Full opinion text
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge KAVANAUGH. KAVANAUGH, Circuit Judge: From 1985 to 1998, Tommy Edelin ran a massive drug distribution organization in Southeast Washington, D.C. The organization sold crack cocaine and other drugs, and committed numerous murders and other violent crimes. After an intensive law enforcement investigation of the organization, six defendants were indicted for violations of federal and D.C. law. After a lengthy and complicated trial, five of those defendants — Tommy Edelin, Earl Edelin, Bryan Bostick, Henry Johnson, and Shelton Marbury — were convicted by a jury and sentenced to life imprisonment. They now appeal. (The sixth defendant was also convicted but died after trial.) On appeal, the defendants contest their convictions by challenging, among other things, the sufficiency of the evidence, the jury instructions, various evidentiary rulings, and alleged juror misconduct. We affirm the judgments of conviction. The defendants also challenge their sentences. They were sentenced to life imprisonment under the mandatory Sentencing Guidelines that were in effect before the Supreme Court’s landmark Sixth Amendment decision in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005). Under Booker, the Guidelines are now advisory. Two of the defendants (Earl Edelin and Henry Johnson) raised Sixth Amendment objections in the District Court. Under Booker, they are entitled to vacatur of their sentences and resentencing under the advisory Sentencing Guidelines. Two of the defendants (Bryan Bostick and Shelton Marbury) did not raise the Sixth Amendment issue in the District Court. But on plain error review, they are still entitled to what our cases have termed a Booker remand of the record to determine whether the District Court would impose different sentences, more favorable to the defendants, under the advisory Guidelines. See United States v. Coles, 403 F.3d 764, 770 (D.C.Cir.2005). The sentence of the remaining defendant, Tommy Edelin, is affirmed. Based on his conviction for continuing criminal enterprise, which we affirm, Tommy Edelin received a statutorily mandated life sentence, which did not depend on the Sentencing Guidelines. Booker does not affect his sentence, as he has expressly conceded on appeal. In their appeal, the defendants have raised a great number and variety of arguments. Those arguments are not amenable to easy categorization, so we will just address them one after the other. I We first provide the factual and procedural background. Because we are reviewing a jury verdict of guilt, we recount the evidence in the light most favorable to the Government. In 1996, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department started a joint investigation into the activities of Tommy Edelin’s drug distribution organization. By that time, Tommy Edelin was leading a large-scale drug ring that distributed massive quantities of crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and heroin in the Washington, D.C., area. During the 1980s and 1990s, Tommy Edelin purchased large quantities of drugs from wholesale suppliers in New York. In Washington, D.C., he provided the drugs to a group of mid-level distributors. Those mid-level distributors in turn sold the drugs to street-level dealers, who then sold to retail customers primarily in the Stanton Dwellings and Congress Park neighborhoods of Southeast Washington, D.C. Edelin distributed drugs through a credit arrangement called “fronting,” whereby Edelin fronted the drugs to his dealers, who paid him only after making their sales. Edelin used his profits to finance larger drug purchases and expand his distribution network. In the course of their activities, Tommy Edelin and his associates committed numerous murders and shootings, often during clashes with rival drug crews. Those conflicts frequently followed a pattern: A dealer from a rival group would rob or attack one of Edelin’s associates. Edelin would respond by ordering his associates to kill the attacker as well as members of the attacker’s crew. Throughout the 1990s, several of Edelin’s distributors and dealers, including the defendants here, participated in such violence. Tommy Edelin’s father is Earl Edelin. Earl Edelin served as a top lieutenant in his son’s drug distribution network. The elder Edelin worked as a mid-level distributor, supplying his son’s drugs to other mid-level and street-level dealers. In the 1990s, Earl Edelin worked at the Stanton Dwellings community recreation center. He gave members of the organization access to the recreation center, where they could cook cocaine powder into crack, sell drugs, and store guns, money, and drugs. He also taught his son’s associates how to shoot to kill, and he provided weapons to them. Finally, Earl Edelin warned others in the organization about planned police raids and suspected confidential informants. In the early 1990s, Bryan Bostick worked for Tommy Edelin as a mid-level distributor and hitman. Although Tommy Edelin initially declined to supply Bostick with drugs, he changed his mind after witnessing Bostick murder two people at a traffic light. Acting on Tommy Edelin’s orders, Bostick also attacked several individuals in the course of a dispute with a rival drug crew. Like Bostick, Henry Johnson was a mid-level distributor of crack cocaine and a hitman in Tommy Edelin’s organization. During the 1990s, he purchased crack cocaine from other mid-level distributors, including Earl Edelin, and resold it to street-level dealers. In addition, Johnson committed at least one murder during a conflict with the Stanton Terrace Crew, a rival drug group, in 1996. Shelton Marbury was a street-level dealer of crack cocaine. He operated at the lowest level of Tommy Edelin’s distribution network. He committed two murders and participated in several shootings during the conflict with the Stanton Terrace Crew in 1996. In 1996, the Stanton Terrace violence caught the attention of law enforcement and prompted the investigation into Tommy Edelin’s organization. Two years later, Tommy Edelin was arrested after purchasing wholesale quantities of cocaine and heroin in a government sting operation. Six defendants were later indicted in a 90-count indictment that charged offenses under federal law and the D.C.Code. The charges included conspiracy to distribute narcotics in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A) (Count One), conspiracy to participate in a racketeer-influenced corrupt organization in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (Count Three), and numerous counts of murder, assault with intent to murder while armed, violent crime in aid of racketeering activity, and various firearm offenses. Tommy Edelin was also charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 848(a) and (b) (Count Two), unlawful use of a communication facility (Counts 86-88), and possession with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and five kilograms or more of cocaine (Counts 89-90). The prosecution’s case featured extensive testimony from many cooperating witnesses who had been involved in Tommy Edelin’s organization. The jury found the defendants guilty on numerous counts. Applying the then-mandatory Sentencing Guidelines, the District Court sentenced the defendants to life imprisonment. One of the defendants, Mar-win Mosley, was convicted, but he died in 2006 and his appeal was subsequently dismissed. II The defendants raise several sufficiency of