Task: songer_r_natpr

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Intervenors who participated as parties at the courts of appeals should be counted as either appellants or respondents when it can be determined whose position they supported. For example, if there were two plaintiffs who lost in district court, appealed, and were joined by four intervenors who also asked the court of appeals to reverse the district court, the number of appellants should be coded as six.
In some cases there is some confusion over who should be listed as the appellant and who as the respondent. This confusion is primarily the result of the presence of multiple docket numbers consolidated into a single appeal that is disposed of by a single opinion. Most frequently, this occurs when there are cross appeals and/or when one litigant sued (or was sued by) multiple litigants that were originally filed in district court as separate actions. The coding rule followed in such cases should be to go strictly by the designation provided in the title of the case. The first person listed in the title as the appellant should be coded as the appellant even if they subsequently appeared in a second docket number as the respondent and regardless of who was characterized as the appellant in the opinion.
To clarify the coding conventions, consider the following hypothetical case in which the US Justice Department sues a labor union to strike down a racially discriminatory seniority system and the corporation (siding with the position of its union) simultaneously sues the government to get an injunction to block enforcement of the relevant civil rights law. From a district court decision that consolidated the two suits and declared the seniority system illegal but refused to impose financial penalties on the union, the corporation appeals and the government and union file cross appeals from the decision in the suit brought by the government. Assume the case was listed in the Federal Reporter as follows:
United States of America,
Plaintiff, Appellant
v
International Brotherhood of Widget Workers,AFL-CIO
Defendant, Appellee.
International Brotherhood of Widget Workers,AFL-CIO
Defendants, Cross-appellants
v
United States of America.
Widgets, Inc. & Susan Kuersten Sheehan, President & Chairman
of the Board
Plaintiff, Appellants,
v
United States of America,
Defendant, Appellee.
This case should be coded as follows:Appellant = United States, Respondents = International Brotherhood of Widget Workers Widgets, Inc., Total number of appellants = 1, Number of appellants that fall into the category "the federal government, its agencies, and officials" = 1, Total number of respondents = 3, Number of respondents that fall into the category "private business and its executives" = 2, Number of respondents that fall into the category "groups and associations" = 1.
Note that if an individual is listed by name, but their appearance in the case is as a government official, then they should be counted as a government rather than as a private person. For example, in the case "Billy Jones & Alfredo Ruiz v Joe Smith" where Smith is a state prisoner who brought a civil rights suit against two of the wardens in the prison (Jones & Ruiz), the following values should be coded: number of appellants that fall into the category "natural persons" =0 and number that fall into the category "state governments, their agencies, and officials" =2. A similar logic should be applied to businesses and associations. Officers of a company or association whose role in the case is as a representative of their company or association should be coded as being a business or association rather than as a natural person. However, employees of a business or a government who are suing their employer should be coded as natural persons. Likewise, employees who are charged with criminal conduct for action that was contrary to the company policies should be considered natural persons.
If the title of a case listed a corporation by name and then listed the names of two individuals that the opinion indicated were top officers of the same corporation as the appellants, then the number of appellants should be coded as three and all three were coded as a business (with the identical detailed code). Similar logic should be applied when government officials or officers of an association were listed by name.
Your specific task is to determine the total number of respondents in the case that fall into the category "natural persons". If the total number cannot be determined (e.g., if the respondent is listed as "Smith, et. al." and the opinion does not specify who is included in the "et.al."), then answer 99.

