183057P.pdf   10/16/2020  United States  v.  Jonathan Woods
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  18-3057
                          and No:  18-3058
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Fayetteville   
   [PUBLISHED] [Melloy, Author, with Kelly and Kobes, Circuit Judges] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law. In prosecution for honest services fraud 
   involving bribes and kickbacks using public funds, the district court did 
   not err in denying defendants' motion to dismiss based on an FBI agent's 
   misconduct in the case - see the court's decision in a related matter, 
   U.S. v. Paris, 954 F.3d. 1069 (8th Cir. 2020), where the same argument was 
   addressed and rejected because the evidence the agent destroyed lacked 
   exculpatory value and the information was available by other means; the 
   district court did not abuse its discretion in granting the government's 
   motion to exclude evidence of the agent's misconduct based on its weighing 
   of the probative value of the evidence against its prejudicial effect; the 
   district court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant Woods's 
   motion for a continuance on the eve of trial; argument that the court 
   engaged in an improper ex parte communication with the jury when it 
   provided the jury a minimally-modified amended instruction; the 
   instructions did not constructively amend the indictment; the court did 
   not abuse its discretion by denying defendants' motion for recusal.