Professional Documents
Culture Documents
v.
ORDER
On March 26,2019, Defendant Mark T. Lambert filed a Motion to Continue Trial. ECF
No. 55. That same day, the Court held a status conference, during which the Government
represented that it would be producing several hundred thousand documents to the Defense by
April 12,2019 and thus did not oppose a brief continuance to allow the Defense time to review
the production. The Court granted the Motion and continued trial until June 18,2019. ECF No.
57.
On May 20, 2019, Lambert filed a Second Motion to Continue Trial, which the
Government opposed. ECF No. 71. At the hearing on May 21, 2019, the Government
acknowledged that since the March 26, 2019 status conference, it had produced approximately
988,000 pages of discovery documents to Lambert continuing until May 10, 2019. Then, on
May 22, 2019, the Government filed a Second Superseding Indictment which extended the
timeframe of Lambert's participation in the conspiracy by two years. ECF No. 79.
These belated and larger than anticipated document productions and the material change
to the Indictment require significant attention from the Defense. The fact that, at this late date,
the Government saw the need to expand the period of the conspiracy by two years from the
previously narrowed time period contradicts its argument that such a change is of no
Case 8:18-cr-00012-TDC Document 85 Filed 05/24/19 Page 2 of 2
significance. Where the deadline for motions in limine to be filed in this matter has already
passed, and under the current schedule, the joint proposed voir dire, jury instructions, and special
verdict forms are due on May 27, 2019, the Court concludes that exceptional circumstances
warrant a second continuance of the trial date in this matter to allow Lambert time sufficient to
review the latest document productions and prepare his defense to the allegations in the Second
Superseding Indictment.