Court Opinion

ID: 9466849
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:30:35.032259+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:00.788029
License: Public Domain

WINTER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. As I analyze and understand the record in this case, I am ineluctably led to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in denying the requested continuance.
I.
The record shows that, after four years of investigation and preparation on the part of the government, the case against the Bad-wans culminated in the return of a nine-count indictment on March 5, 1979. The indictment covered the tax years 1972,1973 and 1974. Four days later (Friday, March 9), the Badwans, residents of North Carolina and non-residents of the district in which they were indicted and subsequently tried, retained counsel. Prior to then they were unrepresented. One day after retaining counsel, they journeyed to Virginia to meet with him. The conversation when they met was concerned principally with how to post bail when they were arraigned the following Monday, March 12, 1979. At their arraignment the district court fixed a schedule whereby pretrial motions were to be filed by March 21, were to be heard on March 23 and the trial was to begin on April 3. Counsel lodged no objection to this schedule.
Counsel was in no way dilatory following the arraignment. Two days thereafter (March 14), he met with the prosecutor. Then he learned that the government had eight volumes of trial exhibits that it intended to use at trial. He was allowed to copy only the documents which had been furnished by his clients. His request for other documents was not immediately honored. Two days after that meeting (March *123316), the prosecutor invited counsel to meet with the special agent investigating the case; and that meeting was scheduled for March 20.
In the interim, counsel met with the defendants on Saturday, March 17. After further discussions with them, it became apparent that an intensive investigation of their case would be required including the employment of an accountant. On Monday, March 19, seven days after the arraignment and ten days after being retained, counsel communicated with an accounting firm and arranged to meet with them on March 23.
At this stage of his preparation, the course of events impressed upon counsel the need for a continuance. Accordingly, on March 20, he filed a written motion for a continuance. It recited that it was impossible for counsel to gather all necessary materials, much less review them, prior to the date for the filing of motions (March 21), and, furthermore, only after they were obtained, could an accountant begin working with counsel to prepare the case for trial. Counsel asked for additional time in which to file motions and a continuance of the trial date from April 3 to a date in late April or early May. The district court denied the motion by order and without comment on the same day it was filed. Also on that day, the prosecutor advised counsel that he could copy certain, but not all, government exhibits that he had requested.
Counsel met with the accountant on March 23, and the next day the accountant, who was a former IRS agent, spent two and one half hours reviewing the documents at the prosecutor’s office. As a result of the review, the accountant, although unable to reach a conclusion as to the accuracy of the government’s computations, had no difficulty in concluding that he could not perform his function in the time remaining for trial. By his letter dated March 29, the accountant stated that it was his firm’s professional opinion that “it would take several weeks to perform a thorough review of the Government’s calculations,” emphasizing that there were in excess of one hundred exhibits and thousands of entries which related to nine United States tax returns, filed during a three year period.
■ The accountant’s letter, in conjunction with the slow and laborious review of the available government records, convinced defense counsel that a continuance was both necessary and imperative to insure a proper defense. Thus, on the day of trial (April 3), counsel filed another motion for a continuance. It recited the reasons previously assigned and added that while the government purported to rely on the bank deposits method of proving the indictments, there were indications that the net worth system was being used and neither counsel nor the accountant had had an opportunity to analyze the case in this light. To support the assertion that the case was complex and that additional time was needed for an accounting analysis, the accountant’s letter of March 29 was attached to the motion. The district court summarily denied the motion, and it is inferable from the record that the motion was never read.*
Thereafter, the trial immediately began. Defense objections were few. Although there was some cross-examination of the government’s witnesses, no witnesses were called for the defense. In the cross-examination of the witnesses, there were no questions relating to the substance of the government’s bank deposits/cash expenditures analysis. Throughout the trial counsel repeatedly informed the court that he lacked copies of the exhibits from which a government witness was testifying. Apparently, counsel’s complaints were well founded; the district court scolded the government for its disorganized presentation and stated that “this is one of the sloppiest cases I have ever seen.”
II.
