Opinion ID: 2140207
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: conduct of trial

Text: [4] Malchow argues that the district court imposed an unnecessary, unreasonably ambitious and daunting time table [sic] for the trial, which denied her a fair trial, and that the parties, the jury, and counsel became prisoners to the trial court's unreasonable trial schedule. See brief for appellant at 22-23. Malchow contends that the trial schedule prejudiced the jury against her. It is helpful in this case to review the pretrial history. Malchow's original complaint was filed on August 19, 2003. After many disputes regarding discovery, the district court scheduled a pretrial conference for August 15, 2005, and the trial was originally scheduled for September 26 to October 3. Malchow's pretrial memorandum listed 40 witnesses and 123 exhibits. Doyle's pretrial memorandum listed 10 witnesses and 128 exhibits. On September 6, the court, on its own motion, set a cutoff date of September 9 for further pretrial motions. On September 9, 2005, Doyle moved to continue the trial, claiming that Malchow was scheduled for additional surgery on September 13 and that the surgery could affect her appearance and her speech at trial, which would unfairly prejudice Doyle. The district court denied Doyle's motion to continue the trial, as well as his pending request for a separate trial on the statute of limitations issue. On September 20, 2005, Doyle filed another motion to continue the trial based on issues related to his health. Doyle had previously suffered a heart attack and had recently been experiencing chest and back pain. A heart catheter procedure revealed a blockage in his heart, and his cardiologist recommended that Doyle have stents inserted to correct the blockage. The procedure was scheduled for September 21, and Doyle claimed that his cardiologist ordered him not be placed under the stress of trial for at least 2 weeks following that date. The district court initially denied Doyle's motions for continuance, but after receiving testimony from Doyle's cardiologist, the court granted the motion because of serious health risks to Doyle. The court then set the trial to begin on Monday, October 24, 2005. The court allotted 1 week for trial, with jury selection scheduled for October 18. When jury selection began, the district court informed the prospective jurors that the trial would begin on Monday, October 24, 2005, at 8 a.m. The court stated: We're starting somewhat early in an effort to get the case done in a week. This case is going to take some time, and hopefully, it will be done within next week. After the jury had been selected, the court and counsel discussed the trial schedule. The court stated that it was going to push this case along, beginning at 8 a.m. and running until 6 p.m. if necessary. Malchow had previously told the court that her case in chief would be concluded on Wednesday, October 26, but Malchow's counsel asked whether she would be able to call one of her expert witnesses the following week. The expert would not be present until Monday, October 31. The court stated that although it was willing to consider going into the next week, it was reluctant to do so. Trial began at 8:05 a.m. on Monday, October 24, 2005, and continued until 8:58 p.m. On Tuesday, proceedings began at 8:19 a.m. and continued until 6:16 p.m. The trial resumed at 8:08 a.m. on Wednesday and continued until 10:05 p.m. On Thursday, trial began at 8:33 a.m. and adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Friday's session began at 8:01 a.m. and lasted until 9:48 p.m. Thus, the district court allotted approximately 62 hours for the trial, including recesses, over a 5-day period. In its posttrial order, the district court noted that the time allotted for trial had been discussed extensively at a hearing on the day of jury selection, October 18, 2005. [I]t is obvious from those proceedings that previous discussions had occurred. It is clear from that transcription, that [Malchow] had represented that her case in chief would be concluded on Wednesday. [Malchow's] counsel inquired about the possibility of going into the following week, and the Court did not foreclose that possibility, but made it clear that it was very reluctant to go into the following week, and the parties should expect to conclude within the week. The Court indicated that trial days would start earlier and go later than usual, if necessary, and that [Malchow] should plan on having rebuttal witnesses available Friday afternoon.... [Malchow] took far longer in presenting her case in chief than what had been represented to the Court. Although there were numerous bench conferences, the court reporter's affidavit shows that they were quite short. Throughout the trial, the Court inquired how long proceedings would take, and the time estimates given by [Malchow's] counsel in response varied substantially, without any apparent reason, from time actually consumed. The direct examination by [Malchow] of Dr. Doyle was very slow-paced and repetitive. The Court made every reasonable effort to give [Malchow] the same amount of time which had been allocated prior to the continuance, and [Malchow] in fact was able to use far more time than was estimated. [5] Malchow does not offer any precedent to support her claim that the district court imposed a daunting trial schedule on the parties. She cites only this court's definition of a judicial abuse of discretion. We have held that a trial judge has broad discretion over the general conduct of a trial. See Eicher v. Mid America Fin. Invest. Corp., 270 Neb. 370, 702 N.W.2d 792 (2005). We therefore review Malchow's claims for an abuse of discretion. The record does not establish that the district court abused its discretion by depriving Malchow of a fair trial through the scheduling of the proceedings, unless it can be shown that the jury was prejudiced because the trial days were longer than usual. We note that on the fourth day of trial, the district court expressed its frustration at the time the trial was taking and stated it was concerned that the time estimates given by Malchow had been incorrect. Doyle moved for a mistrial, noting that there was insufficient time left for two expert witnesses he had expected to call that day. Doyle's counsel stated that Malchow had taken inordinate amounts of time with everything ... to slow this case down, delay Doyle's experts, and extend the trial into the following week to allow one of Malchow's experts to testify. Malchow's counsel responded: That isn't true any longer, Your Honor.... The motivation is incorrect. At one time it was, but it's not the motivation for us trying this case at the pace we are, and we don't have any intention of delaying anything for any purpose at all except to make sure the evidence gets in that we want to present.... (Emphasis supplied.) The above statement implied that Malchow's counsel had previously attempted to extend the time of trial in order to call an expert witness who was not available until the following week. The district court allowed more time for Malchow's case in chief than had originally been discussed among the parties. Under the circumstances presented in this case, Malchow was responsible for the extra time that was required of the jury. We conclude that the court did not abuse its discretion in extending the length of the trial days. This assignment of error has no merit.