Opinion ID: 2426901
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Government's Phone Call to Prosecution Witness Lee

Text: Brown also alleges prosecutorial misconduct relating to prosecution witness Akasia Lee, a co-owner of ANBNO who pled guilty to Count 1 of the indictment and became a cooperating witness for the Government. At the evidentiary hearings and in affidavits, the uncontroverted evidence was that Lee had a meeting with prosecutors on March 25, 2009, at 10:00 a.m., and that she had also scheduled a meeting with the defense for the same date and time. At around 10:15 a.m., Lee was sitting in the defense office, and the defense meeting had not yet started due to an attorney being late. Agent Delanueville called Lee at 10:15 to remind her of her appointment with the prosecution, and told her she should honor her meeting. Lee left the defense office and went to meet with the prosecution. Thereafter, Lee did not meet with the defense. Brown points to evidence that the prosecutor was angry that Lee was meeting with the defense, and the prosecutor told Lee it was not in Lee's best interest to meet with defense counsel without her attorney present. During the evidentiary hearing, Brown's attorney Avery Pardee testified that she talked with Lee's attorney David Belfield after the March 25 incident, and that he told her that he did not want Lee meeting with anyone and that the prosecutor wanted to be present for all meetings with Lee. In his affidavit, however, Belfield stated that the prosecutor did not demand to be present during defense interviews with Lee and that the prosecutor did not shut down Lee's March 25 meeting with the defense. As Pardee admitted on cross-examination during the evidentiary hearing, no witnesses told her that they were told not to cooperate with the defense, she had no evidence of threats or retribution, and it had been three months since she had tried to schedule a meeting with Lee. Accordingly, we hold that the district court did not clearly err when it denied Brown's motion to dismiss the indictment on this ground, and we affirm Brown's convictions.