holding that a defendant cannot establish a violation of the constitutional right to compulsory process merely by showing that he was deprived of certain testimony but must make some plausible showing of how that testimony would have been both material and favorable to his defense
How later courts described this case
- holding that a defendant cannot establish a violation of the constitutional right to compulsory process merely by showing that he was deprived of certain testimony but must make some plausible showing of how that testimony would have been both material and favorable to his defense
- holding that, while a criminal defendant cannot be deprived of his right to call witnesses in his favor "arbitrarily,” the defendant “must at least make some plausible showing of how [the proposed witness'] testimony would have been both material and favorable to his defense”
- recognizing that Rule 17 supports the conclusion that a defendant must make “some plausible showing of how ... testimony would have been both material and favorable to his defense” before he can establish a violation of his constitutional right to compulsory process
- holding that a defendant may not, via compulsory process, "secure the attendance and testimony of any and all witnesses," but must first "at least make some plausible showing of how their testimony would have been both material and favorable to his defense"
Written by the judges who cited it.
Distinguished
Distinguished by Toby Joe Gutierrez v. Dan Moriarty, Warden, Attorney General of the State of New Mexico, 922 F.2d 1464 (1991)
On appeal Gutierrez argues that Valenzuela-Bernal is factually distinguishable and that the lower court erred in applying the standard articulated in that case rather than what Gutierrez perceives to be the less demanding standard set out in Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957).
The opinion
Justice Blackmun,
concurring in the judgment.
I concur in the judgment of the Court essentially for the reasons set forth by Judge Roney, in writing for a panel of the former Fifth Circuit, in United States v. Avila-Dominguez, 610 F. 2d 1266, 1269-1270 , cert. denied sub norm. Perez v. United States, 449 U. S. 887 (1980). At least a “plausible theory” of how the testimony of the deported witnesses would be helpful to the defense must be offered. None was advanced here; therefore, the motion, to dismiss the indictment was properly denied by the District Court.