COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT
United States – Appellant
Versus
Tobias Diggs – Respondent
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 22-1502 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. TOBIAS DIGGS, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 1:18-cr-185-1 — Gary Feinerman, Judge. ____________________
ARGUED JANUARY 10, 2023 — DECIDED SEPTEMBER 5, 2023 ____________________
Before SCUDDER, KIRSCH, and JACKSON-AKIWUMI, Circuit
Judges.
KIRSCH, Circuit Judge. A jury convicted Tobias Diggs of
armed robbery and other associated crimes after he and three
others held up an Illinois jewelry store. Two evidentiary rul-
ings form the basis of Diggs’s appeal. First, Diggs argues that
the district court should not have permitted his wife to testify
against him. The district court concluded that she was a co-
conspirator, so the spousal testimonial privilege did not
2 No. 22-1502 apply. Second, Diggs argues that certain hearsay testimony
from the case agent should have resulted in a mistrial. But any
evidentiary error was harmless, and the district court did not
abuse its discretion in refusing to grant a mistrial, so we af-
firm.
I
A jury found that Tobias Diggs and three others robbed
the Razny Jewelers store in Hinsdale, Illinois, on March 17,
2017. At trial, the government’s evidence established that
when the store opened at 10 am, Diggs and two others exited
a blue Lexus SUV bearing Michigan license plates. They en-
tered the store with guns raised and equipped with hand-
ě, sporting masks, and gloves. They quickly subdued and
ěȱȱȂȱ¢ȱȱand dragged a sales as-
sociate to a back room where they ěȱ and pistol-
whipped her. One of the men encountered another sales asso-
ciate, put a gun to her head, locked her in the bathroom, and
told her he’d kill her if she tried to get out. A fourth man in
the crew, Joshua McClellan, sat in the Lexus and listened to
the robbery unfold on his cellphone before driving the men—
and their haul of more than $400,000 in watches and jewelry—
to temporary safety. Three days later, Diggs and McClellan
drove from Chicago to Atlanta to liquidate their haul. They
met with a jeweler—A.P. the Jeweler—who initially ex-
pressed interest but eventually demurred due to the asking
price. After returning to Chicago, McClellan found a willing
buyer.
Eventually, the law caught up with Diggs and McClellan.
(Marvon Hamberlin and the fourth man remain at large.) A
grand jury indicted the pair on charges of Hobbs Act robbery,
conspiring to do the same, brandishing a firearm during a
No. 22-1502 3 crime of violence, and transporting stolen goods. Diggs and
McClellan pleaded not guilty and were tried together. The
jury convicted both men on all counts. Diggs preserved his
two challenges, which we turn to now.
II
Before trial, Diggs informed the court that his wife, Devinn
Adams (who was his girlfriend at the time of the robbery),
would invoke the spousal testimonial privilege if called to tes-
tify. The district court denied the privilege on the grounds
that Adams fell within the joint-participant exception. See
United States v. Clark,
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