Court Opinion

ID: 8893889
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-26 23:38:01.881876+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:07:21.698109
License: Public Domain

OPINION SUR PETITION FOR REHEARING
The dissent sur denial of the petition for rehearing would reverse on the ground that the prosecution must inform the fact finder as well as the court and defense counsel of the truth. This requirement appears to have been met in the instant case, however, by the prosecutor’s proffered stipulation during the Government’s case in chief as to the facts he admitted to the court and to counsel. This stipulation could also have been submitted to the jury if defense counsel so desired.
The dissent views the trial judge’s statement that he would deny a defense motion as effectively foreclosing the defendants from any significant means of relief. The trial judge, however, was apparently referring to a motion for mistrial. As we have indicated in our original opinion, he was not precluding the defense from other remedies which were readily available to them.
For an example of measures by defense counsel to reduce prejudice resulting from the prosecution’s belated disclosure of a bargain with a key witness, see United States v. Johnson, 487 F.2d 1318, 1322-1324 (5th Cir. 1974), petition for certiorari filed, 42 U.S.L.W. 3542 (U.S. March 26, 1974) (No. 73-1418).