Opinion ID: 203000
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reopening of the Evidence

Text: Vega claims that the district court erred when it allowed the government to introduce additional evidence on a jurisdictional element of the carjacking offense after the government rested its case and Vega moved for a judgment of acquittal. We review the district court's decision to reopen after the close of evidence for abuse of discretion. United States v. Santana, 175 F.3d 57, 64 (1st Cir.1999) (noting that review is for abuse of discretion even when the court reopens the case on its own initiative, rather than on the motion of one of the parties); United States v. Pandozzi, 878 F.2d 1526, 1534 (1st Cir.1989) (finding no abuse of discretion where court allowed government to reopen). In evaluating the court's exercise of its discretion, we consider whether the value of the additional evidence outweighed the potential for disruption or prejudice in the proceedings, and if so, whether the government had a reasonable excuse for failing to present the testimony during its case-in-chief. See United States v. Peterson, 233 F.3d 101, 106 (1st Cir.2000). Here the court agreed to reopen the case to allow the government to present evidence that García's Nissan 350Z was not manufactured in Puerto Rico. To establish the crime of carjacking, the government must prove that the vehicle in question has been transported, shipped, or received in interstate or foreign commerce, 18 U.S.C. § 2119. Vega contended that the government had not introduced any such evidence and persisted in his request for a judgment of acquittal on this basis even though the court indicated that it might take judicial notice of the fact that no automobiles are manufactured on the island of Puerto Rico (meaning that all vehicles on the island must have traveled in interstate commerce). The court repeatedly asked Vega if he wanted to insist on evidence related to this element, and his counsel replied in the affirmative, stating: Your Honor, I am taking whatever issues I can find. The government suggested that García's testimony that he believed the car was manufactured in Japan or China, I don't know, might be sufficient, but was unsure. The court then reopened for the limited purpose of allowing testimony as to the car's place of manufacture. We find no abuse of discretion in the court's decision to reopen the case. The particular evidence presented was testimony by an FBI agent who had secured a document from the internet showing that the vehicle had not been manufactured in Puerto Rico and thus had moved in interstate commerce. The document had been provided in discovery to Vega before his trial began, and Vega articulates no way in which its admission either disrupted or prejudiced the proceedings. See United States v. Rouse, 111 F.3d 561, 573 (8th Cir.1997) (finding no abuse of discretion where the trial court allowed the government to reopen its case to establish a jurisdictional fact that was not a surprise to defendants); United States v. Alderete, 614 F.2d 726, 727 (10th Cir.1980) (same). Although the government did not provide a compelling explanation for its failure to introduce the interstate commerce evidence in its primary case, the court explained: I have a responsibility, I think, if it were intent, if it were something that he acted knowingly, willfully, if it were a major element of the offense, you would have walked out of here with a Rule 29, without a question. But an issue like that, when everybody knows that a Nissan is not manufactured in Puerto Rico, that I could take judicial notice of that? [The government] should have presented the evidence. I am not excusing you for not doing it. He is an experienced prosecutor, and he had all the obligation in the world to do it, and he did not. But I do think I have a major obligation to do the right thing, and the right thing is to reopen. Thus, the court recognized that the government should have presented the evidence earlier, but found beyond dispute that the car was manufactured outside Puerto Rico. It also weighed the evidence's probativeness against the potential prejudice, which it rightly viewed as low, and decided to admit the evidence. We easily conclude that the court did not abuse its discretion with its reopening decision.