Filed: Oct. 16, 2019
Latest Update: Oct. 16, 2019
Summary: ORDER EDMUND F. BRENNAN , Magistrate Judge . Pending before the court is the government's request to add an exhibit and witness deadline. ECF No. 198. Therein, the government proposes a deadline of October 22, 2019 for submission of those lists and exchange of proposed exhibits. Id. at 1. Counsel for Ameen has filed a response wherein it argues that the court should set a deadline of November 18, 2019 — the same date the defense supplemental brief is due. ECF No. 201 at 2. 1 The court n
Summary: ORDER EDMUND F. BRENNAN , Magistrate Judge . Pending before the court is the government's request to add an exhibit and witness deadline. ECF No. 198. Therein, the government proposes a deadline of October 22, 2019 for submission of those lists and exchange of proposed exhibits. Id. at 1. Counsel for Ameen has filed a response wherein it argues that the court should set a deadline of November 18, 2019 — the same date the defense supplemental brief is due. ECF No. 201 at 2. 1 The court no..
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ORDER
EDMUND F. BRENNAN, Magistrate Judge.
Pending before the court is the government's request to add an exhibit and witness deadline. ECF No. 198. Therein, the government proposes a deadline of October 22, 2019 for submission of those lists and exchange of proposed exhibits. Id. at 1. Counsel for Ameen has filed a response wherein it argues that the court should set a deadline of November 18, 2019 — the same date the defense supplemental brief is due. ECF No. 201 at 2.1
The court notes that the majority of both filings is devoted to litigating alleged improper conduct between the witness known as "Person 5" and a member of the defense investigatory team.2 ECF No. 198 at 2-4, ECF No. 201 at 2-5. The parties offer competing versions of the defense investigators' contact with Person 5 and the court finds it unnecessary (and, indeed, impossible) to resolve them at this time.
Turning to the parties' more grounded arguments, both argue that their proposed deadlines will obviate confusion and lead to a more efficient hearing process. ECF No. 198 at 4, ECF No. 201 at 6. Having considered those arguments, the court finds it appropriate to set a single deadline for witness lists and exhibits for both parties. That deadline will be November 4, 2019 — approximately3 thirty days before the hearing is to occur. This cut-off is consistent with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure4 which provide that such disclosures should be made at least thirty days before trial. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(3)(B). And setting the deadline before both parties' briefs are due will ensure that those filings can weigh and discuss all potential evidence. Any proposed additions past that date will be allowed only after a showing of good cause for their earlier omission is made. And, obviously, the court retains the discretion to exclude those exhibits or witnesses which would offer only redundant, irrelevant, or otherwise non-admissible evidence. See, e.g., Hooker v. Klein, 573 F.2d 1360, 1369 (9th Cir. 1978) ("Admission of evidence proffered by the fugitive at an extradition proceeding is left to the sound discretion of the court, guided of course by the principle that evidence of facts contradicting the demanding country's proof or establishing a defense may properly be excluded.").
Accordingly, it is ORDERED that the parties shall submit their exhibit and witness lists no later than November 4, 2019. Copies of proposed exhibits should also be exchanged between the parties by that date.
