UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael Curtis KEYS, Defendant-Appellant

Among the issues raised in this case are what a lawyer can do when she feels her client presents a danger in court, whether she must be relieved as counsel, and whether in a perjury prosecution the element of materiality must be submitted to the jury. Issues of invited error and sentencing guidelines are also raised.

I. Facts

Keys was serving time in federal prison for armed bank robbery. A former DEA agent was on trial for conspiracy and other crimes. Another prisoner testified for the prosecution pursuant to a plea bargain. The former DEA agent called Keys as a witness to impeach the other prisoner. Keys testified that while he and the prosecution witness had shared a cell, the witness told him that he was willing to lie for the government against the former DEA agent in exchange for leniency for himself.

Keys had sent a letter to the former DEA agent, who was being held in the same facility. He hid the letter among some magazines he asked a guard to deliver to the former DEA agent. A letter smuggled past prison officials to another prisoner is called a “kite.” The cryptic letter lends itself to the inference that Keys conspired with the former DEA agent to lie for him at…