Opinion ID: 780494
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Denial of a Continuance and Leave To Reopen

Text: 49 Under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, as amended by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), habeas relief may be granted, to the extent pertinent here, only if the state court's adjudication on the merits of a claim has resulted in a decision that is contrary to, or involve[s] an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1) (2000). A decision is contrary to clearly established federal law if the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by th[e Supreme] Court on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than th[e Supreme] Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 413, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000); see also Overton v. Newton, 295 F.3d 270, 275 (2d Cir.2002). A state court's decision involves an unreasonable application of Supreme Court precedent if it identifies the correct governing legal principle from th[e Supreme] Court's decisions but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner's case. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. at 413, 120 S.Ct. 1495; see also Kennaugh v. Miller, 289 F.3d 36, 42 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 123 S.Ct. 251, 154 L.Ed.2d 187 (2002). 50 It is, of course, well established as a fundamental matter of due process that the defendant in a criminal case has the right to present a defense, that is, to present to the jury admissible evidence that might influence the determination of guilt. See, e.g., Taylor v. Illinois, 484 U.S. 400, 409, 108 S.Ct. 646, 98 L.Ed.2d 798 (1988); Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39, 56, 107 S.Ct. 989, 94 L.Ed.2d 40 (1987). Nonetheless, the trial judge has considerable discretion in matters of scheduling, see, e.g., Morris v. Slappy, 461 U.S. 1, 11, 103 S.Ct. 1610, 75 L.Ed.2d 610 (1983); Ungar v. Sarafite, 376 U.S. 575, 589-91, 84 S.Ct. 841, 11 L.Ed.2d 921 (1964), and in seeing that the trial is conducted in a fair, efficient, and orderly manner, see, e.g., Taylor v. Illinois, 484 U.S. at 414-15, 108 S.Ct. 646; Noble v. Kelly, 246 F.3d 93, 99 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 886, 122 S.Ct. 197, 151 L.Ed.2d 139 (2001). 51 The State's appeal concerns the trial court's denial of a continuance to permit Grotto to call Rochelle as a witness and its denial of permission to reopen the evidence, even without a continuance, to call Planke as a witness. Neither denial was contrary to federal law. 52 The matter of continuance is traditionally within the discretion of the trial judge, and it is not every denial of a request for more time that violates due process even if the party fails to offer evidence or is compelled to defend without counsel. Avery v. Alabama, 308 U.S. 444, 60 S.Ct. 321, 84 L.Ed. 377. Contrariwise, a myopic insistence upon expeditiousness in the face of a justifiable request for delay can render the right to defend with counsel an empty formality. Chandler v. Fretag, 348 U.S. 3, 75 S.Ct. 1, 99 L.Ed. 4. There are no mechanical tests for deciding when a denial of a continuance is so arbitrary as to violate due process. The answer must be found in the circumstances present in every case, particularly in the reasons presented to the trial judge at the time the request is denied. 53 Ungar v. Sarafite, 376 U.S. at 589, 84 S.Ct. 841. See also Morris v. Slappy, 461 U.S. at 11, 103 S.Ct. 1610 (denial of continuance did not violate the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel: Trial judges necessarily require a great deal of latitude in scheduling trials. Not the least of their problems is that of assembling the witnesses, lawyers, and jurors at the same place at the same time, and this burden counsels against continuances except for compelling reasons. Consequently, broad discretion must be granted trial courts on matters of continuances ....). 54 In Ungar, the defendant was charged with criminal contempt and given five days' notice of the contempt hearing. He was granted two brief continuances in order to retain new counsel. A new attorney agreed to undertake the defense on the condition that he could obtain a one-week delay in order to familiarize himself with Ungar's case; but counsel's request for a continuance was denied, and counsel was allowed to withdraw. Ungar himself then requested an adjournment of just a few hours in order to gather exonerative medical evidence; that request too was denied. After being convicted of contempt, Ungar contended that his right to due process had been violated. The Supreme Court disagreed, noting, inter alia, that Ungar had presented no reason why the testimony and medical proof, which he conceded were readily available and producible within hours, w[ere] not obtained prior to the hearing. Id. at 591, 84 S.Ct. 841. It concluded that, [g]iven the deference necessarily due a state trial judge in regard to the denial or granting of continuances, we cannot say these denials denied Ungar due process of law. Id. 55 In the present case, we cannot say that Appellate Division's affirmance of the rulings of the state court constituted either a deviation from or an unreasonable application of the above principles. Grotto was not denied his right to present a defense. He called several witnesses to testify that he was not present at the townhouse on the day of the wedding. Grotto himself also so testified, and he denied all of the charges against him. He has not shown any respect in which he was denied a full and fair opportunity to call any witness or present any evidence he desired before he announced that he rested his case. 56 The trial court's denial of the request by Grotto, after he had rested, for a continuance in order to call Rochelle as a witness and present the two new prints was well within the scope of the court's broad discretion. First, in seeking a continuance to call Rochelle, Grotto's attorney did not represent that the handwriting on the prints was in fact that of Rochelle but only that he was advised that Grotto's family believed it was her handwriting. Nor did counsel indicate that he, or any member of the Grotto family, had attempted to contact Rochelle by telephone that morning to seek at least preliminary confirmation of that belief. Thus, counsel told the court he still needed to determine whether or not (Tr. 534; see also id. at 532-33) the writing was that of Rochelle. 