Court Opinion

ID: 9470134
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:58:02.212702+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:45.115009
License: Public Domain

ROSS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent from the majority’s conclusion that the district court committed reversible error in denying appellant’s motion for a continuance. The district court has substantial discretion in granting or denying a motion for a continuance, and reversal is only warranted where there is a clear abuse of discretion in the circumstances of a particular case. See, e.g., United States v. Cohen, 583 F.2d 1030, 1045 (8th Cir.1978); United States v. Little, 567 F.2d 346, 348-49 (8th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 969, 98 S.Ct. 1608, 56 L.Ed.2d 60 (1968). I agree with the majority that in the present case the determinative question is whether the defendant was materially prejudiced by the court’s refusal to grant a continuance in order for counsel to investigate the evidence relating to other possible suspects. In the context of this case, it would appear that the existence of such prejudice as a result of denial of the continuance essentially depends on whether the allegedly exculpatory evidence (i.e., photographs of two men arrested for passing counterfeit bills in Kansas City) riot disclosed to the appellant until late in the trial is viewed as material, i.e., “might have affected the outcome of the trial.” United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 104, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 2397, 49 L.Ed.2d 342; see Scurr v. Niccum, 620 F.2d 186, 189 (8th Cir.1982).
After a thorough review of the record I am unable to conclude that the purportedly exculpatory evidence was material under the foregoing standards or that the appellant was materially prejudiced by the trial court’s failure to grant a continuance to investigate that evidence. Unlike the majority, I do not believe that the photographs of the two men arrested in Kansas City with counterfeit fifty dollar bills in their possession show a resemblance to the appellant.1 Furthermore, the evidence of appellant’s identity as the person who passed the three counterfeit bills is overwhelming. Appellant was arrested while passing the counterfeit bill involved in Count II, and at least four witnesses provided detailed descriptions of appellant’s clothing and appearance at that time which generally matched other witnesses’ descriptions of the person who passed the counterfeit bills involved in Counts I and III. Significantly the description by a witness of the clothing worn by the customer involved in the Count I incident was virtually identical to the descriptions of the clothing worn by the customer in the Count II incident. Moreover, in both the Count I and Count II incidents the customer explained that he had recently obtained two fifty dollar bills from a bank and that he intended to use one of the bills for a 50th wedding anniversary gift for his parents. Finally, it should be noted that the incidents involved in Counts II and III occurred at the same shopping center at about the same time.
In light of this and the other evidence in the record, I do not believe that earlier disclosure of the purportedly exculpatory evidence or a continuance to investigate the two men arrested in Kansas City “might have affected the outcome of the trial.” United States v. Agurs, supra, 427 U.S. at 104, 96 S.Ct. at 2397. Consequently, I *277would find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying appellant’s motion for a continuance and I would affirm appellant’s conviction on all counts.

. The trial court viewed these photographs pri- or to denying appellant’s motion for a continuanee. See Record at 199-204.