Opinion ID: 776790
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Motion for a Continuance.

Text: 11 On the eve of trial, Rock moved to continue the February 5 trial date so he could locate and subpoena witnesses in Minnesota and Iowa who would allegedly establish that he was not in South Dakota at the time of the alleged burglary. The district court denied the motion, noting that the next available trial date was not until early June. At the close of the evidence, Rock made an offer of proof concerning these potential witnesses. Defense counsel could not represent that any of the witnesses would definitely testify as to Rock's whereabouts on the critical date, could not represent that any witness was actually en route to the trial but delayed by bad weather, and could not predict how long a continuance would be needed for this purpose. Noting that the government had advised defense counsel of the alleged burglary (if not its precise date) in early October, the court again denied the continuance, commenting: I have not seen a case in the nearly six years I've been on the bench that is a stronger case of guilt than this case. The evidence is overwhelming. And so, I think it would just be a waste of time to have these people testify as to various unknown dates, especially when there's nothing to indicate that any of these people knew where he was on the 2nd of May, which all the evidence so far is that was the date of the burglary at which Mr. Rock was involved with these firearms. 12 Having carefully reviewed the record, we conclude the court's ruling was well within its substantial discretion in this regard. See United States v. Brown, 156 F.3d 813, 815 (8th Cir.1998). 13 The judgment of the district court is affirmed.