Opinion ID: 77358
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: January Conferences

Text: 19 At a January 5, 2005, status conference, the parties addressed a dispute regarding access to Wilk's house and the collection of physical evidence there. Wilk wanted to remove certain items from the residence to prepare for trial, but the government opposed the removal without a formal accounting of the items. Also on January 5, Wilk filed an ex parte motion for additional investigative fees for travel to interview relevant witnesses in preparation for the penalty phase. Additionally, he filed a motion for his eighth expert. The magistrate judge granted the motions on February 4 and 24, respectively. 20 On January 28, 2005, the district court held another status conference. The government stated that it had made a presentation in December in Washington, D.C., regarding the death penalty in Wilk's case, but that the Attorney General would not make a decision until February 25 because the new Attorney General had not been confirmed yet. The district court noted that a Death Notice must be filed a reasonable time before trial. 21 In this regard, 18 U.S.C. § 3593(a) provides that in a capital case the government shall, a reasonable time before the trial, file with the district court and serve on the defendant notice that the death penalty is justified and list the aggravating factors justifying a death sentence. During the status conference, the government contended that filing a Death Notice as late as February 25, 2005, for the April 18 trial was a reasonable time before the trial under § 3593(a) because (1) Wilk already had a second defense counsel appointed in October 2004 in anticipation of the death penalty, and (2) the district court already had conducted ex parte hearings regarding Wilk's retention of experts and mitigating aspects relating to the death penalty. 22 Wilk explained that, assuming the Death Notice was filed on February 25, defense counsel still would not be ready for a capital case by April 18 and the notice would not be reasonable under § 3593(a). Wilk argued that the fact that two lawyers had been appointed was not relevant and that a reasonable time for filing the notice was six months before trial. The district court stated that it would probably behoove the defendant to assume that the government will be seeking the death penalty. 23 Given that the statutory aggravating factors were already listed in the October 21 superseding indictment, the government also agreed to provide Wilk with a list of non-statutory aggravating factors for seeking the death penalty within ten days so that Wilk would not be hampered in the preparation of his defense should the Attorney General authorize the death penalty. 7 Wilk objected to the procedure, arguing that a February Death Notice could not be reasonable with respect to an April trial date. When the district court inquired how Wilk would be prejudiced if he already was apprised of the statutory and non-statutory aggravating factors, Wilk responded that prejudice was irrelevant as § 3593(a) required strict compliance. 24 At the January 28, 2005, conference, the district court confirmed that the trial was set for April 18, 2005, and ordered the government to file a Death Notice by February 18, which would provide the Attorney General sufficient time to review the case. The parties then extensively discussed the jury questionnaire, which, over Wilk's objection, included questions regarding capital punishment.