Himen Ross v. United States

The focus of this petition is the prejudice visited on Hiram Ross (Ross) as a result of a series of abuses of the discretion by the district court before and during the trial conducted in the Eastern District of New York. The foundation of the trial court’s errors was its rulings, before and during trial, that had the effect of minimizing the significance of the prejudice. These errors can find no sanction in this Court’s jurisprudence, in the legal provisions of applicable statutes and rules, or indeed in the Constitution itself. The extent of the prejudice and its compounding effect is best understood by posing three questions that, we submit, amply justify the granting of a writ of certiorari in light of the Second Circuit’s affirmance of the judgment of the district court. These are:

1. Whether the district court abused its discretion by allowing the government to introduce highly prejudicial evidence and argument linking Ross to a violent criminal gang, even though this evidence was wholly unnecessary to the government’s proof to the jury, and served no purpose other than to prejudice Ross in the eyes of the jury.

2. Whether, by failing to grant Ross’s motion for a mistrial based on the prejudicial use of “gang”-related language by not only the government and but also by Ross’s co-defendant on cross-examination, the district court abused its discretion.