Opinion ID: 719805
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Suppression of Jose Herrera's Whereabouts

Text: 33 Cuevas's second ground for requesting a new trial was his claim that the government possessed information concerning the whereabouts of Jose Herrera (an alleged material defense witness) but failed to disclose it. Jose Herrera is an unindicted coconspirator of Cuevas who was detained briefly by law enforcement authorities on May 20, 1992 and fled before a valid warrant could be obtained. Before trial, defendants moved the district court to order the government to disclose whether Herrera was an informant. Although the government opposed disclosure, the district court ordered it. The government disclosed that Herrera was not an informant in the case and that it had no information concerning the whereabouts of Herrera. 34 In his motion for a new trial, Cuevas claimed that the government lied when it said that Herrera was not an informant and that it did not know of Herrera's whereabouts. In support of this accusation, Cuevas presented his lawyer's and Herrera's cousin's declarations which claimed that Herrera had allegedly been in federal custody in Texas in 1987 under the name Arcesio Gonzalez. The district court denied the motion. 35 The government declares that it disclosed all information in its possession concerning Herrera. That Herrera might have once been in federal prison under a different name does not establish that he was an informant in this case or that the government lied about knowing his present whereabouts. Accordingly, the district court did not err in denying Cuevas's motion for a new trial.