the evidence arguments. When considering a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we uphold a guilty verdict where, “after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Gaskins, 690 F.3d 569, 576 (D.C.Cir.2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). We do not distinguish between direct and circumstantial evidence in making that assessment. Id. at 577. The “evidence need not exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence or be wholly inconsistent with every conclusion except that of guilt.” United States v. Kwong-Wah, 924 F.2d 298, 302 (D.C.Cir.1991) (internal quotation marks omitted). Under that deferential standard of review, the evidence in this case easily suffices to sustain the guilty verdicts. A Count One of the indictment alleged that the defendants participated in a single drug conspiracy led by Tommy Edelin. All five defendants contend that the evidence at trial showed multiple conspiracies rather than the single drug conspiracy charged in Count One. Whether the evidence proved a single conspiracy “is primarily a question of fact for the jury.” United States v. Childress, 58 F.3d 693, 709 (D.C.Cir.1995) (internal quotation marks omitted). On appellate review, the relevant question is therefore “whether there is sufficient evidence—when viewed in the light most favorable to the government—to support a jury finding of a single conspiracy agreed to” by all of the defendants. Id. The Government’s theory at trial was that Tommy Edelin headed a single, chain-model narcotics distribution and racketeering organization, through which he directly supplied some mid-level dealers, such as Earl Edelin and Bryan Bostick, and indirectly supplied other mid- and street-level dealers, such as Henry Johnson and Shelton Marbury, respectively. In addition to distributing drugs, Bostick, Johnson, and Marbury carried out murders and other violent acts in support of the conspiracy. We consider three factors to determine whether the evidence supports a conclusion that the defendants belonged to a single conspiracy: whether the alleged participants had (1) a common goal, (2) interdependence, and (3) overlap, “such as the presence of core participants linked to all the defendants.” United States v. Gatling, 96 F.3d 1511, 1520 (D.C.Cir.1996). This sufficiency of the evidence issue is not close, especially given our deferential standard of review. The Government overwhelmingly established each defendant’s membership in the single charged conspiracy. The massive evidence regarding the defendants’ significant drug distribution activities plainly demonstrates that they shared the organization’s goal of selling drugs. The evidence establishes interdependence among the participants: For example, Marbury depended on mid-level distributors in Tommy Edelin’s network, like Earl Ede-lin and Johnson. Mid-level distributors like Earl Edelin, Johnson, and Bostick in turn relied on other mid-level distributors in the organization or directly on Tommy Edelin. And Tommy Edelin relied on the others to distribute and sell the drugs. And the evidence indicates that there were overlapping core participants—such as Earl Edelin—with ties to defendants on both ends of the supply chain. We need not spend long on this point. From the overwhelming evidence of the defendants’ common goal, interdependence, and overlapping core of participants, a reasonable jury could easily conclude that the defendants were part of a single drug distribution conspiracy. B Even if all of the defendants belonged to a single drug conspiracy, they say that “certain actions were outside the chain and formed a separate conspiracy.” United States v. Tarantino, 846 F.2d 1384, 1393 (D.C.Cir.1988). First, the defendants argue that Bostick’s murder of two people at a traffic light fell outside the scope of the charged conspiracy. They claim that they were prejudiced by the Government’s inflammatory presentation of those allegedly unrelated murders. Bostick was riding with Tommy Edelin in Edelin’s car when Bostick spotted a vehicle that he thought belonged to one of his rivals. With Tommy Edelin’s permission, Bostick exited the car at a traffic light and sh.ot the two occupants of the other vehicle, killing both. The victims turned out to be innocent teenage siblings Rodney and Volante Smith, not Bostick’s rivals. The defendants maintain that Bostick committed those murders as part of a feud that was unrelated to Tommy Edelin’s organization. But the record indicates that Tommy Edelin authorized the shooting and was pleased with Bostick’s demonstrated ability to kill. Witnesses testified that after the murder, Tommy Edelin rewarded Bostick with a car, a direct supply of drugs, and a place in his inner circle. Based on that evidence, a rational jury could find that Bostick committed those murders in part to enhance his status and role within Tommy Edelin’s drug organization and that the murders were therefore within the scope of the drug distribution conspiracy. Cf. United States v. Carson, 455 F.3d 336, 370 (D.C.Cir.2006) (jury could find that shooting was in aid of racketeering and drug distribution enterprise where defendant shot rival in part “to maintain or increase his own reputation as an enforcer in the enterprise”). Second, Earl Edelin, Johnson, and Marbury claim that the Stanton Terrace Crew killings were committed in retaliation for the Crew’s assault and robbery of Marbury’s relatives, not as part of the conspiracy to distribute drugs for profit. We reject that argument because the evidence adequately supports the conclusion that the violence was committed in furtherance of the drug distribution conspiracy. When the Stanton Terrace conflict began, Tommy Edelin told co-conspirator Thomas Sims: “Take care of these people quick before it affect the money.” July 2, 2001 Trial Tr. at 12071 (Thomas Sims). Tommy Edelin directed Sims to kill Stanton Terrace Crew members. Id. Later in the conflict, Tommy Edelin ordered the murder of a Stanton Terrace Crew affiliate who had shot at one of his top lieutenants. Johnson helped carry out that murder. Earl Edelin taught Sims, Johnson, Mar-bury, and others how to use firearms to kill Stanton Terrace Crew members. He gave Marbury a gun to use in the shootings. In addition, Earl Edelin communicated with Sims during the dispute and passed along information about where Stanton Terrace Crew members could be found. That evidence indicates that the Stanton Terrace murders were committed, at least in part, to protect the profits and operations of Tommy Edelin’s drug distribution enterprise. The dispute threatened Tommy Edelin’s distributors and their drug sales. Killing Stanton Terrace Crew members neutralized that threat and ensured that distribution continued smoothly. Tommy Edelin’s direct involvement in the dispute further indicates that the murders were committed in furtherance of the drug conspiracy, even if there also were other motives. C Defendants Earl Edelin, Johnson, and Marbury argue that the Government failed to produce sufficient evidence of their specific intent to further Tommy Edelin’s drug distribution scheme. “To prove that a defendant entered into a narcotics conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 846, the government must prove that he did so knowingly” and with “the specific intent to further the conspiracy’s objective.” Gaskins, 690 F.3d at 577 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Government introduced abundant evidence about Earl Edelin’s