered to support a deliberate ignorance instruction, because there was no evidence of the defendant’s knowledge of the high probability of the criminal activity; (2) the prosecutor improperly stated during closing argument that the defendant, who did not testify, had a “lied to agents when they interviewed her” when she denied guilt. This amounted to an improper statement of the prosecutor’s personal opinion; (3) a government agent testified (non-responsively to a question) that defendant’s trucking company had been involved in other drug trafficking; (4) the absence of a full transcript of the proceeding. In a separate holding, the Fifth Circuit also reversed the defendant’s conspiracy conviction on sufficiency grounds. All these errors, when considered cumulatively, denied the defendant a fair trial.

Greene v. Brigano, 123 F.3d 917 (6th Cir. 1997)

As a matter of due process and equal protection, the state must afford an indigent defendant a trial transcript. See Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S. 226 (1971); Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12 (1956). The fact that the defendant chose to represent himself on appeal did not operate to deprive him of the right to a transcript.