Opinion ID: 754514
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Testimony of the Defense Expert

Text: 15 The defendants further contend that the district judge erred when he declined to allow a defense expert to testify about the effects of avoparcine and zinc bacitracin. Part of the government's case depended upon its proving that these substances are drugs. Under 21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)(C), a substance is a drug when it is intended to affect the structure or function of the body, and is not food. A defense expert allegedly was prepared to testify that avoparcine and zinc bacitracin do not affect the body's structure or function. The district judge did not allow the testimony because it was not sufficiently set forth in a summary the defendants submitted in response to a scheduling order. The defendants' summary stated, [The expert] will testify that avoparcine and zinc bacitracin are considered safe and effective as feed additives for calves and cattles. Vitek argues that it was implicit in this summary that the expert would testify that the substances are feed additives, not drugs. But neither the district court nor the government should have to parse the summary of expert testimony, searching for subtle nuances and relying on uncertain inferences. We agree with the district court that the summary failed to give adequate notice that the expert would testify that avoparcine and zinc bacitracin are not drugs. 16 It is well-established that in a civil case, a district judge has the discretion to exclude evidence as a means of sanctioning one of the parties for an inadequacy in its case, such as the summary at issue here. See, e.g., Mid-America Tablewares, Inc. v. Mogi Trading Co., 100 F.3d 1353, 1363 (7th Cir.1996). In a criminal case, however, the district court's power to levy such sanctions is less unconstrained. Although [f]ew rights are more fundamental than that of an accused to present witnesses in his own defense, Taylor v. Illinois, 484 U.S. 400, 408, 108 S.Ct. 646, 652, 98 L.Ed.2d 798 (1988), the Supreme Court has allowed the imposition of sanctions when a criminal defendant has willfully violated a discovery order. See id. at 414, 108 S.Ct. at 655-56. But it is not certain whether sanctions are permissible if the violation is not egregious--specifically, when the excluded witnesses would undoubtedly have been at least somewhat helpful to the defense and violation of the [court's] order was not willful. Tyson v. Trigg, 50 F.3d 436, 445 (7th Cir.1995); see also United States v. Harvey, 117 F.3d 1044, 1047-48 (7th Cir.1997). Here, while the summary was sloppy and inadequate, it is not clear that the defendants intended to willfully violate the district court's order. 17 We have not yet had to define the limits of the district court's power to use the exclusion of evidence as a sanction in a criminal trial, see Harvey, 117 F.3d at 1047, and we need not decide that question today. If the district judge did err in excluding the expert's testimony, the error was harmless. As previously explained, under 21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)(C), a substance is a drug if it is intended to affect the structure or function of the body. With respect to avoparcine, the expert's proffered testimony stated only that avoparcine did not have an effect on the structure of the body. The expert would not have stated that avoparcine did not affect the function of the body. See Tr. at 3515. Indeed, the expert would have testified that avoparcine was a dilution of an antibiotic used in nutritive doses to improve animal performance. Tr. at 3515. We think this testimony supports the conclusion that avoparcine affects the function of the body and thus falls squarely within the definition of § 321(g)(1)(C). In regard to zinc bacitracin, the expert similarly would have referred to it as an antibiotic. See Tr. at 3518. And even if the expert's testimony had persuaded the jury that avoparcine and zinc bacitracin do not affect the structure or function of the body, § 321(g)(1)(C) is concerned with intended, not actual, effect. See 21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)(C) (The term drug means ... articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body ....) (emphasis added). The jury saw letters written by Doppenburg himself that (1) referred to avoparcine as a growth promotant used to promote liver function, Gov.'s Ex. 357; (2) discussed drugs ... which work at the gut level (like Bacitracin[) ], Gov.'s Ex. 358; and (3) explained that with ... the FDA's crackdown on Zinc Bacitracin, the veal industry is ... scared to lose all its (few) antibiotics, id. The expert's testimony would not have refuted the overwhelming evidence that the defendants intended avoparcine and zinc bacitracin to affect the structure or function of the body. Therefore, even if the judge erred in excluding the expert's testimony, his error was harmless.