Opinion ID: 199023
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: ober's due process claims

Text: 51 Ober raises two additional arguments, neither of which merits extended discussion. He contends first that he was denied due process as a result of the government's alleged delay in seeking an indictment on the bank fraud charges for approximately three years after its investigation was completed. To succeed on such a claim, a defendant must demonstrate that the preindictment delay caused him actual, substantial prejudice [and] that the prosecution orchestrated the delay to gain a tactical advantage over him. United States v. Stokes, 124 F.3d 39, 47 (1st Cir. 1997) (citing United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 324 (1971)). Ober can show neither; instead, he offers only mere speculation and bare allegations, which are clearly insufficient to make out a due process violation. United States v. McCoy, 977 F.2d 706, 711 (1st Cir. 1992). 52 Ober also argues that the district court violated his due process rights by preventing him from recross-examining an expert witness, appraiser Calvin Hastings, called by Kenrick to testify to the value of 222 Stackpole Street. The court barred Kenrick from conducting a redirect examination of Hastings as a sanction for Kenrick's failure--which was not discovered until the government's cross-examination--to disclose Hastings's report to the government. The court permitted Ober's attorney, who had already cross-examined Hastings, to begin recross, with instructions that it be limited to the scope of the government's cross-examination. When Ober's attorney began by asking Hastings whether he had expected he would be cross-examined on the report, the court interrupted him, stopped the examination, and excused the witness. Ober neither objected nor made an offer of proof. 53 The district court has extensive discretion in controlling recross-examination. United States v. Sorrentino, 726 F.2d 876, 885 (1st Cir. 1984). Here the court stopped the recross because it concluded that Ober's attorney did not intend to re-examine Hastings on matters within the scope of the government's cross, but instead to conduct, in effect, the redirect that Kenrick's counsel could not. This is exactly the sort of judgment call that we should not second-guess. Considering that Ober had already had an opportunity to cross-examine Hastings, the court's limitation of his recross-examination was not an abuse of its extensive discretion, let alone a due process violation. 54 Affirmed.