"As a result, the military judge delayed pre-trial motions until the near future, when either a closed circuit feed can be set up for the accused to watch the hearings from outside the court room or the accused complies with court order to appear with proper military grooming standards, " the news release said.
One of the last motions filed before the trial asked Judge Kaplan to put the key question of whether poker was a game of chance and therefore gambling before a jury, but Kaplan never ruled on this request.
The request for the subpoenas came through Ohio Judge Thomas Lipps, after defense attorneys filed motions with him asking that the three witnesses appear at the trial.
Both sides filed detailed motions with the court and even argued their case in a pre-trial hearing that featured former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement in December.
The defense seemed to rest--literally--reading newspapers in the courtroom, appearing almost uninterested, making fewer motions, rarely leaping up to object as they had during the first part of the trial.