Opinion ID: 64708
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Cell Phone-Related Motion for New Trial

Text: Guevara was sentenced on June 11, 2007. On June 19, 2007, Guevara requested a new trial pursuant to Fed. R.Crim. P. 33(a) based on new evidence that came to light after his conviction was secured. The evidence relates to the cell phone discussed above, and reveals that the bag bearing Guevara's name, from which the phone was supposedly retrieved, cannot be located, nor can any receipts or records of the phone be produced. Finally, the phone itself is apparently not registered to Guevara. This court reviews a denial of a motion for a new trial for abuse of discretion. In order to receive a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence, the defendant must demonstrate that: (1) the evidence is newly discovered and was unknown to the defendant at the time of trial; (2) failure to detect the evidence was not due to a lack of diligence by the defendant; (3) the evidence is not merely cumulative or impeaching; (4) the evidence is material; and (5) the evidence introduced at a new trial would probably produce an acquittal. [16] As the government argues, and as the district court ruled (on July 25, 2007), there is no reason to think that (2), (4), or (5) are met in this case, and neither Guevara's original motion nor appellate brief effectively counter the government's argument, or even address it squarely. The phone evidence was not as unreliable as Guevara asserts, and it was also not, as Guevara argues, effectively the only evidence against him.