United States v. Rhynes

218 F.3d 310 (4th Cir. 2000)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

At the commencement of a trial with several co-defendants on drug-related charges, a lawyer for one of the co-defendants moved for sequestration of the Government’s witnesses. The court entered the order from the bench. The Government was granted a request that two of its witnesses be excepted. One of the co-defendants sought to have an investigator excepted and the court granted that exception so long as the investigator observed Rule 615. The Government presented evidence of Davis, a convicted felon serving a seven-year sentence. Davis testified that he had met Alexander in 1990 when he asked Alexander to serve as an intermediary in a drug transaction between Davis and Rhynes (D). D testified on his own behalf, and he called a single witness, Corwin Alexander. Alexander testified on a number of subjects before he was asked about Davis. Alexander testified that at a meeting between the two, Davis told Alexander that the government had offered Davis a deal in exchange for information about D. Alexander then began to testify about what he heard Davis say in court the prior Tuesday. The Government objected and a conference was called. Scofield, attorney at law, advised the court that he had discussed Davis’s testimony with Alexander. The district court ruled that the sequestration order had been violated. The motion was granted, Alexander’s testimony was excluded, and he was stricken as a witness. D was convicted and appealed.