Opinion ID: 714872
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The court's denial of Defendant's motion for continuance

Text: 45 Defendant also argues that Judge Brett's refusal to grant a continuance to allow Defendant to subpoena Officer Cole violated his due process rights. The court denied Defendant's request on the grounds that it had given Defendant opportunities earlier in the hearing to call Officer Cole and as far as this court is concerned we've spent enough time hearing witnesses on this very subject. 46 A sentencing court has broad discretion respecting the scheduling of sentencing procedures. U.S. v. Booth, 996 F.2d 1395, 1397 (2d Cir.1993). Absent a showing both that the denial was arbitrary and that it substantially impaired the defendant's opportunity to secure a fair sentence, [the reviewing court] will not vacate a sentence because a continuance was denied. Id. (citing U.S. v. Prescott, 920 F.2d 139, 146-47 (2d Cir.1990)). In Booth, the court held that the sentencing judge did not abuse his discretion by refusing to grant a continuance when the court had previously granted defendant two continuances, even though the proffered reasons for seeking a third continuance do not appear to have been frivolous.... Id. at 1398. 47 In the present case, Judge Brett had encouraged both Defendant and the government to call witnesses at various times during the sentencing hearing in order to clarify the dispute over the alleged drug quantities. Neither party, however, took advantage of Judge Brett's suggestion until immediately prior to the court's determination of Defendant's sentence. Defendant knew on the day prior to the closing of the proceedings that Judge Brett considered Mr. Baker's report that Officer Cole thought McGowan was credible. Mr. Baker informed the court that Officer Cole was willing to appear in court at that hearing or at any time summoned by the court in order to testify regarding that statement. The Court even reminded Defendant that it had offered Defendant the opportunity to call Officer Cole and that without Officer Cole's testimony, it would have to rely on Mr. Baker's report. Notwithstanding these facts, Defendant waited until the end of the proceedings on the following day before suggesting to the court that the final sentencing be delayed in order to subpoena Officer Cole. We therefore do not believe that Judge Brett abused his discretion in denying Defendant's request at such a late stage in the proceedings, particularly when Defendant could have raised the issue of subpoenaing the witness at an earlier point. 48 E. The government's failure to prove the factual grounds for enhancement by a preponderance of the evidence 49 Defendant argues that the government bears the burden of proving the quantity of drugs involved and the factual prerequisites for sentence enhancements by a preponderance of the evidence, and here the government presented no evidence proving the quantities and conduct to which McGowan and Stickman testified. See, for example, U.S. v. Richards, 27 F.3d 465, 468 (10th Cir.1994) (noting that the burden of proving additional quantities of drugs is on the government). However, the court is not foreclosed from establishing facts when, as here, the government refuses to present any evidence and the Presentence Report suggests evidence exists warranting a higher base amount of drugs and total offense level. Here, the court properly employed its discretion to decide a sentence by determining whether a preponderance of the evidence warranted a sentence greater than the government's recommendation. 50 F. The court's failure to consider the government's view 51 Finally, Defendant argues that Judge Brett erred in failing to give adequate consideration to the government's statements that Stickman and McGowan were unreliable. However, there is no evidence that the judge failed to consider the government's comments in reaching his conclusions. Instead, it appears that the judge merely disagreed with the government when he decided in his discretion that Stickman's and McGowan's testimony was reliable.