Opinion ID: 788373
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Fifth Berry Factor: weight of new evidence

Text: 57 There remains the question posed by the district court but left unanswered in its Berry analysis: would the testimony of Ristau probably have resulted in an acquittal? There is considerable evidence of Wall's guilt outside of McDowell's testimony. Reflecting this fact, the district court concluded that the evidence was sufficient to support a finding of guilt and that it was likely the jury could have found Wall guilty based on the testimony of Clement and Lovelace. The implication is that the trial court did not feel Wall had met this fifth Berry factor, but the trial court felt it was not fair to so find in view of the government's comments during closing argument. 58 A brief review of the evidence convinces this court that there was ample evidence of Wall's guilt when measured against the conflicting testimony of Wall and Ristau. For example, Clement expressly testified that he communicated with Wall regarding Louisiana's specifications for polymer coated steel and that Wall reassured Clement that the product delivered to Louisiana highway projects was manufactured in accordance with the state's specifications. The parties stipulated at trial that the product that came from Caldwell, and which was used in Louisiana highway projects, in fact was not manufactured using the approved Blac-Klad product. Wall was regional sales manager. The jury easily could have inferred that this was in Wall's area of responsibility and that he would have had knowledge of what was taking place. 59 Although Wall challenges whether the Chicago meeting took place as testified by McDowell, McDowell's contention that he discussed with Wall a scheme to deviate from Louisiana's specifications was corroborated by a contemporaneous memo written by McDowell on November 8, 1993. This memo was addressed to Wall and spelled out that Caldwell would accept a deviation from Louisiana's specifications, not that Louisiana had waived the specifications. The memo further spelled out that the work was to be done by ACI, which was not approved under the LADOTD's qualified product listing, rather than by PreFinish Metals, which had been approved to do the laminating. The memo further noted that the stencils would not reference the new coil laminator. When questioned at trial, Wall did not deny having received the memo. Lovelace testified unequivocally that he and Wall arranged to manufacture culverts for Louisiana highway projects using an unapproved product. Other witnesses offered corroborating testimony. Specifically James Smith and Bryan Stephens, who were employees of Inland, and Don Gee, the vice-president of Caldwell, all gave testimony that strongly implicated Wall's guilt. Based on this overwhelming evidence of guilt, the court concludes that Wall failed to meet his burden on the final Berry factor. Wall failed to establish that Ristau's testimony probably would have resulted in an acquittal. 60 As demonstrated above, the district court's decision to grant a new trial based on the newly discovered evidence of Ristau and Hartwig does not withstand scrutiny under the appropriate Berry analysis. Wall clearly did not meet his burden as to four of the five Berry factors. Failure to meet his burden as to any factor doomed his request for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. See Freeman, 77 F.3d at 817. 61