USA v. Vernon et al

Filing 59

Order, Set Deadlines

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALASKA

3:11-cr-028-RJB-JDR

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Plaintiff,
vs.
LONNIE G. VERNON, and
KAREN L. VERNON,

ORDER
REGARDING
DISCOVERY and PRE-TRIAL
MOTION DEADLINES

Defendants.

This criminal case charges two defendants with Conspiracy to Murder
Federal Officials in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1117; Threatening Murder of Family
Member of United States Judge in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 115(a)(1)(A) and
115(b)(4); Threatening Murder of United States Judge in violation of 18 U.S.C. §
115(a)(1)(B) and (b)(4); Conspiracy to Possess Unregistered Firearm and
Destructive Device in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 371; Possession of Silencer in violation
of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) and 5871; Possession of Unregistered Machine Gun in
violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) and 5871; Possession of Machine Gun in violation
of 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) and 924(a)(4); Silenced Firearm Used in Furtherance of a
Crime of Violence in violation of 924(c)(1)(A)(I) and 924(c)(1)(B)(ii). The case has
been declared complex by the trial judge. See Docket 49. At a status hearing
held before Judge Bryan, trial in this case was set for March 12, 2012.
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It is the purpose of this order to set a time table for the government’s
production of designated categories of discovery so further litigation will not be
needed. It is the intent of the Court to avoid unnecessary allocation of Criminal
Justice Act (CJA) resources to the organization of discovery when it has already
been undertaken by the government and to avoid unnecessary delay in the
production of discovery. The parties should continue to work together to provide
available discovery to the defense expeditiously and economically. The defendants
should avoid filing boiler plate discovery motions where the matter can be resolved
by meeting and conferring with the government attorney.
This Discovery Plan and Pretrial Motion Schedule is binding on all
counsel in this case unless otherwise ordered. This order is not subject to
amendment by the parties without Court approval.
The deadlines set below present the latest dates on which the
government has to produce evidence relevant to that category. In the spirit of
continued cooperation the Court expects the government to provide discovery prior
to those dates when feasible. Because of the volume of discovery related to this
case, the parties propose and the court accepts a tiered discovery plan that provides
several deadlines. All discovery documents produced by the government will be
bates stamped. The government will keep a list of discovery provided to the
defendants and the date it was produced.

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Discovery and Inspection Plan
(1) Defendant’s oral, written or recorded statements as described in
Fed. R. Crim. P. 16 (a)(1)(A) and (B) shall be disclosed by the government on or
before May 16, 2011. The parties understand that the investigative audio/video
evidence under this section is in the form of specialized proprietary software which
makes discovery and subsequent use at trial problematic. In order to achieve
efficiency, ease of use and to prevent duplication of effort the parties have agreed,
based on the understanding of the limitations of the proprietary software, that the
audio and video discovery under this provision of the discovery plan will be
converted and discovered in a “wav” format for audio and an “avi” format for video.
The parties agree that producing the audio and video evidence in wav and avi
formats facilitates ease of use for review, upload into various litigation software
programs for trial, and promotes legal and judicial efficiency. The parties agree and
understand that in so converting the audio/video evidence into wav and avi files that
certain and limited metadata information will not translate from the proprietary
program to the wav and avi files. The parties have agreed that in the event any
member of the defense requires access to specific metadata from the proprietary
program that they will make application to the United States for that data by notifying
the United States with respect to the specific wav or avi file from which the metadata

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is required. The United States agrees in good faith to provide the requested
metadata. However in the event of a disagreement with respect to the metadata,
the parties agree to notify the court of said disagreement by motion practice as soon
as practicable.
(2) Defendant’s prior record as described in Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(a)(1)(D)
shall be disclosed by the government on or before May 9, 2011.
(3) All documents and tangible objects will be produced in the following
stages:
(A) The defense will provide the government with a blank hard
drive onto which digital copies of documents and tangible objects such as audio
recordings and computer records will be copied.
(B) Copies of all audio tapes and files in the government’s
possession will be provided to each defendant by the government on or before
June 21, 2011.
(C) Digital copies of evidence collected during the search, if any,
of defendants Lonnie Vernon and Karen Vernon’s residences and vehicles will be
produced by the government by June 21, 2011.
(D) All evidence located on computers searched by the
government will be copied and produced by the government by July 12, 2011.

