Court Opinion

ID: 9468446
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:15:09.565222+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:52.469400
License: Public Domain

ADAMS, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
This case presents several troubling aspects. Much of the evidence in support of the convictions here consists of testimony by Barry Marlin, a witness who the district court indicated was unworthy of belief. Prejudicial testimony regarding the existence of a Swiss bank account in the name of the Friedlands was heard by the jury despite the government’s ultimate failure to connect the Swiss bank account to the transactions in question, although such connection was promised by the prosecution at the time the evidence was introduced. Either of these matters might properly have been a basis for a district court decision to grant defendants’ motion for a new trial. Furthermore, there appears to be a serious question whether a hearing should have been conducted to determine if some of the documentary evidence had been tampered with in an impermissible manner. Nevertheless, the record is insufficient to support the contention that the district court’s refusal to hold a hearing on the possible destruction of evidence or to grant a motion for a new trial was either an abuse of discretion or legal error. Accordingly, I concur in the result reached by the majority-