57 Second, whether or not the comments on the backs of the prints were written by Rochelle, there was no indication that Rochelle would be able to testify that the pictures shown in the PX 11 negatives were not taken by Grotto. Rochelle herself could not have taken those four pictures; one was taken at the wedding ceremony, which she did not attend. Grotto's attorney said he hoped Rochelle's testimony would be that ... it was Ralph who took all four of those photographs. (Tr. 535.) But Ralph himself had already testified that he did not know who took those pictures. Indeed, before being shown PX 11, Ralph did not even recall that any pictures had been taken at the townhouse before the wedding ceremony. In the face of that testimony, we cannot agree with the view of the district court that Rochelle's testimony would definitively have shown that Grotto was not at the townhouse. And even if Rochelle would have testified that Grotto was not at the townhouse, as did Linda, Kenneth, Ralph, and Jean, no explanation was offered as to why Rochelle was not called as a witness to so testify before Grotto rested his case. 58 Finally, Grotto offered no excuse whatever for not having uncovered the two prints in time to have presented them before he rested his case. A year before the start of trial, the prosecution had asked Grotto to produce all pictures he had taken on August 22, 1992, in connection with Linda's wedding. And, as the trial court stated, the importance of the sequence of pictures shown by the negatives on PX 11 had been apparent in this trial from virtually the first day. (Tr. 551.) 59 In sum, we see no abuse of discretion in the court's denial of Grotto's request for a continuance in order to call Rochelle as a witness, given (a) Grotto's lack of diligence in finding the prints, (b) the lack of certainty that Rochelle had written the comments on the backs of the prints, (c) the apparent lack of any attempt to ask Rochelle herself whether she had written the comments, (d) the attenuated relevance of Rochelle's having written those comments, and (e) the unlikelihood that Rochelle could credibly testify that Ralph took the four pictures on PX 11 when Ralph himself had testified that he did not know that any pictures had been taken that morning at the townhouse and did not know who took the three whose negatives were part of PX 11. Accordingly, the Appellate Division's rejection of Grotto's challenge to the denial of a continuance was not a violation or misapplication of clearly established federal law. 60 Nor can we conclude that there was any violation or misapplication of clearly established federal law in the Appellate Division's rejection of the challenge to the trial court's refusal to permit Grotto to reopen the evidence, even without the need for a continuance, in order to introduce testimony from Planke. Cf. United States v. Bayer, 331 U.S. 532, 538-39, 67 S.Ct. 1394, 91 L.Ed. 1654 (1947) (not reversible error for trial court to refuse to allow a defendant to introduce, after the start of jury deliberations, an unverified document whose importance should have been readily apparent before the defense rested, especially where no excuse was offered for the tardiness of the proffer). 61 Although the request to reopen Grotto's case to call Planke as a witness was made prior to jury deliberations, and indeed prior to counsel's summations, there was no error in the trial court's denial of the request. First, Grotto's attorney proffered no foundation to show that Planke's desired testimony would be admissible. He provided little information to show that Planke, whom he described generally as a niece of an unspecified member of the Grotto family, was familiar with Rochelle's handwriting; he stated merely that she had received a card from Rochelle and Ralph that the family believed had been written by Rochelle. More importantly, even if Planke could have testified that the card she received from Rochelle and Ralph bore the handwriting of Rochelle, no information was provided to show that Planke had expertise in handwriting analysis sufficient to warrant allowing her to testify that two or more documents had been written by the same person. In the absence of information indicating such expertise, her testimony would likely have been inadmissible even if offered before Grotto rested, and its exclusion after Grotto rested cannot have been error. See generally Bayer, 331 U.S. at 538, 67 S.Ct. 1394 (not error to exclude belatedly offered evidence where, [e]ven during the trial such an offer, with no foundation in testimony and against objection, would have been inadequate). 62 Moreover, even if Planke were sufficiently expert to testify as Grotto wished, her testimony could not establish that the prints on which Rochelle wrote notes were not made from film shot by Grotto. As the trial court found, the testimony proffered by Grotto after he rested was hardly conclusive on the question of Grotto's guilt or innocence. (Tr. 536.) 63 Finally, given the lack of foundation for and attenuated relevance of Planke's planned testimony, permitting Grotto to present that testimony after he had rested, and after the court had informed the jury that it had heard all of the evidence, could well have caused the jury to give Planke's testimony unwarranted weight. 64 In sum, this was not a case in which a defendant was prevented from presenting evidence in his own defense. Grotto had called witnesses and introduced exhibits. It was not until after he voluntarily rested his case that he asked the court to grant him a continuance and allow him to present additional evidence — evidence that he should have produced earlier, that he was not prepared to validate, and that had only a tenuous bearing on the question of his guilt or innocence. As the denial of Grotto's motions in these circumstances was within the trial court's discretion, we see no violation or misapplication of established federal law, and we thus conclude that the district court erred in granting his petition for habeas corpus on the ground that the denial deprived him of due process.