Filed: Jul. 11, 2018
Latest Update: Jul. 11, 2018
Summary: UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ORDER DIRECTING U.S. PROBATION TO PROVIDE DEFENSE COUNSEL WITH WITNESS ADDRESSES; ORDER LAWRENCE J. O'NEILL , Chief District Judge . The defense moves this Court for an order directing the United States Probation Office ("U.S. Probation") in various districts to provide to defense counsel the addresses for the below-named individuals. Defense counsel has conferred with counsel for the government, who has indicated that she is not taking a position on this request an
Summary: UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ORDER DIRECTING U.S. PROBATION TO PROVIDE DEFENSE COUNSEL WITH WITNESS ADDRESSES; ORDER LAWRENCE J. O'NEILL , Chief District Judge . The defense moves this Court for an order directing the United States Probation Office ("U.S. Probation") in various districts to provide to defense counsel the addresses for the below-named individuals. Defense counsel has conferred with counsel for the government, who has indicated that she is not taking a position on this request and..
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UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ORDER DIRECTING U.S. PROBATION TO PROVIDE DEFENSE COUNSEL WITH WITNESS ADDRESSES; ORDER
LAWRENCE J. O'NEILL, Chief District Judge.
The defense moves this Court for an order directing the United States Probation Office ("U.S. Probation") in various districts to provide to defense counsel the addresses for the below-named individuals. Defense counsel has conferred with counsel for the government, who has indicated that she is not taking a position on this request and, thus, will neither join in nor oppose this motion.
By way of background, law enforcement officers conducted interviews of various inmates at Taft Federal Correctional Institution ("Taft FCI") on March 15, 2017. The interviewing agents prepared FD-302 reports documenting the interviews and the government has provided those reports in discovery. Since March 15, 2017, many of those inmates have been released from Bureau of Prisons' custody and are now serving terms of supervised release in various districts in California. The defense intends to call as witnesses three of these individuals:
Name BOP Reg. Date of Release District Court Case Supervising
No. No. District
Julio Caro 73910-112 April 27, 2018 2:16-cr-00489-GHK-1 C.D. Cal.
Briant Benson 66006-097 December 8, 2017 2:11-cr-00168-GEB E.D. Cal.
William Ison Unknown Unknown1 3:12-cr-4030-DMS-1 S.D. Cal.
The presence of these witnesses is required at trial to enable Mr. Shults to present an adequate defense and, accordingly, by separate application, the defense will seek an order that subpoenas be issued for these individuals.
In addition to these three inmates, Mr. Shults anticipates calling as a witness former Lompoc FCI inmate Antonio Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez was a cooperating witness in the case of United States v. John Arthur Walthall, Case No. 8:14-cr-00192-CJC-1. As explained in greater detail in Mr. Shults's motion for pretrial ruling on the admissibility of impeachment evidence, if the Court permits the government to introduce the testimony of a cooperating witness who claims that Mr. Shults solicited the murder of Judge Guilford while at Lompoc FCI, the defense will seek to impeach the cooperating witness with evidence that the cooperating witness was at Lompoc FCI at the same time Mr. Walthall was charged and convicted of soliciting the murder of Judge Guilford. Two cooperating witnesses—one of which was Mr. Rodriguez—were central in the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Walthall. Mr. Rodriguez was released from the Bureau of Prisons' custody on August 18, 2017, and is currently serving a term of supervised release in the District of Nevada (Case No. 8:01-cr-03123-LSC-1). Mr. Rodriguez's presence at trial will be necessary to present an adequate defense and, accordingly, by separate application, the defense will seek an order that a subpoena be issued for Mr. Rodriguez.
Because these four individuals are no longer in Bureau of Prisons' custody, the defense is unaware of their current whereabouts. Each of these individuals is currently supervised by U.S. Probation in the above-identified districts. To aid the defense in interviewing and serving these individuals with subpoenas, the defense requests that this Court issue an order directing U.S. Probation to provide to defense counsel the current addresses of these individuals. Defense counsel agrees that she will not distribute this information to anyone other than legal staff and process servers and such information will be used only for the purpose of this trial.
ORDER
The Court hereby directs the United States Probation Office in the Central District of California to disclose to defense counsel the current address for Julio Caro, Case No. 2:16-cr-00489-GHK-1.
The Court hereby directs the United States Probation Office in the Eastern District of California to disclose to defense counsel the current address for Briant Benson, Case No. 2:11-cr-00168-GEB.
The Court hereby directs the United States Probation Office in the Southern District of California to disclose to defense counsel the current address for William Ison, Case No. 3:12-cr-4030-DMS-1.
The Court hereby directs the United States Probation Office in the District of Nebraska to disclose to defense counsel the current address for Antonio Rodriguez, Case No. 8:01-cr-03123-LSC-1.
All information disclosed pursuant to this order shall be distributed only to defense counsel's legal staff and process servers and such information may be used only for the purpose of trial in this case.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
