Opinion ID: 658352
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Government's Preparation of its Case

Text: 81 Appellants contend that they were prejudiced by the government's failure to prepare its case adequately. Specifically, they argue that the district court relied on the government's erroneous prediction of the length of its case-in-chief in ruling on motions regarding severance, pretrial detention, shackling, and juror notetaking, and that they were prejudiced by the government's deviations from its initial witness list. 82 At the start of trial, the government estimated that its case-in-chief would be completed within six months. In fact, the government's case lasted nearly a year. While we do not condone the government's spectacularly inaccurate estimate and suspect that the prosecution could have been better prepared, we also recognize that the government could not predict the continuances attributable to absences of defense counsel and juror illnesses or foretell the length of cross-examination of its witnesses. We do not believe that the government's failure adequately to predict the length of its case warrants reversal. 83 Appellants' argument that they were prejudiced by the government's calling of witnesses not on its pretrial witness list is similarly meritless. Appellants do not specify any instance in which they were misled or harmed by the calling of a witness not on the pretrial list. The district court required the government to give the defense at least 24 hours notice of any witness' appearance and allowed the defense time to prepare for witnesses not on the original list when the defense so requested. On all but one of the few occasions when the defense objected to an additional government witness, the district court determined how much notice had been given, found that no prejudice existed, and overruled the objection. As to the one sustained objection, the court delayed the witness' appearance until the next day, although it concluded that no prejudice had been demonstrated. Appellants do not explain how these findings were in error. Admitting the additional witnesses' testimony was within the district court's sound discretion. See United States v. Franklin, 704 F.2d 1183, 1190-92 (10th Cir.) (where government witness was undisclosed in violation of pretrial discovery order, exclusion of testimony was not required where defense had sufficient time to prepare and did not request an additional continuance), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 845, 104 S.Ct. 146, 78 L.Ed.2d 137 (1983).