central role in the drug conspiracy. He not only sold his son’s crack to other dealers but also recruited new mid-level distributors. During disputes with rival drug crews, Earl Edelin provided firearms expertise and weapons to his son’s associates. He also warned the group about police raids, suspected cooperators, and enemy dealers. While employed at a community recreation center, Earl Edelin gave out keys to the facility so that the group would have a secure place to store contraband and sell drugs. That evidence easily supports the conclusion that Earl Edelin specifically intended to further the conspiracy’s aim of distributing drugs for profit. Johnson and Marbury argue that there is insufficient evidence showing that they knew that Tommy Edelin supplied their suppliers or were otherwise aware of a larger conspiracy. At most, they contend, the evidence shows that they were engaged in independent buyer-seller relationships. But we have stated that “a jury may properly find a conspiracy, rather than a buy-sell agreement, where the evidence shows that a buyer procured [or a seller sold] drugs with knowledge of the overall existence of the conspiracy.” United States v. Sanders, 778 F.3d 1042, 1053 (D.C.Cir.2015) (quoting United States v. Thomas, 114 F.3d 228, 241 (D.C.Cir.1997)) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Among the factors demonstrating such knowledge are the existence of repeated, regular deals; drug quantities consistent with redistribution; and the extension of credit to the buyer.” Id. Johnson and Marbury regularly purchased resale quantities of crack cocaine from mid-level members of Tommy E delta's organization, and they then redistributed those drugs. Johnson also regularly supplied street-level dealers in Tommy Edelin’s organization. Credit arrangements were a common feature of their transactions. A reasonable jury could therefore conclude that Johnson and Mar-bury entered the conspiracy with the specific intent to further its objective. To be sure, we have cautioned that “[cjhain analysis must be used with care.” Tarantino, 846 F.2d at 1393. Accordingly, we have found sufficient evidence of the “knowledge” element of conspiracy not just where the defendant had vague knowledge that the person with whom he or she dealt also worked with unknown others in some fashion to sell drugs, but where the evidence showed that the defendant was “aware of the structure of- the enterprise,” United States v. Sobamowo, 892 F.2d 90, 94 (D.C.Cir.1989), such as where the defendant “played other roles in the conspiracy” and “knew of the collaboration of others,” Tarantino, 846 F.2d at 1393-94. A reasonable jury could conclude that the evidence against Johnson and Marbury in this case satisfied those standards. D Defendant Earl Edelin argues that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction for conspiracy to participate in a racketeer-influenced corrupt organization in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d). As predicate racketeering acts, the jury found that Earl Edelin had conspired to distribute drugs and to murder members of the Stanton Terrace Crew. Earl Edelin contends that the Government failed to prove his involvement in those activities. As we have discussed, the record contains plentiful evidence that was more than sufficient for a jury to find that Earl Edelin committed both predicate racketeering acts. We therefore affirm his conviction on the RICO conspiracy charge. E Defendant Tommy Edelin challenges his conviction for continuing criminal enterprise in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(c). To convict under Section 848, the jury must find the defendant' guilty of “1) a felony violation of the federal narcotics law; 2) as part of a continuing series of violations; 3) in concert with five or more persons; 4) for whom the defendant is an organizer or supervisor; 5) from which he derives substantial income or resources.” United States v. Moore, 651 F.3d 30, 80 (D.C.Cir.2011) (internal quotation marks omitted). A “continuing series of violations” consists of three or more predicate acts, which may include a drug conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 846. Id. Tommy Edelin disputes the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his continuing criminal enterprise conviction on two grounds. First, he raises a statute of limitations argument' and contends that the evidence is insufficient to establish that the continuing criminal enterprise continued into the limitations period — that is, continued beyond July 1993. (The original indictment was filed on July 30, 1998, and the offense has a five-year statute of limitations. See 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a).) That argument fails because the prosecution had the burden of proving only three or more predicate acts, at least one of which occurred after July 1993. See United States v. Soto-Beniquez, 356 F.3d 1, 28 (1st Cir.2003). The jury found 11 predicate acts proved, 10 of which occurred after July 1993. The Government plainly met its burden. Second, Tommy Edelin contends that the evidence fails to show that “the core structure of the alleged enterprise remained intact during the period charged.” Defs.’ Br. 202. That argument also fails. We have previously rejected the claim that Section 848 requires the Government to prove “the structure of a continuing organization' equivalent to a RICO ‘enterprise.’ ” United States v. Hoyle, 122 F.3d 48, 51 (D.C.Cir.1997). Rather, we have recognized that “one can organize events and supervise transitory subordinates without creating an organizational structure.” Id. The Government' must simply “establish that the defendant exerted some type of influence over five other individuals in the course of the criminal enterprise”; it “need not prove that the defendant managed five people simultaneously.” United States v. Rea, 621 F.3d 595, 602 (7th Cir.2010) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also United States v. Almaraz, 306 F.3d 1031, 1040 (10th Cir.2002); Santana-Madera v. United States, 260 F.3d 133, 140 n. 3 (2d Cir.2001). The Government presented overwhelming evidence that Tommy Edelin organized or supervised five or more people in committing a series of underlying predicate acts, including his conspiracy to distribute drugs for profit. That evidence includes extensive testimony from cooperating witnesses whom Edelin organized, along with others, for purposes of drug distribution and drug-related murders. Viewed in the light most favorable to the Government, a rational jury could easily have found the essential elements of continuing criminal enterprise beyond a reasonable doubt. We therefore affirm Tommy Edelin’s continuing criminal enterprise conviction. F Defendant Marbury challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions under D.C. law for possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, as charged in Counts 70-73. The jury acquitted Marbury of the underlying assaults but convicted him of the firearm charges. Marbury concedes, as he must, that a jury may find him guilty of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence without convicting him of the underlying offense, “so long as there is evidence in the record to support a conviction of the compound offense.” Ransom v. United States, 630 A.2d 170, 172 (D.C.1993). He argues that the evidence is insufficient to prove that he committed the offense of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. Multiple