GARZA, Circuit Judge:
Defendant was convicted of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine by a jury. He appeals his conviction claiming the trial court erred in striking the testimony of Yvonne Sheffield. Because the trial court should not have stricken the testimony, the judgment is REVERSED and the case is REMANDED for a new trial.
Facts and Prior Proceedings
Michael Charles Norwood appeals from a final judgment in a criminal case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Norwood was convicted following a jury trial of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (“crack”) in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1).
The facts of this case are largely undisputed. Two undercover officers purchased crack cocaine from several individuals at a housing project. The officers then radioed descriptions of the dealers to an identification team. One of the dealers was described as a black male, approximately five foot eight and 160 pounds, wearing a white baseball cap, a white muscle shirt and blue shorts. Within minutes of the cocaine purchase, the identification team entered the housing project and accosted Norwood who was wearing a white baseball cap, a white muscle shirt and blue shorts. After an unfruitful frisk, the identification team took Norwood’s picture. Later, the undercover officers identified Norwood’s photo from a photo array as the dealer who sold them the crack cocaine. Norwood was subsequently arrested for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
During his trial, Norwood called Yvonne Sheffield as his only witness and her testimony tended to exonerate Norwood. Specifically, Sheffield stated she and Norwood were on the playground by the apartments watching her son play. She was present when the police took Norwood’s picture and approximately twenty to thirty minutes prior to that time. At no time did she see Norwood buy or sell crack on the evening in question. After cross-examining Sheffield concerning her direct testimony, the government requested a recess to research Sheffield’s background for the purpose of attacking her credibility. The court granted a recess until the following day.
The government’s research revealed Sheffield had been convicted twice for felony robbery and once for lying to a police officer. The government had the right to attack Sheffield’s credibility by cross-examining her concerning these convictions. Fed.R.Evid. 609(a). Sheffield’s parole officer was brought to court so he could testify as to her criminal background if necessary. When the trial resumed, Sheffield was not present. She had not been under a subpoena nor ordered by the court to return. Since the government had not fully completed its cross-examination of Sheffield, the court instructed the jury to disregard Sheffield’s direct testimony over the defendant’s objection. Norwood was convicted by the jury and now brings his case to us for review.
Did the trial judge err in striking the testimony?
“Striking the testimony of a witness is a drastic remedy. It is not to be lightly done.” Lawson v. Murray, 837 F.2d 653, 656 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 831, 109 S.Ct. 87, 102 L.Ed.2d 63 (1988). In this case the government sought to explore the witness’s credibility by cross-examining her only with respect to collateral matters. The inability to inquire into such matters on cross-examination does not warrant striking a witness’s testimony unless the purpose of the process is frustrated. See Lawson, 837 F.2d at 656; U.S. v. Castello, 830 F.2d 99, 101 (7th Cir.1987); United States v. Gullett, 713 F.2d 1203, 1209 (6th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1069, 104 S.Ct. 973, 79 L.Ed.2d 211 (1984); United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971, 1028 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981), cert. denied, sub nom. Meinster v. United States, 457 U.S. 1136, 102 S.Ct. 2965, 73 L.Ed.2d 1354 (1981).
In this case, the government merely wanted to question Sheffield about her prior convictions in order to impeach her credibility. The credibility could just as easily have been impeached by calling the parole officer to the stand and having him testify about Sheffield’s prior convictions. The quest for truth would not have been undermined if the testimony had been left alone. See United States v. Kikumura, 698 F.Supp. 546, 554 (D.N.J.1988) (explaining that a key inquiry in determining whether striking of testimony is the appropriate sanction is whether “the court’s quest for truth” would be undermined if the testimony were allowed to stand). Consequently, it was error for the trial judge to strike the testimony. The objective could have been obtained at a lesser cost to the defendant. As the Lawson court stated, striking the testimony of a witness is a drastic remedy. Further, the fact it was the testimony of a defense witness means this tactic should be used only if prejudice to the government will result if the testimony is allowed to stand. This is not to imply, however, there are no circumstances which would warrant defense testimony to be stricken.
Conclusion
Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is REVERSED and the case is REMANDED for a new trial.
. The prosecutor asked the court for "a little bit of time to research on the background [of Yvonne Sheffield].”
. The government did not call the parole officer to testify, however, because the judge instructed the jury to disregard the testimony of Yvonne Sheffield.
. Before he began his closing argument, defense counsel noted for the record Sheffield had returned. At this time, the trial judge could have reopened the evidence and the government could have elicited the testimony from Sheffield. See United States v. Thetford, 676 F.2d 170, 182 (5th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1148, 103 S.Ct. 790, 74 L.Ed.2d 996 (1983) ("A motion to reopen is clearly within the discretion of the trial court. In exercising its discretion, the court must consider the timeliness of the motion, the character of the testimony, and the effect of the granting of the motion.”). The government made no motion to reopen, however.
.Lawson is an example of one case where the trial judge was correct in striking defense testimony where the defendant selectively invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. In that case, the purpose of cross-examination was frustrated.

Question: What is the total number of respondents in the case that fall into the category "natural persons"? Answer with a number.
Answer:

Answer: 0