Court Opinion

ID: 9499290
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:43:12.03905+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:23.624222
License: Public Domain

BAUER, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I submit a reluctant concurrence. I believe, overall, the defendant received a fair trial and the verdict was amply supported by the evidence. And, in a case like this, opinion evidence of accounting practices and procedures, and how legitimate business differs from illegal or fraudulent business practices, almost necessarily carries expert testimony — and prosecution comments on it — into what I consider to be not inappropriate areas.
Nevertheless, the opinion of the majority is quite correct: Our standard of review over the decision of the district court to grant a new trial is exceedingly deferential. I emphasize that the prosecutor was not to blame and, had the trial court de*439nied the motion for a new trial, a guilty verdict would have been easy to sustain.