Court Opinion

ID: 9480057
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:36:40.339315+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:27.477576
License: Public Domain

TANG, Circuit Judge,
specially concurring:
I concur in the majority’s opinion because I believe retrial is the appropriate remedy for error in this case. I would also hold that the district court erred in bifurcating the trial sua sponte when Goland rested.
The district court informed the parties it would reconsider Goland’s codefendants’ severance motions upon the close of the government’s case. If the trial court also indicated then that it was considering bifurcation, it failed to communicate that thought clearly. Indeed, counsel for Go-land’s codefendants had repeatedly to request clarification of the court’s remarks. The district court did clearly assure all parties, however, that it would not sever if Goland refused to testify. Next, instead of reconsidering severance at the close of the government’s case, the district court reconsidered severance at the close of Goland’s defense. The district court then sua sponte bifurcated the trial. The district court’s conduct was thus unclear, inconsistent, and surprising to the parties, all possibly to Goland’s prejudice. Moreover, and as the majority’s opinion reveals, it is difficult to see on what authority the district court relied for bifurcation. Bifurcation was at least potentially prejudicial to any one of the defendants then before the district court.
*414Upon appeal we can now conclude that any error in the district court’s arriving at its decision to bifurcate, the timing of its decision, or the bifurcation itself was not so grievous as to merit more than the remedy of retrial already available in this case. That is not to say, however, that the district court acted properly. Had the jury convicted Goland, I believe the district court’s errors would have compelled reversal and remand for retrial.