United States v. Rex Hatfield

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with
Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Submitted June 7, 2011
Decided June 14, 2011
Before
RICHARD A. POSNER, Circuit Judge
JOEL M. FLAUM, Circuit Judge
SAMUEL DER-YEGHIAYAN, District Judge*
Nos. 10-3890, 10-3905
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appeals from the United States
Plaintiff-Appellee, District Court for the Southern
District of Illinois.
v.
No. 3:08-cr-30020-DRH-PMF
REX I. HATFIELD and EVERLY
HATFIELD, David R. Herndon,
Defendants-Appellants. Chief Judge.
ORDER
The defendants were convicted by a jury of distributing illegal drugs with result of
causing death to consumers of the drugs, and related offenses, and appealed. We reversed
just the convictions relating to some of the deaths, for error in the jury instructions, but
affirmed the other convictions, 591 F.3d 945 (7th Cir. 2010). On remand to the district court,
the government dismissed the charges on which we had reversed, and as a result there was
no occasion for a new trial; instead the judge simply resentenced the defendants.
_______________
* Hon. Samuel Der-Yeghiayan of the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation.
Nos. 10-3890, 10-3905 2
They moved for a new trial of the entire case primarily on the ground that the
government had improperly withheld from the defense material the defense could have
used to impeach some of the government's witnesses. The district judge denied the motion
for a new trial in a 26-page opinion in which he ruled that the government should have
turned over the material but that it would not have altered the result. We have nothing to
add to the judge's analysis. He did not abuse his discretion in denying a new trial.
The judgments are therefore affirmed.