08-2876 U.S. v. Isaacs

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Criminal Procedure
Continuance; summary exhibits

The district court did not err when it denied defendant’s motion for a 30-day continuance after the government turned over a new version of voluminous computer records in the form of compact disks three days before trial.

“Having reviewed the record, we cannot find that the district court abused its discretion in denying Isaacs’s motion to continue the trial. First, Isaacs had enough time to prepare for trial because the new set of CDs contained essentially the same underlying data as that which was previously produced by the government and disclosed to Isaacs in 2006, during the discovery phase of this case. Second, there were no material differences in the underlying data contained on the earlier and new sets of CDs as the government simply redacted extraneous and inadmissible information, and converted one set of data lists from Microsoft Excel to Microsoft Access to make it more readable. The redaction of the data and reformatting change did not effect the summary exhibits: they remained the same. Notably, Isaacs has failed to make a showing that there were, in fact, any material differences between the two sets of CDs. Therefore, the government’s disclosure of the new set of CDs three days before trial did not nullify Isaacs’s trial preparation because he had at least fifteen months to review the underlying data and summary exhibits and, by his own admission, he reviewed all of this information long before trial.”

Affirmed.

08-2876 U.S. v. Isaacs

Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Lefkow, J.,Van Bokkelen, J.

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