United States v. Colomb

FITZWATER, District Judge:

In this interlocutory appeal, the government challenges the district court’s bench ruling precluding it from calling sixteen witnesses of whom it first learned after the criminal trial of four defendants was continued for several months. We must decide whether the district court abused its discretion by excluding the witnesses based on Fed.R.Evid. 611(a) and on its inherent power to avoid the needless consumption of time and to control its docket, but without first considering the content of their anticipated testimony. Concluding the district court abused its…