Originally Posted by
Boggie Dog
I was speculating if an addition to the witness list was being made in an effort to have a less lenient judge seated to benefit the state.
Another possibility is making an addition to the witness list to force the judge to step aside and delay the trial, resulting in hassle/inconvenience for the defendant and possibly (in their mind) inducing him to take a plea deal. It's very possible that Phil will now have to eat a change fee on a nonrefundable plane ticket to attend the trial, etc.
In my (very limited) small claims experience, the defendant requested a continuance at the last possible minute for no apparent reason other than to cause me hassle.
Such delays seem to be an effective way to discourage out-of-state parties or parties with tight schedules from using the court system. It was well understood when I left my college town that the landlords would screw tentants re: deposits, etc. more if the former tenant had (graduated and) moved away than if they stayed local, because the remote tenant would have a much harder time fighting the landlord. I experienced this myself, moving out of apartments managed by the same company twice. Only on the last move-out, when I was moving 1000+ miles, did they screw me. But they and I both knew that they could make it very expensive for me to go after them in small claims court by using last-minute continuances to delay the hearing. (plus, the amount in dispute wasn't worth even the price of even 1 nonrefundable plane ticket)