Our caselaw instructs that surrebuttal is merited where (1) the government's rebuttal testimony raises a new issue, which broadens the scope of the government's case, and (2) the defense's proffered surrebuttal testimony is not tangential, but capable of discrediting the essence of the government's rebuttal testimony. See United States v. Durnin, 632 F.2d 1297, 1301 n. 8 (5th Cir. Unit A 1980); Winkle, 587 F.2d at 712; United States v. Doe, 488 F.2d 93, 94 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 991, 94 S.Ct. 2400, 40 L.Ed.2d 769 (1974). The government argues that no new issue was raised during Bauman's rebuttal testimony, as it had charged throughout this trial that Moody secured fraudulent Foundation grants for his own benefit.
Since this rebuttal testimony raised no new issue and since the proffered surrebuttal witnesses were not able to rebut the essence of Mr. Magee's testimony, the district court's decision to disallow surrebuttal was not an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Winkle, 587 F.2d 705 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 827, 100 S.Ct. 51, 62 L.Ed.2d 34 (1979); United States v. Sadler, 488 F.2d 434 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 931, 94 S.Ct. 2642 (1974); United States v. Doe, 488 F.2d 93 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 991, 94 S.Ct. 2400, 40 L.Ed.2d 769 (1974). D. Excluded Testimony
The district court in the case on appeal did not abuse its discretion in refusing to reopen the defendant's case or to call Lafitte as a court witness. See United States v. Doe, 488 F.2d 93, 94 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 991, 94 S.Ct. 2400, 40 L.Ed.2d 769 (1974); Steinberg v. United States, 162 F.2d 120, 124 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 332 U.S. 808, 68 S.Ct. 108, 92 L.Ed. 386 (1947). The defendant next objects to the admission of allegedly improper opinion evidence.
The defendants in the case on appeal could have requested that Boyd be permitted to testify in surrebuttal or that their case be reopened. United States v. Webb, 533 F.2d 391, 395 (8th Cir. 1976); United States v. Sadler, 488 F.2d 434, 435-36 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 931, 94 S.Ct. 2642, 41 L.Ed.2d 234 (1974); United States v. Doe, 488 F.2d 93, 94 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 991, 94 S.Ct. 2400, 40 L.Ed.2d 769 (1974). Therefore, the Government's failure to recall Janet Boyd before introducing evidence concerning her subsequent inconsistent statement was not a reversible error.
441 F.2d at 739. When essentially the same question arose again recently in United States v. Doe, 488 F.2d 93 (5th Cir. 1973), this court adhered to the reasoning of the Turner decision. We do so here as well.