Opinion ID: 403894
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: evidence of telephone records

Text: 90 Finally, appellant Elam argues that the trial judge committed prejudicial error in permitting the government to introduce certain records of long distance telephone calls placed between Elam's residence at 7731 Village Trail in Dallas and Torreon, Mexico, and the testimony of a witness linking him to that telephone. 91 The telephone in question was listed under the name of John Robinson and a special agent for the drug enforcement agency in Austin, Texas, testified that Elam had used the name Kevin Robinson on November 1, 1979. Elam also objected to the admission into evidence of the agent's testimony. 92 Elam alleges prejudice because, although the government's pretrial exhibit list specified numerous telephone records, appellant's counsel was not notified of the specific toll records which were ultimately offered into evidence and the drug enforcement agent was not listed on the pretrial witness list furnished by the government. It is stipulated that local rules of court require that both parties exchange witness lists and exhibit lists and copies of documents. 93 The narrow issue presented for review is whether the government substantially complied with the discovery requirements of the local rules and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. 94 We hold that the toll records showing long distance calls between appellant's residence and Torreon, Mexico, were properly admitted. In the first place, although the government did not specifically list the particular toll calls in question, the entire set of all available phone records was made available and the prosecution indicated that it had only belatedly discovered the significance of the records. This demonstrates that the government was not withholding information in bad faith. 95 Rule 16, Fed.R.Crim.P., does not require that the prosecution disclose all the minutiae of its evidence, it does not require revelation of trial strategy; nor does the Rule require delineation of the government's case with total specificity. United States v. Anderson, 481 F.2d 685 (4th Cir. 1973); United States v. Sherriff, 546 F.2d 604 (5th Cir. 1977). The admission of evidence which has not been properly identified in any pretrial order or other procedure is largely a matter for the sound discretion of the trial judge. Calamia v. Spivey, 632 F.2d 1235 (5th Cir. 1980); Clary v. Ocean Drilling & Exploration Co., 609 F.2d 1120 (5th Cir. 1980); Davis v. Duplantis, 448 F.2d 918 (5th Cir. 1971). Under the circumstances of this case, where the government's exhibit list included the general reference to all of the disputed telephone records and those records were made available to the defense, the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in admitting these records into evidence. 96 Similarly, there was no abuse of discretion in permitting the DEA agent to testify, even though his name was not included on the government pretrial witness list. The testimony of the witness was relevant and there was no alternate way to introduce evidence of the facts about which he testified. Every conceivable witness cannot always be anticipated before a criminal trial, particularly one of such length and complexity as this. The evidence offered was at most equivocal and the government offered to stipulate that the identity of the callers was unknown. Although Elam declined this offer of stipulation, he was able to demonstrate that numerous people had access to that telephone and that Elam himself did not necessarily place or receive the telephone calls in question. Under the circumstances, we find that the trial judge properly exercised his discretion in permitting the evidence of both the telephone calls and the testimony of the DEA agent to go to the jury. United States v. Anderson, 481 F.2d 685 (4th Cir. 1973); United States v. Sherriff, 546 F.2d 604 (5th Cir. 1977). 97 For the reasons detailed above, the conviction of each appellant is hereby 98 AFFIRMED.