Opinion ID: 2995660
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Exclusion of Kobussen’s Opinion

Text: Testimony Finally, Britton contends that reversal is required because the district court erroneously found a Rule 16 violation and thus improperly excluded Kobussen from testifying as an expert. We review a decision to exclude expert testimony based upon a Rule 16 violation for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Yoon, 128 F.3d 515, 526 (7th Cir. 1997). Even if we find that the district court abused its discretion, we will affirm the jury’s verdict if the error is harmless. See United States v. Harvey, 117 F.3d 1044, 1048-49 (7th Cir. 1997). Under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, a defendant is required to disclose her expert testimony only if: (1) the defendant asks the government to disclose its experts; (2) the government complies with the defendant’s request; and (3) the government then asks the defendant to disclose her experts. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(b)(1)(C). On appeal, the government concedes that the second Rule 16 precondition for expert disclosure was not met, and that the district court erroneously excluded Kobussen’s testimony on notice grounds. However, the government contends that the exclusion of her testimony was harmless because that testimony would only have addressed counts on which Britton was acquitted. We faced a similar situation in United States v. Bolton, 977 F.2d 1196, 1199- 1200 (7th Cir. 1992). In Bolton, the defendant was convicted of three counts of extortion, and acquitted on one count of extortion. See id. at 1198. During the trial, the judge made a series of evidentiary rulings restricting the defendant’s use of photographic evidence. See id. at 1200. On appeal, the defendant argued that reversal was required because the government had violated Rule 16 in its handling of this evidence and that the judge’s rulings had compounded the problems. See id. We began by noting that the evidence at issue only addressed one count of the indictment. See id. As the defendant was acquitted on that one count, we held that any error by the trial court was therefore harmless. See id. Here, there is no dispute that Kobussen’s opinion testimony only addressed a collection agency’s general right to post-termination collections or legal fees. At trial, Britton presented evidence that several CCC clients owed CCC money for post-termination collections and legal fees, and Britton was acquitted of those counts. However, on the conviction counts, there was no evidence that the CCC clients associated with those counts owed CCC any post- termination collections or legal fees. Thus, because Kobussen’s testimony only addressed the counts on which she was acquitted, the exclusion of that testimony would not have affected the jury’s guilty verdicts on the other counts. See id. Therefore, as in Bolton, the exclusion of her testimony was harmless. See id.