Opinion ID: 1426895
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alleged discovery violation

Text: During trial the government introduced audio recordings of conversations between Banks and various confidential government informants. On the first day of trial, Banks objected to the admission of audio recordings featuring conversations between Banks and other individuals, contending that the government had not furnished the defense with a copy of the recordings. The prosecutor represented to the court that defense counsel had been provided with copies, whereupon the objection was overruled. The government introduced two additional recordings later that day over Banks's objection. The next day, the prosecutor told the court, Yesterday, basically every time an audio recording was played, Mr. Nichols objected on the basis that he had not received this material in discovery, adding, I have for the court copies of letters that I sent to Mr. Nichols providing the audiotapes as well as the transcripts in response to his motion for discovery. Defense counsel responded, Your Honor, I don't know what this piece of paper is, but I'll put my hand on the Bible and swear before anybody, I'll swear before the President of the United States that I did not receive any recorded conversations. [2] Counsel acknowledged, however, that he had previously received a transcript of the recordings. The prosecutor later remarked that defense counsel had also been given the opportunity to review materials in the government's possession a few days earlier, that counsel had declined to do so, and that none of the sixteen other defense attorneys who had prior involvement in the case indicated any difficulties in receiving the recordings. The district court overruled all of Banks's subsequent objections to the government's audio recordings. Banks contends that the government did not provide his counsel with a copy of these recordings, as required by Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and that the district court should have therefore excluded the recordings or taken some other curative action. Rule 16 requires the government to disclose to the defendant any written or recorded statements by the defendant. Fed. R.Crim.P. 16(a)(1)(B). Discovery matters are committed to the discretion of the trial court, and an error in administering the discovery rules will produce a reversal only on a showing that the error was prejudicial to the substantial rights of the defendant. United States v. Woosley, 761 F.2d 445, 448 (8th Cir.1985) (citing United States v. Roth, 736 F.2d 1222, 1228 (8th Cir.1984)). Factual determinations are reviewed for plain error. United States v. Turning Bear, 357 F.3d 730, 733 (8th Cir. 2004). Although Banks insists that the district court abused its discretion by failing to take any curative action in response to the government's purported discovery violation, he offers no support for this alleged discovery violation other than his assertion that counsel had never received the audio recordings. Banks, in other words, essentially asks us to revisit the representations made and the evidence offered to the district court and hold that a discovery violation occurred and that it called for curative action. Appellate courts, however, are not fact-finders, United States v. Searcy, 284 F.3d 938, 943 (8th Cir.2002), and the administration of discovery rules and court procedures are left to the discretion of the trial court. Accordingly, we will not disturb the district court's ruling absent some cogent reason to conclude that the district court had abused its discretion or that its factual determinations were clearly erroneous. No such reason has been offered. We observe, moreover, that Banks's counsel acknowledged that he had received the transcripts of the recordings. Banks was therefore on notice that corresponding recordings existed. Despite this fact, there is no indication that Banks did anything to obtain the recordings before trial other than to file what was essentially a boilerplate discovery motion and a similarly vague motion to continue based, inter alia, on missing discovery. Neither of these filings sufficed to alert the government or the court that these recordings had not been received. Finally, we note that Banks's counsel had the opportunity to review materials a few days before trial, but did not do so.