Opinion ID: 547604
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: failure to order government informant to testify

Text: 35 The government informant, Walter Wheeler, was summonsed as a witness by Pratt, but upon the advice of counsel, refused to answer questions on the ground that his answers might incriminate him. This Fifth Amendment privilege was asserted on the basis of the state charges for which he had originally sought leniency through cooperation. Appellant contends that the privilege should not have been sustained by the district court, primarily because no particularized inquiry of Wheeler was made regarding his blanket assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege. He contends that excusing Wheeler from testifying rose to the level of a constitutional violation, because his rights to confrontation and compulsory process were denied when he was precluded from questioning the most important government witness. Wheeler's testimony, he avers, was both material and relevant to his only defense: entrapment. Finally, Pratt argues that, instead of excusing Wheeler from testifying, the district court should have granted Wheeler immunity, and that it was error for it to have refused to do so. 36 The privilege granted by the Fifth Amendment is indeed quite broad, and may be asserted in the face of the possibility of state prosecution. Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. 1, 11, 84 S.Ct. 1489, 1495, 12 L.Ed.2d 653 (1964); In re Brogna, 589 F.2d 24, 27 (1st Cir.1978). Anyone claiming the privilege, however, must be confronted by substantial and 'real,' and not merely trifling or imaginary, hazards of incrimination. Rogers v. United States, 340 U.S. 367, 374, 71 S.Ct. 438, 442, 95 L.Ed. 344, reh'g denied, 341 U.S. 912, 71 S.Ct. 619, 95 L.Ed. 1348 (1951). See also United States v. Apfelbaum, 445 U.S. 115, 128, 100 S.Ct. 948, 956, 63 L.Ed.2d 250 (1980); Marchetti v. United States, 390 U.S. 39, 53, 88 S.Ct. 697, 705, 19 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). This is a determination for the court, not the witness, to make, Hoffman v. United States, 341 U.S. 479, 71 S.Ct. 814, 95 L.Ed. 1118 (1951), and is subject to the discretion of the district court. Id. The exercise of this discretion, however, ordinarily requires that a particularized inquiry into the reasons for the assertion of the privilege be made. See United States v. Pierce, 561 F.2d 735, 741 (9th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 923, 98 S.Ct. 1486, 55 L.Ed.2d 516 (1978); North River Ins. Co. v. Stefanou, 831 F.2d 484, 487 (4th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1007, 108 S.Ct. 1733, 100 L.Ed.2d 196 (1988). But this is only a general rule. In this case, we find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that Wheeler had a valid Fifth Amendment claim. 37 At the time of Pratt's trial, a motion was pending to dismiss Wheeler's state criminal charge. This motion was based on allegations of prosecutorial misconduct by state authorities during Wheeler's cooperation in the Pratt investigation. Wheeler's cooperation was the same topic upon which Pratt's attorney sought to examine him at trial. Given these facts, this court is unable to conclude that the district court erred in allowing Wheeler's Fifth Amendment assertion to stand. 38 Nor do we find merit in Pratt's argument that the district court erred in denying his request to grant Wheeler immunity in the face of his asserted claim of the Fifth Amendment privilege. A defendant has no general right to obtain, and a district court has no general power to grant, immunity for defense witnesses. Instead, the power to apply for immunity rests solely with the government. United States v. Davis, 623 F.2d 188 (1st Cir.1980). In the face of the government's refusal to seek immunity for Wheeler, the district court did not err in denying immunization to Wheeler, and thus excusing him from testifying. 39 Although there may be certain circumstances under which due process requires defense witnesses to be immunized, see, e.g., United States v. Alessio, 528 F.2d 1079 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 948, 96 S.Ct. 3167, 49 L.Ed.2d 1184, reh'g denied, 429 U.S. 873, 97 S.Ct. 193, 50 L.Ed.2d 156 (1976), the facts in this case do not suggest that an exception to the general rule was warranted. See United States v. Angiulo, 897 F.2d 1169, 1190-93 (1st Cir.1990). In that case, we recognized two theories under which defendants are entitled to a grant of immunity for prospective witnesses. Under the effective defense theory, a court has power to immunize witnesses whose testimony is essential to an effective defense. Similarly, under the prosecutorial misconduct theory, courts have authority to require the government to grant immunity to witnesses if the government has deliberately attempted to distort the fact-finding process. See also United States v. Morrison, 535 F.2d 223, 229 (3d Cir.1976); Government of Virgin Islands v. Smith, 615 F.2d 964, 969 (3d Cir.1980). In this case, however, it is clear that Wheeler's testimony was not essential to an effective defense. The transcript of Wheeler's interview with the CPAC Unit on January 3, 1989 revealed only facts which tended to inculpate Pratt. The fact that, as appellant argues, Wheeler may have been used to encourage Pratt to buy cocaine, and that Wheeler participated in recorded conversations which were then played to the jury, does not suggest a defense. Nor is there evidence of any type of prosecutorial misconduct impinging upon the fact-finding process. Thus, we find no error in the district court's refusal to grant Wheeler immunity from prosecution. 40