Opinion
Case No. 2:11-cr-120-RLH-CWH
01-02-2013
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. ANDREW SWAN, Defendant.
ORDER
(Motion to Continue Deadline-#65)
Before the Court is Defendant Andrew Swan's Motion to Continue Joint Discovery Agreement Deadline Re: Expert Witness Report (#65, filed December 27, 2012). Defendant Swan brings the motion because he was faced with the 30-day-before-trial deadline to provide expert witness reports, notwithstanding that present counsel had only recently been appointed to replace the Public Defender, at Defendant's request, and only recently identified a document examining expert, leaving insufficient time for the expert to examine the documents and also prepare a report.
Defendant Swan assures the Court he does not wish a continuance of the trial date, and his co-defendant has emphasized the same wish. However, Swan did not provide the Court with a requested date to which the deadline should be continued. Given the foregoing factors, the Court will grant the motion and provide a short extension, but will waive the 30-day rule as to any rebuttal document expert witness it may need to employ.
The Court notes, for the benefit of all parties, that the motion indicates that the document examination relates to allegations that the signatures (the Court assumes it is the signatures of Swan that are in question) on alleged fraudulent mortgage documents were possibly forged. Accordingly, Defendant Swan's document expert testimony will be limited to that issue.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Defendant Andrew Swan's Motion to Continue Joint Discovery Agreement Deadline Re: Expert Witness Report (#65) is granted to the extent that the disclosure deadline for his document expert's report is extended to 12:00 o'clock noon on January 16, 2013, and that his testimony will be limited to the issue of alleged forgeries of signatures of Swan on alleged fraudulent mortgage documents.
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Roger L. Hunnt
United States District Judge