Opinion ID: 976
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: John Floyd

Text: First, Mahdi claims the government deterred John Floyd, Mahdi's family's lawyer, from testifying in Mahdi's defense by attempting to put on evidence suggesting Floyd acted as a sort of consigliere to the Mahdis, coaching conspirators to commit perjury in a 1999 criminal prosecution of Mahdi's brother and counseling Mahdi himself to prepare to flee in October 2000. According to Mahdi, Floyd would have provided evidence of wrongdoing by police officers who testified against Mr. Mahdi, contradicted cooperating witnesses' testimony, and countered the claim that [a lawsuit Mahdi filed against the police] was a weapon to ward off prosecution. Appellant's Br. 26. Mahdi asserted that the government's actions prevented [Floyd] from testifying ... by raising the possibility that information provided by cooperators, which had not been disclosed to defense counsel, would be used to impeach him and might form the basis for criminal charges or disciplinary action by the Bar. Id. The record, however, reveals no attempt by Mahdi to put Floyd on the stand. In short, he identifies no error by the court. Further, Floyd himself told Mahdi's counsel he was not concerned about any Fifth Amendment claim, 6/30pm Tr. 93, belying Mahdi's suggestion that the government's conduct deterred Floyd from testifying.