Opinion ID: 2759190
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Compulsory Process and Due Process

Text: Defendants further argue that the District Court abused its discretion in denying the Defendants’ motion for a new trial on grounds that they were denied their rights to due process and to compulsory process. See Yaron, 2012 WL 2477646, at  4. The District Court found that the Defendants had failed to prove any of the three elements of a Compulsory Process Clause claim – namely, bad faith on the part of the Government; a plausible showing that the testimony would have been material and favorable; and a showing that the trial was fundamentally unfair. See United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal, 458 U.S. 858, 868 (1982); Buie v. Sullivan, 923 F.2d 10, 12 (2d Cir. 1990). We agree. As the District Court correctly found, the Defendants did not establish that the Government acted in bad faith by delaying Porath’s return to this country, or that the Government purposefully misled the Defendants regarding his whereabouts. In any event, the record does not indicate that the Defendants ever sought to call Porath as a witness and the Defendants have not proffered any specific testimony that Porath would have given that would have been “favorable.” Thus, the District Court correctly concluded that the Defendants failed to carry their burden of proving materiality and favorability and we see no reason to find that Porath’s testimony would have affected the verdict, given the substantial evidence of guilt adduced by the Government.