cooperating witnesses provided detailed testimony about Mar-bury’s role in the charged assaults, all of which involved shootings directed at the Stanton Terrace Crew. In all but one of the attacks, one of the testifying witnesses had participated in the crime with Mar-bury. In the remaining instance, that witness testified that Marbury had asked him for help in covering up Marbury’s role in the shooting. Another Government witness testified that after that assault, Mar-bury had asked to trade guns because his gun had a victim’s “body” on it. July 2, 2001 Trial Tr. at 12065 (Thomas Sims). According to the witnesses, Marbury carried a firearm during each assault. Based on that testimony, a rational jury could readily find that Marbury participated in each underlying assault. We therefore affirm his convictions for possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. III The jury convicted defendant Henry Johnson of violent crime in aid of racketeering activity under 18 U.S.C. § 1959. At trial, the Government presented evidence that Tommy Edelin had ordered one of his lieutenants to kill Stanton Terrace Crew affiliate Edgar Watson. That lieutenant and Johnson shot at Watson and Watson’s date, Dionne Johnson, as they were leaving a high school prom. Watson died in the attack. The jury found Johnson guilty of violent crime in aid of racketeering activity against Dionne Johnson but acquitted him of the same charge against Watson. First, Johnson argues that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction for violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. Because Johnson did not raise that argument in the District Court, our review is for plain error. “When reviewing a sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge for plain error, we reverse only to prevent a manifest miscarriage of justice.” United States v. Spinner, 152 F.3d 950, 956 (D.C.Cir.1998) (internal quotation marks omitted). A manifest miscarriage of justice exists “if the record is devoid of evidence pointing to guilt” or “the evidence on a key element of the offense was so tenuous that a conviction would be shocking.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). To convict for violent crime in aid of racketeering activity, the Government must prove that the defendant committed a violent crime “as consideration for the receipt of, or as consideration for a promise or agreement to pay, anything of pecuniary value from an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity, or for the purpose of gaining entrance to or maintaining or increasing position in an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity.” 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a). We have stated that the “motive of maintaining or increasing one’s position in an enterprise may be reasonably inferred where the defendant commits the crime in furtherance of enterprise membership or where the defendant knew it was expected of him by reason of his membership in the enterprise.” United States v. Gooch, 665 F.3d 1318, 1337-38 (D.C.Cir.2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). That motive may be found, for example, where the defendant “murdered individuals to maintain or increase his own reputation as an enforcer in the enterprise.” Id. at 1338 (internal quotation marks omitted). Johnson contends that the Government failed to prove that he received anything of pecuniary value for his assault of Dionne. That argument fails because the evidence is sufficient to show that Johnson sought to achieve a higher position in Tommy Edelin’s racketeering organization. A Government witness testified that Tommy Edelin had ordered Watson’s murder because Watson had shot at Edelin’s lieutenant. Edelin was concerned that if they failed to retaliate, “that would make them look weak” and “would reflect on him.” Aug. 1, 2001 Trial Tr. at 16344 (Eric Jones). That testimony indicates that Tommy Edelin expected his associates to violently retaliate against individuals who threatened them, lest their weakness reflect on the entire group. Based on that evidence, a jury could reasonably infer that Johnson hoped to improve his status in the enterprise by assisting with Watson’s murder and assaulting Dionne in the process. Second, Johnson argues that, in any event, he should receive a new trial on the violent crime in aid of racketeering activity and related firearm charges because, he says, his conviction resulted from jury confusion. The jury asked the District Court whether it must find Johnson guilty of RICO conspiracy in order to convict him of violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. The District Court responded that the “answer to that question is no.” Supp. Jury Instructions, No. 98-264 (D.D.C. filed Sept. 21, 2001). Johnson contends that the District Court’s answer was too cursory to adequately resolve the jury’s confusion. We have held that if the jury expresses confusion about a jury instruction, the district court “should reinstruct the jury to clear away the confusion.” United States v. Laing, 889 F.2d 281, 290 (D.C.Cir.1989). A district court’s decision “to limit its response to answering the jury’s question, however, should be reversed only if it is an abuse of discretion.” Id. We find no abuse of discretion where, as here, the initial instructions were correct and the District Court’s “response was limited to answering the jury’s query and was entirely accurate.” Id. IV Defendant Bryan Bostick appeals his convictions for the Count One drug conspiracy and the Count Three RICO conspiracy. Bostick contends that there is insufficient evidence that he participated in those conspiracies within the five-year statute-of-limitations period—that is, after August 1994. He also argues that the District Court erred by failing to instruct' the jury on withdrawal and limitations defenses. We disagree. Conspiracy has a five-year statute of limitations. See 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a). Bostick claims that he withdrew from the charged conspiracies in April 1994, more than five years before the Government obtained an indictment against him on August 5, 1999. The Supreme Court considered “the intersection of a withdrawal defense and a statute-of-limitations defense” in Smith v. United States, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 714, 718, 184 L.Ed.2d 570 (2013). The Court stated that participation in a conspiracy “within the statute-of-limitations period is not an element of the conspiracy offense” that requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 720. Rather, “a defendant’s membership in the conspiracy, and his responsibility for its acts, endures even if he is entirely inactive after joining it.” Id. at 721. The defendant has the burden of establishing his or her withdrawal. Id. at 719. To withdraw from a conspiracy, an individual must come clean to the authorities or communicate his or her abandonment “in a manner reasonably calculated to reach co-conspirators.” United States v. Thomas, 114 F.3d 228, 267 (D.C.Cir.1997) (internal quotation marks omitted). Bostick did not present sufficient evidence of withdrawal. A Government witness testified in passing that Bostick had worked with one of Tommy Edelin’s rivals. But the witness did not suggest that working with Tommy Edelin’s rival required Bostick to withdraw from the Edelin conspiracy. Moreover, when the witness made that comment, Bostick made no attempt to develop a withdrawal