United States v. Michael Sevane Rhynes, United States of America v. Michael Sevane Rhynes

I concur in the judgment that Rhynes’ conviction and sentence be vacated and his case remanded for a new trial, and in what Judge King has written in Parts III and IV of his opinion. The district court plainly abused its discretion in excluding the testimony of defense witness Alexander. And, this error was harmful. Consequently, proper resolution of this appeal can be achieved without addressing the more difficult question of whether defense attorney Scofield actually violated the sequestration order.

As Judge King points out, see ante at 314, when Alexander stated, “[A]nd I hear from Tuesday…