The afternoon session today was fairly uneventful. The Defense rested its case and the jury was dismissed, with instruction to return Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. The parties then addressed a few outstanding issues before turning to the jury instructions. These issues, the party who raised each one, and the outcome are:
Defendant: requested that Investigator Weinstein be allowed to testify as to what two
“missing” witnesses *would* have said in court. Government opposed on grounds that their absence might relate to the substance of their testimony, in addition to the fact there would be no opportunity for cross-exam. Court: Request denied.
Defendant: requested that his right to remain silent extend to the colloquy – as in, he didn’t want to answer ANY questions. As Defense counsel acknowledged in making the request, it is standard court practice to perform the colloquy (to ensure a defendant understands his/her right to testify on his/her own behalf before he/she waives that right). The Court explained that the colloquy must be on the record, so asked Defendant the standard questions. Defendant nodded to each question (e.g., “Do you understand that you have a right to testify even if your counsel has advised you not to…?”), but made no audible response.
The parties then turned to the jury instructions and made slight changes to several of the Government’s proposed instructions, including 12 (definition of conspiracy), 17 (carrying a firearm), 14 (definition of torture – which was changed slightly to incorporate Defendant’s suggested definition based on the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) definition, but not to include the definition in the now-rescinded 2001 DOJ memo), 20 (investigative methods), and 16 (Count 8 and conspiracy).
The parties agreed that both sides would have 2 ½ hours for their closing arguments.
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