defense. Rather, Bostick’s attorney chastised the witness for “blurting out” irrelevant information about his client. May 23, 2001 Trial Tr. at 6051 (Cary Clennon). Bostick also contends that his conspiracy convictions must be reversed because the District Court failed to instruct the jury on Bostick’s supposed withdrawal from the conspiracy in 1994. Because Bostick did not request such an instruction at trial, we review for plain error. United States v. Gatling, 96 F.3d 1511, 1524-25 (D.C.Cir.1996). Under that standard, Bostick must show “(1) that there was an error, (2) that the error was clear or obvious, (3) that it affected the appellant’s substantial rights, and (4) that it seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the judicial proceedings.” United States v. Gooch, 665 F.3d 1318, 1332 (D.C.Cir.2012). The District Court did not err, let alone plainly err, by faffing to instruct the jury on withdrawal. As we have discussed, Bostick did not produce evidence substantiating his claim of withdrawal at any point, let alone in or before 1994. V All of the defendants challenge the District Court’s jury instructions on the Count One drug conspiracy. The District Court inadvertently omitted a sentence that the parties had agreed to include in the instructions. That sentence, in the defendants’ view, would have underscored that the. Government must prove each individual defendant’s involvement in the conspiracy. At the time, no one objected to the omitted sentence. On appeal, the defendants maintain that without that sentence, the instructions permitted the jury to convict all of the defendants on Count One as long as the jury found that any two of the defendants had participated in the conspiracy. Because the defendants did not object to the District Court’s omission, our review is for plain error. United States v. Gavina, 116 F.3d 1498, 1509 (D.C.Cir.1997). Under that standard, we reverse only if the defendants show “(1) that there was an error, (2) that the error was clear or obvious, (3) that it affected the appellant’s substantial rights, and (4) that it seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the judicial proceedings.” United States v. Gooch, 665 F.3d 1318, 1332 (D.C.Cir.2012). We conclude that the instructions adequately conveyed that an individual defendant must join the conspiracy to be found guilty under 21 U.S.C. § 846. There was no error, much less plain error. The District Court instructed the jury that it “must consider separately the issue of each defendant’s participation.” Sept. 13, 2001 Trial Tr. at 21521. According to the instructions, the elements of the conspiracy require “that the government prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a particular defendant was aware of the common purpose, had knowledge that the conspiracy existed, and was a willing participant with the intent to advance the purposes of the conspiracy.” Id. at 21523. It further cautioned the jury that before determining “that a defendant has become a member of a conspiracy, the evidence in the case must prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly participated in the unlawful plan with the intent to advance or further some objective or purpose of the conspiracy.” Id. The court added that “a person who has no knowledge of or intent to join the conspiracy, but just happens to act in a way that is of benefit to the conspiracy, or to a conspirator, does not thereby himself become a conspirator.” Id at 21523-24. The District Court’s instructions' repeatedly emphasized that to convict a particular defendant of Count One, the jury must find that the individual defendant knowingly participated in the conspiracy with the specific intent to further its objectives. The omitted sentence would have underscored the point, but the omission of the sentence did not render the instructions erroneous. VI Defendants Bryan Bostick, Henry Johnson, and Shelton Marbury contend that a number of D.C.Code charges were improperly joined to the federal indictment. As a result of the allegedly improper joinder, those defendants argue that the District Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the D.C. offenses pursuant to D.C.Code § 11-502(3). Section 11-502(3) provides that “the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has jurisdiction” of any “offense under any law applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia which offense is joined in the same information or indictment with any Federal offense.” We have interpreted “joined” in that context to mean “properly joined” under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 8. United States v. Gooch, 665 F.3d 1318, 1334 (D.C.Cir.2012). We review a claim of improper joinder de novo. See id. at 1335. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 8(b) provides that an indictment “may charge 2 or more defendants if they are alleged to have participated in the same act or transaction, or in the same series of acts or transactions, constituting an offense or offenses.” The D.C. offenses, therefore, were properly joined as long as the federal and D.C. law offenses formed part of the same “series of acts or transactions.” A “series of acts or transactions” is “two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan.” United States v. Moore, 651 F.3d 30, 69 (D.C.Cir.2011) (internal quotation marks omitted). Joinder analysis “does not take into account the evidence presented at .trial,” but rather “focuses solely on the indictment and pre-trial submissions.” Gooch, 665 F.3d at 1334. The Government, therefore, “need merely allege, not prove, the facts necessary to sustain join-der.” Id. If the indictment satisfies the requirements of Rule 8(b), “trial evidence cannot render joinder impermissible and is thus irrelevant to our inquiry.” Moore, 651 F.3d at 69. In this case, the superseding indictment alleged that the D.C. offenses were committed in furtherance of the charged drug conspiracy or were predicate acts committed in furtherance of the charged RICO conspiracy, or both. We have held that when an indictment alleges that local offenses were committed in furtherance of a federal drug conspiracy or as predicate acts in a federal RICO conspiracy, the local and federal offenses were “part of a common scheme or plan” and thus were properly joined under Rule 8(b). Id. The defendants contend that the evi-dentiary record disproves any connection between the local offenses and the federal conspiracies. We reject that contention. But even if the defendants were correct, the evidence presented at trial is irrelevant to a determination of proper joinder. See id.; Gooch, 665 F.3d at 1334. Because the indictment alleged that the local and federal offenses were committed as part of a common scheme or plan, the District Court properly exercised jurisdiction pursuant to Section 11-502(3). VII The defendants raise two main issues concerning the testimony of FBI Agent Dan Sparks.’ A The Government called FBI Agent Sparks as its first witness at trial. Agent Sparks provided overview testimony ab.out the law enforcement investigation of the defendants. That testimony lasted only about an hour, in a trial that lasted five months and had dozens of witnesses testify, including numerous cooperators who testified about their involvement in the organization. The defendants contend that the District Court erred by admitting Agent Sparks’s overview testimony. Based on decisions of this Circuit that came down after the trial, the Government concedes that some aspects of Agent Sparks’s testimony exceeded the permissible uses of overview testimony. The Government argues, however, that the admission of Agent Sparks’s testimony was harmless error under Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. We agree. First, Agent Sparks testified as a lay witness about general investigative techniques. He discussed the use of controlled buys, search warrants, and cooperating witnesses as general techniques for infiltrating drug organizations. Agent Sparks also described the difficulty of conducting surveillance on criminals who conceal their illegal activities. Based on our recent precedents, admission of those statements as lay opinion testimony was error. See United States v. Moore, 651 F.3d 30, 61 (D.C.Cir.2011); see also Fed.R.Evid. 701. However, the District Court later qualified Agent Sparks as an expert in the investigation of drug trafficking based on his “training and experience on hundreds of investigations.” Aug. 13, 2001 Trial Tr. at 17649. Because Agent Sparks would have qualified as an expert for purposes of the challenged testimony, there was no prejudice from that particular error. See Moore, 651 F.3d at 61 (that Agent Sparks “might have qualified as an expert” ameliorated prejudice from improper opinion testimony); see also United States v. Smith, 640 F.3d 358, 366 (D.C.Cir.2011) (agent’s improper lay testimony was harmless error where agent would have qualified as an expert). Second, Agent Sparks testified that violence in the Stanton Dwellings neighborhood had prompted the investigation in this case. When asked about the cause of the violence, Agent Sparks testified: “They were predominantly selling narcotics, and the narcotics was fueling the violence.” May 9, 2001 Trial Tr. at 4179. The Government concedes that Agent Sparks’s statement linking the violence to drug trafficking was inadmissible. See Fed.R.Evid. 403, 602, 701, 802. Though inadmissible, the challenged testimony was harmless error in this case. There was overwhelming evidence that the defendants committed violence, including numerous murders, in furtherance of the drug distribution conspiracy. Third, Agent Sparks testified about the Government’s use of cooperating witnesses. Agent Sparks repeatedly asserted that law enforcement verifies the information cooperators provide and requires truthful testimony as a condition of their plea agreements. As the Government concedes, Agent Sparks’s testimony impermis-sibly suggested “that the government had selected only truthful co-conspirator witnesses for the pre-indictment investigation, from whom the jury would hear during the trial.” Moore, 651 F.3d at 59-60. Such vouching testimony “is impermissible because it manifests the obvious danger that a jury will treat a summary witness, particularly a government agent,” as “additional evidence or as corroborative of the truth of the underlying testimony.” United States v. Miller, 738 F.3d 361, 372 (D.C.Cir.2013) (quoting United States v. Lemire, 720 F.2d 1327, 1348 (D.C.Cir.1983)) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Moore, 651 F.3d at 59-60; Fed.R.Evid. 403, 608(a). Under our precedents, however, that testimony was harmless error. At the close of trial, the District Court instructed the jury: ‘You are the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses. In other words, you alone are to determine whether to believe any witness and the extent to which any witness should be believed.” Sept. 13, 2001 Trial Tr. at 21499. In Unit ed States v. Miller, we held that an identical jury instruction mitigated prejudice from improper vouching testimony. 738 F.3d at 372. In addition, the defendants here cross-examined Agent Sparks, and he acknowledged the limits on verifying cooperator testimony. Agent Sparks agreed, for example, that cooperating co-conspirators had “flat out lied” to law enforcement in the past. May 9, 2001 Trial Tr. at 4421-22. He also agreed that law enforcement cannot always verify cooperators’ information. Cf. Miller, 738 F.3d at 372 (impeachment of cooperating witnesses on cross-examination mitigated prejudice from vouching testimony). The well-rounded picture that Agent Sparks ultimately presented about cooperating witnesses mitigated any risk of prejudice from his initial testimony on that point. Fourth, Agent Sparks discussed some of the evidence that was later admitted at trial. Some of that testimony violated the hearsay rule. See Fed.R.Evid. 602, 701, 802. But the error was harmless because that testimony — to the extent it related to charged offenses — was confirmed through several months of testimony from dozens of witnesses, including numerous cooperating witnesses. As this Court has stated before, aspects of overview testimony can be problematic under the Federal Rules of Evidence. But in the big picture of this trial — which lasted many months and included massive amounts of testimonial evidence — the overview testimony was relatively minor. To the extent it exceeded the bounds of the Federal Rules of Evidence, Agent Sparks’s overview testimony was harmless error. It did not have a “substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict.” Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 776, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946); see also Smith, 640 F.3d at 366, 368. B During the trial, the District Court admitted several audiotapes and videotapes of conversations between Tommy Edelin and Kenneth Daniels, a confidential informant. The conversations concerned a drug transaction. Daniels sold Edelin heroin and cocaine in a government sting operation. But the Government did not call Daniels as a witness at trial. Instead, the Government introduced audiotapes and videotapes of the conversations between Edelin and Daniels, and Agent Sparks testified about those recorded conversations. Edelin challenges the admission of the audiotape and videotape evidence on Confrontation Clause grounds. He also argues that Agent Sparks’s testimony about the recorded conversations violated the Federal Rules of Evidence. First, Tommy Edelin contends that the admission of Daniels’s statements on the tapes violated the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment because Edelin was not able to cross-examine Daniels. The Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause generally bars the introduction of testimonial statements of a witness absent from trial unless the witness is unavailable and the defendant has had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness. See Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 59, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). The Supreme Court has stated, however, that the Confrontation Clause “does not bar the use of testimonial statements for purposes other than establishing the truth of the matter asserted.” Id. at 60 n. 9, 124 S.Ct. 1354. Daniels’s recorded statements were not introduced for their truth but rather to provide context for Edelin’s statements regarding the transaction. The Government could not have introduced Daniels’s statements for their truth because, as Agent Sparks confirmed, Daniels “was lying to Mr. Edelin during these conversations.” Aug. 13, 2001 Trial Tr. at 17729. As the Government points out, “Daniels was not, as he represented on the tapes, actually arranging to sell drugs to [Edelin] obtained from a New York drug supplier, but rather acting as a [confidential informant] offering drugs actually supplied by law enforcement