Opinion ID: 678853
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant Unaware of Falsity

Text: 27 Fruth also maintains that he did not know about the informant's evidence before trial, and therefore argues that the third prong of the test weighs in his favor. In support, he points to the district court's conclusion that, pursuant to the Nero test, the evidence was new in fact and could not have been discovered sooner in the exercise of due diligence. This is certainly correct; neither Fruth nor the government had, or reasonably could have, obtained the informant's testimony any earlier. Knowledge of the evidence (i.e., the informant's testimony), however, is not the focus under the third prong of the Reed test. Instead, to warrant a new trial under Reed, the movant must demonstrate that he was taken by surprise when the false testimony was given or did not know of its falsity until after the trial. Reed, 2 F.3d at 1451 (internal quotations and citations omitted). That is, the focus in the Reed test is not on the newly discovered evidence, but on the false testimony itself. Given this focus, it is clear that Fruth's claim must fail. At the final pretrial conference, Fruth's counsel stated that he had a witness willing to testify that Cramer had distributed large quantities, or bricks, of cocaine within the previous year. Accordingly, by Fruth's attorney's own admission, Fruth was aware of the falsity of Cramer's testimony at the time it was made, and simply failed to pursue it at trial. Whatever Fruth's motivations in not contesting Cramer's testimony at the time it was offered, he cannot now claim it as a basis for a new trial. 9