Opinion ID: 196355
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Minimization under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2518(5)

Text: 41 Title III requires the government to conduct electronic surveillance in such a way as to minimize the interception of communications not otherwise subject to interception. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2518(5). Without specifying any wrongfully intercepted conversations, London asserts that there was inadequate governmental minimization during the interceptions at Heller's. Although London's argument on this issue is a bit disjointed, two alleged inadequacies emerge from his brief: (1) the court's order permitting surveillance whenever a named target was on Heller's premises (instead of a more restrictive order); and (2) the government's policy of recording all conversations carried out in Spanish unless and until a bilingual agent was available to make minimization decisions. In the circumstances of this case, we see no error in either the court's order or the government's policy regarding communications in Spanish. 42 In assessing whether the government's minimization efforts pass muster under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2518(5), we make an objective assessment in light of the facts and circumstances known to the government at the relevant points in time. See Scott v. United States, 436 U.S. 128, 136-37, 98 S.Ct. 1717, 1723, 56 L.Ed.2d 168 (1978). When making this assessment, we tend to focus on (1) the nature and complexity of the suspected crimes; (2) the thoroughness of the government's precautions to bring about minimization; and (3) the degree of judicial supervision over the surveillance process. United States v. Uribe, 890 F.2d 554, 557 (1st Cir.1989); Angiulo, 847 F.2d at 979. We also are mindful that Title III does not forbid the interception of all nonrelevant conversations, but rather instructs the agents to conduct the surveillance in such a manner as to 'minimize' the interception of such conversations. Scott, 436 U.S. at 140, 98 S.Ct. at 1724. This means that [t]he government is held to a standard of honest effort; perfection is usually not attainable, and is certainly not legally required. Uribe, 890 F.2d at 557. 43 London's minimization arguments do not call into question any specified acts of the intercepting agents; instead, they implicate the thoroughness of certain of the court's and government's minimization precautions. In other words, they amount to claims that an implicit requirement allegedly imposed on the government by Uribe and Angiulo--that the government's precautions to bring about minimization be sufficiently thorough to pass muster under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2518(5)--has not been met in this case, and that suppression of all intercepted conversations is the appropriate remedy. Even if we assume arguendo that London can win total suppression without challenging the propriety of any particular interceptions, we see no merit in his arguments. 44 London characterizes as insufficient the court's targeted individual must be on the premises limitation by stating: 45 Perhaps, an undercover agent acting as a patron, could [have] signal[led] when a target was talking on a particular telephone or near one of the bugs and thereby minimize[d] the intrusion into the privacy of innocent persons conversing at other locations. Perhaps monitoring agents could have been directed to cease monitoring at any device when a target was not heard on that device. 46 He has not, however, effectively rebutted the government's colorful assertion, made both to the district court and on appeal, that had an undercover agent remained inside the small, intimate ... Heller's Cafe to relay a signal every time a target spoke into a surveillance device, London would have identified him as quickly as Ali Baba in his cave would have spotted a spy among his chosen forty. Nor has he rebutted the government's sworn assertion that agents were instructed to and did cease monitoring when they determined that none of the targets was a party to [a] conversation or that only personal, non-criminal activity was discussed. In our view, the former of these two assertions is sufficient to respond to London's argument that there should have been an undercover agent inside Heller's, and the latter effectively undermines any suggestion that the monitoring agents were free to listen in on the conversations of non-targeted individuals. 47 London's challenge to the government's policy regarding Spanish conversations is answered more easily: when an interpreter is not reasonably available, Title III explicitly allows full-scale recording and post hoc minimization of conversations carried out in foreign languages. See 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2518(5) (In the event the intercepted communication is in a code or foreign language, and an expert in that foreign language or code is not reasonably available during the interception period, minimization may be accomplished as soon as practicable after such interception.). Although the above-quoted statutory provision was not yet effective at the time of the interceptions here at issue (it was passed prior to the interceptions but went into effect thereafter), its existence as pending legislation renders objectively reasonable the government's policy--which tracked the legislation--regarding intercepted conversations carried out in Spanish. 48 This was a complex case involving a sophisticated defendant, complicated financial dealings, and links to organized crime. In view of this, we cannot say that either the complained-of minimization precautions or the other minimization precautions ordered by the court and taken by the government were so lacking in thoroughness that they violated Title III. 49 We therefore reject London's minimization arguments. 50