[HamiltonJay]

That was in violation of her pretrial order barring witnesses from exposure to any opening statements or trial testimony.

Huh? A witness can't be exposed to public testimony???? This judge is taking the fear of "tainting the witness" to an abject extreme.... who appointed this one?

[Williams]

Yes, a party has every right to exclude a witness from the courtroom when they are not testifying. For the obvious reason to prevent them from "getting their stories straight" by listening to others, rather than testifying about only what they know. In this case, the witnesses were given the government's opening statement and other trial information that would list exactly what the witnesses are expected to say.

It is a bit of a technicality, because the government lawyers meet with the witnesses and discuss the testimony in advance. But still witnesses on the stand often do not say what is expected, and there are rules to keep them from being "coached." It only seems uneccessary when you aren't the defendant.