agents in a government sting operation.” Gov’t Br. 115— 16. Because Daniels’s statements were not offered for their truth, the admission of the tapes did not violate the Confrontation Clause. ' Second, Tommy Edelin argues that Agent Sparks’s expert testimony about the recorded conversations contravened the Federal Rules of Evidence. Agent Sparks testified as an expert about Edelin and Daniels’s negotiations over the sale of drugs. Edelin’s basic claim is that Agent Sparks improperly translated the recorded conversations by interpreting ambiguous statements in an incriminating light. He argues that, as a result, Agent Sparks’s testimony went beyond the scope of proper expert testimony and greatly prejudiced Edelin. Assuming for the sake of argument that Agent Sparks’s testimony exceeded proper expert testimony, any error was harmless, especially given the overwhelming evidence against Tommy Edelin. The only close call with respect to harmless error concerns Tommy Edelin’s convictions on Counts 86-88 for using a communication device (i.e., a phone or pager) to facilitate the Count One conspiracy to distribute drugs. There is no question that Edelin used a phone or pager to communicate with Daniels about the drug deal. The only issue is whether he did so in furtherance of the drug conspiracy charged in Count One. Put simply, Agent Sparks’s testimony could not have meaningfully influenced the jury’s thinking on that question, because Agent Sparks mentioned the Count One drug conspiracy only in passing in response to a question on cross-examination. The record, moreover, contains plentiful evidence that Tommy Edelin was acting in furtherance of the drug conspiracy charged in Count One when he used a communication device to communicate with Daniels. On their face, the recorded conversations refer to the group that had been distributing drugs for Edelin. In one call, for example, Edelin told Daniels that he could sell drugs through “10 dudes” that “I trust and that I grew up with that I kicked keys to and still be kicking keys.” July 7, 1998 Call Tr. at 6, Joint Appendix at 1315. There was no evidence to support an inference that Edelin had developed some new or different drug distribution network through which he planned to sell the large quantity of drugs purchased from Daniels. Rather, Edelin’s reference to a group of “dudes” with whom he grew up selling drugs and with whom he continued to sell drugs was very likely (if not certainly) a reference to his longstanding organization, members of whom had provided months of testimony about the years they spent distributing drugs for Edelin. Nor does the record suggest that Tommy Edelin had ended the organization charged in the Count One conspiracy — and started a new one — before his conversations with Daniels. Witnesses' testified that as of 1996, Edelin was still directly supplying some mid-level dealers like Thomas Sims and indirectly supplying other mid-level dealers like Henry Johnson in the Stanton Dwellings and Congress Park neighborhoods of Southeast Washington, D.C. Edelin’s brother testified that he traveled to New York twice a month during 1997 to purchase large quantities of powder cocaine on Edelin’s behalf. He would deliver the drugs to Edelin’s recording studio, where Edelin would cook the powder into crack cocaine. When officers searched Tommy Edelin’s house the day of his arrest, they found an eighth of a kilogram of powder cocaine and an eighth of a kilogram of crack cocaine. In short, Tommy Edelin maintains that, absent Agent Sparks’s testimony, a jury, could have concluded that the conversations with Daniels related to some unknown drug organization distinct from the Count One conspiracy. But there is simply no evidence to support that theory and no reason to believe that the jury would have so concluded had Agent Sparks not testified. And we see no indication that Agent Sparks’s testimony had a “substantial and injurious effect” on the jury’s conclusion that' the Daniels conversations were in furtherance of the Count One conspiracy. See Kotteakos, 328 U.S. at 776, 66 S.Ct. 1239. Any error with regard to admission of Agent Sparks’s testimony about the Daniels tapes was harmless. VIII At trial, the Government presented expert testimony about the autopsies of 10 homicide victims. The experts included two medical examiners for the District of Columbia and a forensic, pathologist for North Carolina. Two of the experts testified about autopsies that they had observed but had not performed. The remaining expert testified about eight autopsies that he had neither performed nor observed. The experts discussed information in the victims’ autopsy reports and opined on the, manner of the victims’ deaths. The defendants contend that the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment barred the admission of the autopsy reports and accompanying expert testimony. The Sixth Amendment bars the introduction of testimonial statements of a witness absent from trial unless the witness is unavailable, and the defendant has had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness. See Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 59, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). The defendants argue that the autopsy reports were testimonial statements under the Confrontation Clause. They maintain that the introduction of those statements violated the Confrontation Clause because the defendants did not have an opportunity to cross-examine the medical examiners who actually performed the autopsies and authored the reports. Because the defendants did not preserve their constitutional objection at trial, our review is for plain error. Under that standard, the defendants must show “(1) that there was- an error, (2) that the error was clear or obvious, (3) that it affected the appellant’s substantial rights, and (4) that it seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the judicial proceedings.” United States v. Gooch, 665 F.3d 1318, 1332 (D.C.Cir.2012). Substantial rights were affected if “the error was prejudicial and actually affected the outcome below.” United States v. Gatling, 96 F.3d 1511, 1525 (D.C.Cir.1996). The “plainness” of an error is evaluated at the time of appellate review, not at the time of the district court’s decision. See Henderson v. United States, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 1121, 1129, 185 L.Ed.2d 85 (2013). Based on Supreme Court deci-' sions issued after the trial in this case, we will assume without deciding that the autopsy reports were “testimonial” for purposes of the Confrontation Clause. See Bullcoming v. New Mexico, — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 2705, 180 L.Ed.2d 610 (2011); Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. 