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(E) Items which cannot be copied that were seized during the
search of the Vernons’ residences and cars can be viewed at the FBI. Arrangements
to view the items can be made by contacting the case agent and shall take place on
or before July 12, 2011.
(F) All documents and objects as described in Fed. R. Crim. P.
16 (A)(1)(E), which are not described above, shall be produced by the government
on or before July 12, 2011.
(4) Documents and tangible evidence, as well as oral statements, or
other evidence which tends to exculpate a defendant; or is favorable or useful to the
defense on the issues of guilt or punishment; or tends to effect adversely the
credibility of a government witness; or is otherwise subject to disclosure as
exculpatory material pursuant to Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) and Giglio
v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972), shall be produced by the government timely
to permit the defendant(s) to make effective use of that evidence at trial.
(5) The government will notify defendants by August 5, 2011 its intent
to use statements of co-conspirators, and the government will identify those
statements as specifically as possible by August 5, 2011.
(6) The government will identify any experts it intends to use in its case
in chief pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 702, 703 and 705 by September 2, 2011.

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(7) The defendants will identify any experts they intend to use at trial
pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 702, 703 and 705 by October 7, 2011.
(8) Government reports of examinations and tests as described in Fed.
R. Crim. P. 16(a)(1)(F), shall be produced by the government on or before
November 4, 2011.
(9) Government expert witness reports and summary of expert for use
in the case-in-chief pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 16 (A)(1)(G) shall be produced by
the government by November 4, 2011.
(10) Defendant expert witness reports shall be produced by the defense
to the government by December 2, 2011.
(11) Defense reports of examinations and tests, as described in Fed.
R.Crim. P. 16 (b) (1) (B), shall be disclosed by December 2, 2011.
(12) Defense documents and objects as described in Fed. R. Crim. P.
16(b)(1)(A) shall be disclosed or made available for inspection by the government
by December 2, 2011.
(13) Evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts the government seeks to
use at any time during the trial pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 404(b) shall be disclosed
on or before January 6, 2012.
(14) Evidence of conviction of a crime which the government seeks to

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introduce at trial pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 609 shall be disclosed on or before
January 6, 2012.
Both the government and defense have a continuing duty to disclose
any additional evidence or material discovered before or during trial if the federal
rules or this Court’s order requires its production. Such evidence must be promptly
disclosed to the other party or the Court.
If a party fails to comply with this discovery order, the Court may order
that discovery or inspection occur by a certain date and in a certain manner; grant
a continuance; prohibit the offending party from introducing the undisclosed
evidence at trial; or enter any other order that is just under the circumstances.
Pretrial Motions Deadlines
Motion Deadline

Response Deadline

Motions related to discovery
produced by May 16, 2011

August 5, 2011

August 26, 2011

Motions related to discovery;
motions for bill of particulars
produced by July 12, 2011

August 19,2011

September 9, 2011

Motions challenging the
indictment or statutes involved;

Sept. 9, 2011

Sept. 30, 2011

Motions to suppress evidence;
motion to disclose confidential
informants; motions challenging
admissibility of evidence

Dec. 2, 2011

Dec. 23, 2011

Motions to sever; motions in limine;
motions related to experts

Feb 3, 2012

Feb. 24, 2012

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Given the lengthy time provided by the trial court for the completion of
discovery and presentation of pretrial issues, no continuances of the pretrial motions
due dates will be granted absent extraordinary circumstances.
A Status Hearing in this matter will be held June 13, 2011 at 9:30 AM,
in U.S. District Court in Courtroom 6.

DATED this 18th day of April, 2011, at Anchorage, Alaska.

/s/ John D. Roberts
JOHN D. ROBERTS
United States Magistrate Judge

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