United States v. John E. Kenny, Trenton P. Oelberg, and William L. Parker, Defendants

The earlier opinion in this matter, dated January 23, 1981, is withdrawn, and the following is substituted.

After a lengthy jury trial, appellants Kenny, Parker and Oelberg were found guilty on 14, 4 and 3 counts, respectively, of a multiple-count indictment alleging conspiracy, fraudulent government contracting activities, bribery, and tax evasion. Each has brought a direct appeal, asserting numerous errors. In addition, Oelberg has appealed the denial of his motion for new trial on grounds of newly-discovered evidence. The appellants have assailed almost every facet of this prosecution, from the pre-indictment to post-trial stages. For the reasons set forth below, however, we find that none of these contentions has merit, and we therefore affirm all convictions.

FACTS

Kenny was the proprietor of a now-defunct firm in San Diego known as Ocean Market Consultants (“OMC”). OMC provided a variety of research, technical writing and document preparation services to government and industrial clients in the area.

The remaining defendants were civilian employees at the Naval Electronics Laboratory Center (“NELC”) at nearby Point Loma. During the time period covered by the indictment,…