Opinion ID: 198362
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The District Court's Refusal to Allow a Surrebuttal Witness

Text: 107 We likewise accord little weight to Gaines's argument that the court below erred in refusing to allow him to call a surrebuttal witness, Tina Graham. In his case-in-chief, Gaines called James Harris, who testified that Gaines had been with him on a tour of comedy clubs on certain dates, including several of those named in the indictment. Ostensibly to assist his testimony, Harris referred to his 1996 datebook, which contained notations in red ink confirming his testimony about the dates Gaines was out of town with him. In rebuttal, the prosecution called U.S. Secret Service Senior Document Examiner Larry Stewart, who testified that scientific analysis revealed that particular kind of red ink appeared nowhere else in Harris's datebook. The unstated inference, of course, was that Harris had added the notations in a fraudulent attempt to lend credence to his testimony. The court then refused to permit Gaines to call a surrebuttal witness, Tina Graham, to testify that she was with Gaines at a comedy club in New Jersey on June 13, 1996, one of the dates in question. 108 A trial court has great discretion over the permissible scope of testimony in surrebuttal, F.W. Woolworth Co. v. Contemporary Arts, Inc., 193 F.2d 162, 166-67 (1st Cir.1951), and that discretion was plainly not abused here. Ordinarily, surrebuttal should be allowed only to explain away new facts brought forward by the proponent in rebuttal, or evidence to impeach witnesses who testified in rebuttal[.] Id. Here, Tina Graham's testimony would have done neither. First, the issue of Gaines's whereabouts on June 13, 1996 was raised prior to the prosecution's rebuttal, by Gaines in his own case-in-chief. Thus, Gaines had the opportunity to call Graham at that time but elected not to do so. Second, Graham's testimony would not have impeached Senior Document Examiner Larry Stewart, as her testimony did not concern him or his ink analysis. The district court did not exceed its discretion in declining to allow her to be called as a surrebuttal witness.