Opinion ID: 361114
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Defendants' Proffer of Tests Conducted on Sample Grains of Corn Was Properly Rejected

Text: 28 Defendants' proffered evidence concerning tests conducted by their witnesses on samples of corn to show that the moisture testing and inspection procedures used by Government witness Gunder were inexact. In rejecting the proffer, the district court stated that the defendants' reason to offer the evidence was to attack the credibility of the Government's evidence that the grain certificates were materially false. The Government's case was partly based on the testimony of Mr. Gunder, a licensed inspector at Central Soya Company, that he had intentionally falsified the certificates. The theory of the defense was that if the testing procedures were inexact, the Government would not be able to prove that the certificates materially misrepresented the quality of the grain, notwithstanding the fact that the person who issued them intended that they should do so. The court concluded that the proffered evidence goes too far beyond the scope of relevant evidence to the issue herein involved (Tr. 426). Gunder's testimony had related to certain Motomco moisture machines that he had used at Central Soya in 1976, whereas the defendants' proposed evidence involved tests run in 1978 by the Board of Trade and an independent grain elevator. Because of the time gap, the district court could consider that evidence as irrelevant. Even if relevant, the court could properly exclude it on the ground that its probative value might confuse the issues and mislead the jury under Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Since by the cross-examination of Government witnesses Gunder, Byrd, Bailey and Haggarty the defendants had been able both to attack their credibility and to show the possibility of moisture content variances, the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to receive this additional evidence. 29