305, 129 S.Ct. 2527, 174 L.Ed.2d 314 (2009). However, any error arising 'from their admission did not affect the defendants’ substantial rights in light of the overwhelming evidence against them. Put simply, the autopsy reports did not play an important role in the trial. The Government presented other evidence at trial, including testimony from cooperating witnesses, that nine of the ten homicides resulted from gunshot wounds inflicted by members of the charged conspiracy, and that Tommy Edelin hired hitmen to carry out the tenth murder. Moreover, there was no dispute at trial that gunshots killed each victim. As the Government aptly stated in its brief, the “issue that was in material dispute — who pulled the trigger(s) — was not addressed by any of the testifying medical examiners.” Gov’t Br. 158. There was no plain error in admitting the autopsy reports. IX Defendants- Bryan Bostick and Tommy Edelin attempted to introduce expert testimony at trial. Bostick sought to present testimony from a gang expert, and Tommy Edelin sought to present testimony from an expert in FBI investigative techniques. The District Court excluded that testimony. The defendants now appeal the District Court’s rulings. Federal Rule of Evidence 702 governs the admissibility of expert testimony. The rule provides that a “witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise” if four conditions are met: First, “the expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.” Second, “the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data.” Third, “the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods.” And fourth, “the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case.” We have stated that a “district court has broad discretion regarding the admission or exclusion of expert testimony, and reversal of a decision on these matters is appropriate only when discretion has been abused.” United States v. Clarke, 24 F.3d 257, 268 (D.C.Cir.1994) (internal quotation marks omitted). The District Court did not abuse its discretion here. A Bostick proffered testimony from Lisa Taylor-Austin, “an expert on gang culture and violence.” Aug. 28, 2001 Trial Tr. at 20173. Taylor-Austin would have opined “that the so-called gangs referenced in the government case do not fit the typical profile or operational structure of gangs as they are typically understood by the law enforcement community.” Id. Defendants Henry Johnson and Tommy Edelin joined Bostick’s request to admit the expert. They argued that the prosecution had attempted to portray Tommy Edelin’s criminal organization as a “crew” or “gang,” and that information on gang formation was therefore relevant. Id. at 20179-80. The Government objected on the ground that it was irrelevant whether Tommy Edelin’s organization constituted a gang. None of the charges involved gang membership, and the Government was not arguing that the defendants belonged to a gang. Rather, the question for the jury was whether the defendants had participated in drug and racketeering conspiracies. The District Court found the proffer “inadequate” and sustained the Government’s objection. Id. at 20180. The District Court did not abuse its discretion. The defendants failed to show how gang formation was relevant to the charged drug and racketeering conspiracies. The elements of those offenses do not include gang membership. See 21 U.S.C. § 846; 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d). The Government, moreover, made no attempt to prove that the defendants were gang members. The District Court therefore acted within its discretion by concluding that the proffered testimony would not “help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.” Fed.R.Evid. 702(a). B Tommy Edelin sought to present expert testimony from Dr. Tyrone Powers, a former FBI special agent. The proffer explained that Powers would “rebut” FBI Agent Dan Sparks’s testimony regarding cooperating witnesses. Aug. 20, 2001 Trial Tr. at 18846. In particular, the expert would address departures from “standard FBI procedure with the handling of a number of co-conspirators in terms of the inducements that they were provided, the fact that they were permitted to continue to engage in criminal activity,” and the level of surveillance over their activities. Id. The Government objected that it would be improper for an expert witness to opine “about how the FBI may have conducted or didn’t conduct its investigation in this case.” Id. at 18847. The District Court agreed with the Government and refused to admit the testimony. The District Court did not abuse its discretion in excluding Powers’s testimony. Federal Rule of Evidence 702 provides that expert testimony must be “based on sufficient facts or data” and “the product of reliable principles and methods.” Tommy Edelin’s proffer failed to clarify the basis for and reliability of Powers’s testimony regarding perceived errors in the Government’s investigation, in which Powers took no part. Nor did Edelin explain how such testimony would help the jury “to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.” Fed.R.Evid. 702(a). In short, Edelin failed to meet the basic requirements of Rule 702. The District Court did not abuse its discretion in excluding that testimony. X During and after the trial, the defendants alerted the District Court to the possibility of juror misconduct. In the first instance, the District Court instructed the jury regarding appropriate conduct for jurors. In the second instance, which the defendants brought to the court’s attention after the trial, the District Court held two hearings in order to investigate the allegations of improper influence on the jury. On appeal, the defendants challenge how the District Court handled both matters. A Following the introduction of autopsy pictures, defendant Bryan Bostick’s attorney alerted the District Court that she had noticed a juror looking “repulsed” and communicating non-verbally with the juror next to her. July 25, 2001 Trial Tr. at 15175 (Diane Savage). The District Court instructed the members of the jury not to discuss the case with one another or to express views about the evidence in any way with one another. The next day, Bos-tick’s attorney reported that she saw the jurors repeat their non-verbal exchange. A few days later, the District Court informed counsel that some jurors had told the marshals that they were “nervous” because the defendants, and in particular Bostick, had been staring at the jurors. The marshals told the jurors that “if the defendant doesn’t say anything or mouth anything, it doesn’t mean anything, that different people just look differently.” July 30, 2001 Trial Tr. at 15810-11. An alternate juror had also asked the marshals what to “do if one of the defendants looks like he’s fallen in love with you,” apparently in reference to Bostick. Id. at 15811. Using stronger language submitted by Bostick’s counsel, the District Court again instructed the members of the jury to refrain from verbal or non-verbal discussion of the ease with one another. Several days later, the District Court notified counsel that the jury had complained to a marshal about that instruction. The District Court apologized to the jury for “any confusion” and explained that non-verbal communication refers to the expression of “opinion about the facts or the evidence in the case.” Aug. 6, 2001 Trial Tr. at 16732. Bostick asked the court to individually question all of the jurors to confirm their impartiality. Each of the other defendants opposed that request, and the court denied it. Bostick then.moved to sever his trial from that pf his codefendants. The District Court denied that motion. On appeal, Bostick maintains that the District Court erred by denying his request for a mid-trial voir dire and denying his motion for severance. First, Bostick maintains that the District Court abused its discretion by refusing to conduct a voir dire of each juror to determine each juror’s impartiality. We afford the District Court “especially broad discretion to determine what manner of hearing, if any, is warranted about intra-jury misconduct.” United States v. Williams-Davis, 90 F.3d 490, 505 (D.C.Cir.1996) (internal quotation marks omitted).