Fernandez

ORDER REGARDING THE ADMISSIBILITY OF THE TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL ORNELAS AND MICHAEL GONZALES

Six weeks after the start of this third phase of the Mexican Mafia trials, the government sought to call two newly discovered witnesses, Michael Gonzales and Michael Ornelas, to testify about the disposal and retrieval of the guns used in the Montebello murders. Ornelas could testify that Arevalo had brought him two .380s and asked him to hide them, while Gonzales could testify that Arevalo had asked him to get rid of the guns. In addition, Gonzales could testify that Castillo confessed to the murders, implicating himself, Arevalo, and Jaeobo.

Defendants originally objected that their rights under the Confrontation Clause would be violated. Then, Castillo objected also on the grounds that in a capital case, the government is required to produce its witness list three days prior to the start of trial, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3432 . He argues that since Gonzales and Ornelas were not on the witness list three days before the trial, their testimony should be excluded.

The government argues that § 3432 does not require exclusion, and that if allowed in, under a recent Ninth Circuit case the…