Opinion ID: 158560
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: exclusion of dr. thompson’s testimony

Text: Mr. Diaz argues that the district court erred in failing to allow him to present expert testimony on his entrapment defense. Judge Duplantier granted the government's motion to exclude the telephonic testimony of Dr. Thomas Thompson, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist who was unable to attend the scheduled trial, because: (1) Mr. Diaz did not provide timely notice, (2) telephonic testimony was not appropriate, and (3) the proffered testimony was irrelevant. See Rec. vol. VI, at 7-8. Judge Duplantier also denied Mr. Diaz’s motion for a continuance in order to produce Dr. Thompson in person at trial. We consider these rulings in turn. First, we review Judge Duplantier's exclusion of expert testimony for an abuse of discretion. Compton v. Subaru of America, Inc. , 82 F.3d 1513, 1517-18 (10th Cir. 1996). Fed. R. Crim. Pro. 12.2(b) requires: - 13 - If a defendant intends to introduce expert testimony relating to a mental disease or defect or any other mental condition of the defendant bearing upon the issue of guilt, the defendant shall, within the time provided for the filing of pretrial motions or at such later time as the court may direct, notify the attorney for the government in writing of such intention and file a copy of such notice with the clerk. The rule further provides: “[i]f there is a failure to give notice when required by subdivision (b) of this rule . . . , the court may exclude the testimony of any expert witness offered by the defendant on the issue of the defendant's guilt.” Fed. R. Crim. Pro. 12.2(d). Here, Mr. Diaz did not provide timely notice: his counsel gave written notice of her intent to introduce expert testimony on October 27, 1997, approximately five months after the time for filing motions had expired. Although counsel for Mr. Diaz argues she was not aware of the need to have Mr. Diaz evaluated by an expert until August of 1997, she points to no evidence in the record to support her assertion. Thus, Judge Duplantier did not abuse his “broad discretion” in excluding the testimony because it was untimely. United States v. McLernon , 746 F.2d 1098, 1115 (6th Cir. 1984) (“district judge has wide discretion to excuse appellants' failure to grant timely notice of their expert's testimony, but also has broad discretion to exclude such testimony”). Because we decide it was not an abuse of discretion to exclude the testimony based on untimely notice alone, we need not address the second and third stated grounds for excluding Dr. Thompson's testimony. - 14 - Alternatively, Mr. Diaz argues that even if his notice was untimely, under the circumstances of this case the court should have granted what would have been the fourth continuance so that he could properly prepare and actually produce his expert witness. The court denied his renewed motion for a continuance on the grounds that the motion was made too late in the course of the trial without justification. We review the denial of a motion for continuance of trial for abuse of discretion and “will find error only if the district court's decision was arbitrary or unreasonable and materially prejudiced the defendant. United States v. Simpson , 152 F.3d 1241, 1251 (10th Cir. 1998). In determining whether a denial of a motion for continuance is arbitrary or unreasonable, we consider various factors, including: (1) the diligence of the party requesting the continuance; (2) the likelihood that the continuance, if granted, would accomplish the purpose underlying the party’s expressed need for the continuance; (3) the inconvenience to the opposing party, its witnesses, and the court resulting from the continuance; (4) the need asserted for the continuance and the harm that appellant might suffer as a result of the district court’s denial of the continuance. United States v. Wynne , 993 F.2d 760, 767 (10th Cir. 1993) (quoting United States v. West , 828 F.2d 1468, 1469 (10th Cir. 1987)). An evaluation of these factors supports our conclusion that the district court did not abuse its discretion. First, Mr. Diaz's counsel was neither diligent in seeking the examination of Mr. Diaz nor in providing notice of her intent to call - 15 - Dr. Thompson. Counsel was appointed for Mr. Diaz on March 7, 1997, but she did not seek a continuance related to mental condition as an element of his defense until October 27, 1997. Although counsel states she was not aware of the need for having Mr. Diaz evaluated until August of 1997 and suggests that the reasons for not requesting the evaluation until then were contained in a motion that had been granted by Judge Parker, that motion is not included in the record, and she does not provide other cites to the record to substantiate her claim. Thus, we are unable to evaluate her statement upon this record. Further, while Mr. Diaz's counsel had requested a prior continuance in August to have Mr. Diaz evaluated, that unopposed request was based on her “serious concerns regarding Mr. Diaz's competency to proceed to trial,” Rec. vol. I, doc. 32, at 2 (emphasis added), not in order to introduce a defense to his guilt. The second Wynne factor (the likelihood that the continuance, if granted, would accomplish the purpose underlying the party’s expressed need for the continuance) also presents problems for Mr. Diaz. Although the continuance was sought to allow Dr. Thompson to testify as to Mr. Diaz's susceptibility to entrapment, Dr. Thompson's proffered testimony did not speak clearly to Mr. Diaz's susceptibility: The overall pattern in the testing is one which is consistent with an individual who shows a moderate degree of cognitive compromise. The pattern is not one that suggests that this has been acquired. Rather, I would suggest that he has always had these difficulties. These difficulties are of the type which tend to produce a rather inadequate or faulty reasoning and - 16 - which more than likely have been the source of much of his inability to perform adequately, i.e., his judgment appears to be poor, he does not learn well utilizing feedback from the environment and he has problems in both organizing and planning. His verbal skills are higher and I would suspect this creates difficulty for him in the sense that his ambitions and perceptions of himself are probably much greater than he is actually able to accomplish in a genuine, day-to-day problem-solving type of situation and, based upon his history, this would certainly seem to be the case. He is an individual who is quite immature and relatively simplistic in many ways. His difficulty in gestaltic integration and nonverbal functions would make him an extremely poor judge of people and someone who would be quite a poor judge of interpersonal situations and not likely to take into account the type of details that one would need to take into account to be successful in the majority of life's more complex endeavors. Rec. vol. I, doc. 82, Ex. 3, at 5-6. This evidence, though arguably relevant, is not strong or conclusive of culpability-negating mental capacity. Thus, a continuance would not necessarily have materially aided Mr. Diaz. The third Wynne factor (inconvenience) also weighs against Mr. Diaz. The court had already granted one pre-trial continuance and two continuances during trial, and a jury had been selected. As to the fourth factor (the need for the continuance and the harm resulting from its denial), we note that before Mr. Diaz moved for the fourth continuance, the judge had already properly ruled the testimony excludable based on the lack of timely notice. Accordingly, Mr. Diaz would not have been able to introduce the testimony in any case, so that there was no prejudice. Thus, this factor also cuts against Mr. Diaz. - 17 - Therefore, we hold that Mr. Diaz has not shown an abuse of discretion in the district court’s failure to admit evidence as untimely under Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(d); further, Mr. Diaz has not shown an abuse of discretion in the district court's refusal to grant a fourth continuance.