Opinion ID: 3050870
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Readback of Testimony

Text: [4] The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the jury’s request to read back Marcos Garcia’s testimony. After the jury requested the read back of Garcia’s testimony, the judge consulted with counsel for both sides without the jury present. He explained that in accordance with Ninth Circuit case law, he ordinarily discouraged rereads because of the tendency of the jury to focus on one particular piece of evidence at the expense of other evidence. Counsel for the appellant agreed that Garcia’s testimony should not be reread to the jury unless the jury asked for the testimony to be reread at some future point in its deliberations. In light of the district court’s great latitude to address requests for readbacks and its recognition of the problems associated with readbacks, we hold that the judge’s decision to deny the requested readback UNITED STATES v. CASTENEDA 537 was not an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Nolan, 700 F.2d 479, 486 (9th Cir. 1983) (finding no error in the court’s refusal to have testimony reread and recognizing that the decision enjoys a great deal of discretion). [5] The district court also did not abuse its discretion by granting the request for a reread of Detective Filopowski’s testimony. Appellant asserts that the district court erred when it allowed the jury to have Detective Filipowski’s testimony reread without ensuring that the jury did not unduly emphasize it, citing United States v. Hernandez, 27 F.3d 1403, 140809 (9th Cir. 1994). We hold that the appellant waived this claim by agreeing that Detective Filipowski’s testimony could be reread without such an admonition. In particular, counsel for both sides were provided with the controlling law. Therefore, Medina-Casteneda waived the argument that the reread of Detective Filipowski’s testimony without proper instruction was error. See United States v. Burt, 143 F.3d 1215, 1217 (9th Cir. 1998) (“A defendant’s right to challenge a [judicial ruling] is waived if the defendant considered the controlling law and in spite of being aware of the applicable law, proposed or accepted a flawed instruction.”) (internal quotation marks omitted).