Source: http://openjurist.org/print/27260
Timestamp: 2015-10-08 16:34:44
Document Index: 73013585

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1406', '§ 1406', '§ 1406', '§ 1406', '§ 1406', '§ 1406', '§ 1406', '§ 3486', '§ 3486', '§ 3486', '§ 3486', '§ 1406', '§ 1406', '§ 1406', '§ 1406']

364 US 507 Reina v. United States
Home > 364 US 507 Reina v. United States
364 US 507 Reina v. United States 364 U.S. 507
81 S.Ct. 260
5 L.Ed.2d 249
Giacomo REINA, Petitioner,v.UNITED STATES.
Argued Nov. 7, 8, 1960.
Dec. 19, 1960.
Mr. Allen S. Stim, New York City, for petitioner.
Mr. Oscar H. Davis, Washington, D.C., for respondent.
The Narcotic Control Act of 1956,1 18 U.S.C. § 1406, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1406, legislates immunity from prosecution for a witness compelled under the section by court order to testify before a federal grand jury investigating alleged violations of the federal narcotics laws. The questions presented are, primarily, whether the section grants immunity from state, as well as federal, prosecution, and, if state immunity, whether the section is constitutional.
The petitioner was serving a five-year sentence for a federal narcotics offense2 when, on December 5, 1958, he was subpoenaed before a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of New York. A number of questions were asked him concerning his crime, particularly as to the persons involved with him and their activities in the smuggling of narcotics into this country from Europe. The petitioner invoked the provision of the Fifth Amendment against being compelled to be a witness against himself3 and refused to answer any of the questions. The United States Attorney with the approval of the Attorney General obtained a court order pursuant to § 1406 directing him to answer. When he returned before the grand jury he again refused to testify. Proceedings against him in criminal contempt resulted in the judgment under review adjudging him guilty as charged. D.C., 170 F.Supp. 592. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed. 273 F.2d 234. Because of the importance of the questions of the construction and constitutionality of § 1406 raised by the case, we granted certiorari, 362 U.S. 939, 80 S.Ct. 805, 4 L.Ed.2d 769.
Petitioner's main argument in both courts below and here challenges § 1406 as granting him only federal immunity, and not state immunity, either because Congress meant the statute to be thus limited, or because the statute, if construed also to grant state immunity, would be unconstitutional. Both courts below passed the question whether the statute grants state immunity because, assuming only federal immunity is granted, they held that United States v. Murdock, 284 U.S. 141, 52 S.Ct. 63, 76 L.Ed. 210, settled that the Fifth Amendment does not protect a federal witness from answering questions which might incriminate him under state law. D.C., 170 F.Supp. at page 595; 2 Cir., 273 F.2d at page 235. Petitioner contends that Murdock should be re-examined and overruled. We have no occasion to consider this contention, since in our view § 1406 constitutionally grants immunity from both federal and state prosecutions.
We consider first whether the immunity provided by § 1406 cover state, as well as federal, prosecutions. We have no doubt the section legislates immunity from both. The relevant words of the section have appeared in other immunity statutes have been construed by this Court to cover both state and federal immunity. In Adams v. State of Maryland, 347 U.S. 179, 74 S.Ct. 442, 98 L.Ed. 608, a like provision in 18 U.S.C. § 3486, 18 U.S.C.A. § 3486, that the compelled testimony shall not 'be used as evidence in any criminal proceeding against him in any court' was held to cover both federal and state courts. (Emphasis supplied.) The 'Language could be no plainer,' 347 U.S. at page 181, 74 S.Ct. at page 445. In Ullmann v. United States, 350 U.S. 422, 434—435, 76 S.Ct. 497, 504—505, 100 L.Ed. 511, 18 U.S.C. § 3486(c), 18 U.S.C.A. § 3486(c), added by the Immunity Act of 1954, of which § 1406 is virtually a carbon copy, was given the same construction. Moreover, the adoption of § 1406 followed close upon the Ullmann decision. That decision came down on March 26, 1956. Section 1406 was reported out of the House Ways and Means Committee only three months later on June 19, 1956, H.R.Rep.No.2388, 84th Cong., 2d Sess. It became law on July 18, 1956. 70 Stat. 574. We cannot believe that Congress would have used in § 1406 the very words construed in Ullmann to cover both state and federal prosecutions without giving the words the same meaning.
We turn then to the petitioner's argument that, so construed, § 1406 encroaches on the police powers reserved to the States under the Tenth Amendment. The petitioner recognizes that in Ullmann the Court upheld the authority of Congress to grant state immunity as 'necessary