Opinion ID: 451681
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prosecutor as Witness

Text: 27 Appellants next contend that the district court violated their Sixth Amendment right to compel the testimony of witnesses by refusing to allow them to call the prosecutor to impeach informant Jackson's trial testimony through confirming statements made in notes of her debriefing of Jackson. In a series of debriefings conducted at least a year prior to trial the prosecutor had made notes of statements made by Jackson. Three DEA agents were intermittently present during the debriefings. 28 The prosecutor's notes were turned over to defense counsel several weeks in advance of trial and were used extensively in their cross-examination of Jackson. They contend that in his trial testimony Jackson repeatedly contradicted the version of the facts set out in the prosecutor's notes. Defense counsel accordingly sought to call the prosecutor as a witness to impeach Jackson. Counsel made an offer of proof to the court as to the nature of the inconsistencies and their importance in attacking Jackson's credibility. 29 The prosecutor informed the court that due to the complexity of the facts and her unfamiliarity with the facts at the time of her interviews of Jackson, she could not remember being told the facts which later constituted discrepancies and also that she found some errors and inaccuracies in the notes. She could not, accordingly, vouch for the reliability of the notes and lay the necessary foundation for the admissibility of the notes as a recorded recollection, pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 803(5). Moreover, the notes were not a verbatim recital; nor were they adopted by the witness. 30 The court denied the defense request to call the prosecutor as a witness, finding that there was no compelling need to do so, noting that there had been approximately two weeks of impeachment testimony of Mr. Jackson, and that the impeachment evidence sought to be produced would be cumulative at best. 31 As a general rule federal courts refuse to permit a prosecutor to be called as a witness in a trial in which he is participating unless there is a compelling need. United States v. Tamura, 694 F.2d 591, 601 (9th Cir.1982). We agree with the district court that there was no compelling need in this case. The appellants were allowed to use the prosecutor's notes on cross-examination. Three agents were present during portions of the debriefing; yet the appellants made no effort to call them as witnesses. In addition, as indicated above, there was ample testimony which indicated that Jackson was prone to lie.