In deciding this case, we must apply the familiar rule that a motion for continuance *1234is within the sound discretion of the district court and its exercise of its discretion will not be disturbed unless there is a clear abuse of discretion. Where, as here, the claim is that the denial of the continuance resulted in inadequate preparation time, the factors to be considered as to whether there was an abuse of discretion have been identified in the opinion in United States v. Up-tain, 531 F.2d 1281, 1286-87 (5 Cir. 1976), a case which the majority also treats as a definitive one:
We have deemed the following factors highly relevant in assessing claims of inadequate preparation time: the quantum of time available for preparation, the likelihood of prejudice from denial, the accused’s role in shortening the effective preparation time, the degree of complexity of the case, and the availability of discovery from the prosecution. We have also explicitly considered the adequacy of the defense actually provided at trial, the skill and experience of the attorney, any pre-appointment or pre-retention experience of the attorney with the accused or the alleged crime, and any representation of the defendant by other attorneys that accrues to his benefit, (footnotes omitted).
In my view these factors in this case aggregate an abuse of discretion. The attorney, who had neither previously represented these defendants nor had ready access to them, was employed with reasonable promptness. He was given three weeks to prepare for the trial of an income tax case which involved primarily the partnership returns of an enterprise for three years. The government intended to prove a willful understatement of tax by the bank deposit or the net worth method. Although counsel promptly sought informal discovery from the government, this was effectively withheld until two weeks before trial. When discovery was given, it was incomplete and it appeared that the government intended to prove eight volumes of exhibits, comprising in excess of one hundred exhibits which reflected thousands of entries. Even before informal discovery was gained, counsel recognized the need for an accounting expert, and he exercised due diligence in recruiting such a witness. When the witness, whose qualifications and good faith are not challenged, inspected the government’s proof, it was his professional opinion, unchallenged on this record, that it would take several weeks to complete a review of the government’s calculations. In seeking a continuance counsel did not ask for a long delay. His request was for a delay of approximately one month.
The majority is of the view that the case was not complex. I would conclude otherwise. The extent of the government’s documentary and statistical proof proves that the case was complex. While the issue of partnership profits for each of three years may seem elementary, how the figure was reached is not. There were issues of how the government reached its conclusions; what methods were used; what evidence it accepted, rejected or neglected. I think it simply inaccurate to characterize a four year investigation, producing eight volumes of exhibits, as simple. I also emphatically reject the amounts in controversy as an accurate measure of the complexity of the issues. Certainly they are no reflection of the value of the constitutional guarantees which were swept away if the continuance was improperly denied.
It is, of course, true that counsel voiced no objection to the schedule prescribed by the district court for motion and trial, but I find his silence completely understandable. By the date of promulgation of the schedule, he manifestly had less than complete knowledge of what the case was all about. He had no basis on which to represent that he could not meet the schedule, and it would have been irresponsible for him to represent that he needed more time. From his silence, I would infer a good faith intention on his part to meet the schedule if humanly possible, and a not unreasonable confidence (unfortunately misplaced) that the district court would not require him to adhere to the schedule if he could subsequently demonstrate that it was too restrictive. His first request for a continuance was only eight days after the arraignment and eleven days after he was first retained.
*1235Similarly, I would take no comfort from the inability of the defendants to show with specificity how they were prejudiced by denial of the continuance. Insufficient time to prepare constitutes prejudice. Here the essence of defendant’s claim is that despite promptness and dispatch on their part and that of their attorney, they were denied the opportunity to prepare their defense. Their pitiful showing at trial is eloquent testimony to that fact. If they knew what was their defense, they would have had no need for the expert and they would not thus have been unconstitutionally precipitated into trial. To me it is illogical to reason that they were not harmed by the denial of the delay because they cannot show what benefit to themselves the delay would have generated had it been granted. This is not the case where the delay was sought to explore the strength of the government’s case against them and to determine if they had a meritorious defense. Certainly the Constitution guaranteed them that right.
In the view that I take of the case, it is unnecessary for me to discuss the other issues.

 The transcript indicates that the remarks of the district judge were directed solely to an accompanying motion to suppress. There was a respectful request from counsel that the court read “at some appropriate time” the motion for continuance and the accountant’s letter. The district judge never asserted familiarity with either.