Filed: Feb. 23, 2011
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 10-10504 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Non-Argument Calendar FEBRUARY 23, 2011 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 1:09-cr-20392-PAS-3 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ROBINTO PAULEUS, lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (February 23, 2011) Before BLACK, WILSON and P
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 10-10504 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Non-Argument Calendar FEBRUARY 23, 2011 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 1:09-cr-20392-PAS-3 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ROBINTO PAULEUS, lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (February 23, 2011) Before BLACK, WILSON and PR..
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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________ FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
No. 10-10504 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
Non-Argument Calendar FEBRUARY 23, 2011
________________________ JOHN LEY
CLERK
D.C. Docket No. 1:09-cr-20392-PAS-3
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
ROBINTO PAULEUS,
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
________________________
(February 23, 2011)
Before BLACK, WILSON and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Robinto Pauleus appeals his convictions for conspiracy to distribute 500
grams or more of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 846, and possession with intent
to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine,
id. § 841(a)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 2. Pauleus
challenges the denial of his objection under Batson v. Kentucky,
476 U.S. 79,
106
S. Ct. 1712 (1986), and the denial of his motion to dismiss his indictment. We
affirm.
Pauleus argues that he established a prima facie case of racial discrimination
in the exercise of peremptory challenges in the selection of the jury, but we
disagree. “In making out a prima facie case, ‘the defendant must point to more
than the bare fact of the removal of certain venirepersons and the absence of an
obvious valid reason for the removal.’” United States v. Allison,
908 F.2d 1531,
1538 (11th Cir. 1990) (quoting United States v. Young-Bey,
893 F.2d 178, 179
(8th Cir. 1990)). Pauleus argues that two prospective jurors were black and
challenged by the government, but those facts alone do not establish an inference
that the challenges were exercised with discriminatory animus. The district court
did not err by denying Pauleus’s Batson objection.
Pauleus also argues that the district court should have dismissed his
indictment because Sergeant Darren Handley testified falsely and violated Brady
v. Maryland,
373 U.S. 83,
83 S. Ct. 1194 (1963), but this argument fails. The
government violates due process only if it “allows [false testimony] to go
uncorrected,” Napue v. Illinois,
360 U.S. 264, 269,
79 S. Ct. 1173, 1177 (1959),
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and the government notified Pauleus and the district court after Handley reported
that he had testified incorrectly about the location of one piece of evidence.
Moreover, Pauleus cannot establish he was prejudiced by the error. The district
court reopened the case, Handley corrected his testimony and underwent cross-
examination by Pauleus, Pauleus was permitted to make a new closing argument
in which he challenged Handley’s credibility, and the district court instructed the
jury about resolving issues of credibility and misstatements of a witness. See
United States v. Bueno-Sierra,
99 F.3d 375, 379–80 (11th Cir. 1996). Pauleus also
cannot establish that the outcome of his case would have differed but for
Handley’s testimony. United States v. Bagley,
473 U.S. 667, 682,
105 S. Ct. 3375,
3383 (1985). A surveillance video, telephone records, and the testimonies of
police officers established that a middleman, who in the two days preceding had
exchanged with Pauleus several text messages and telephone calls, retrieved from
Pauleus’s vehicle a box containing 750 grams of cocaine hydrochloride and
delivered that cocaine to a confidential informant. The district court did not abuse
its discretion by denying Pauleus’s motion to dismiss his indictment.
We AFFIRM Pauleus’s convictions.
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