Opinion ID: 324434
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the installation of pen registers.

Text: 27 In conjunction with each order authorizing the interception of wire communications, the District Court issued an order authorizing the installation of a pen register on the telephones involved. The appellants' contention that this was improper rests upon a two-pronged argument: Title III of the Act does not authorize the use of pen registers, and further, their use is specifically prohibited by 47 U.S.C. 605. 28 Our decision in United States v. Brick, supra, explains the error in appellants' argument. Neither Title III nor 47 U.S.C. 605, as amended, prohibit the use of pen registers. 29    In this situation it has been held that a pen register order based upon a showing of probable cause, even if considered to be a 'search' is not constitutionally offensive   . 30 United States v. Brick, supra, 502 F.2d at 223. 31 The propriety of their use depends entirely upon compliance with the Fourth Amendment. 10 United States v. Giordano, 416 U.S. 505, 94 S.Ct. 1820, 40 L.Ed.2d 341, 375 (1974) (Powell, J., concurring and dissenting). 32 Upon review of the government's affidavits submitted to the court in application for the orders authorizing the interception of wire communications, we are in agreement with the court below that there was probable cause for the installation of the pen registers. The affidavits contained detailed accounts of the personal observations of agents of the FBI, as well as information supplied by reliable unnamed informants, that linked the appellants to bookmaking. The informants' reliability had been established by previous dealings, and the information supplied here was based on firsthand knowledge. Each informant was actively engaged in gambling activities in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. The orders authorizing the installation of pen registers were constitutionally proper. 33 IX. WHETHER THE COURT ERRED IN REFUSING TO STRIKE THE TESTIMONY OF FBI AGENT WILKISON BECAUSE OF THE GOVERNMENT'S FAILURE TO RECORD AND PRODUCE HIS GRAND JURY TESTIMONY IN LIGHT OF THE FACT THAT THE TESTIMONY OF OTHER GRAND JURY WITNESSES WAS RECORDED. 34 During the grand jury proceedings resulting in the indictment of the appellants, the government recorded some, but not all, of the testimony presented. For example, the testimony of Aaron Singer, a codefendant who had pleaded guilty, was recorded, while the testimony of FBI Agent Wilkison, who was one of the agents principally in charge of the investigation of the appellants, was not recorded. The appellants assign as error the unfairmess of the government's action which made discovery pursuant to the Jencks Act (18 U.S.C. 3500(e)(3)) impossible. They argue that the testimony of Agent Wilkison at trial should not have been admitted. It is important to note that the appellants do not contend that the grand jury was used abusively as a vehicle for discovery. See United States of America v. Pasquale Sellaro, 514 F.2d 114 (8th Cir. 1973). 35 While the recording of all grand jury testimony is the desirable procedure, it is not mandatory. 11 United States v. Franklin, 429 F.2d 274, 276 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 967, 91 S.Ct. 380, 27 L.Ed.2d 387 (1970); F.R.Crim.P. 6. Moreover, the selective recording of grand jury testimony has been held not to be offensive to due process. United States v. Arradondo, 483 F.2d 980, 984 (8th Cir. 1973). While we are sympathetic to the appellants' complaint and recognize the limited nature of the relief sought, this Court is without power to amend Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The power lies with the Congress. 36 X. WHETHER REVERSIBLE ERROR RESULTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION INTO EVIDENCE OF A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE PREJUDICIAL TO THE APPELLANTS. 37 The government introduced, and had read to the jury, the contents of a newspaper article which FBI agents had observed appellant Lekometros read to appellants Padratzik and John. It was admitted for the purpose of proving the guilty knowledge of the appellants. 12 The relevancy of the newspaper article is not contested. The appellants argue, rather, that the prejudicial effect of its introduction into evidence outweighed the probative value. They assert that the verbatim reading of the newspaper article attacked their character and intimated they were part of a more heinous conspiracy than the one charged. We agree that the article should not have been read, but find the error harmless. 38 The court instructed the jury, immediately after the newspaper article was read, to consider only the fact that Mr. Lekometros had read the article to Messrs. Padratzik and John, and not to consider the article as proof of any fact stated therein. The government's testimony which followed also was limited to the relevant issue of scienter, the prejudicial nature of the article was not emphasized either during trial or in closing argument. This isolated intrusion of prejudicial evidence in a record strongly supporting the verdict of the jury had but slight, if any, effect and must be judged as harmless. See United States v. Oliver, 492 F.2d 943 (8th Cir. 1974); United States v. Harpel, 493 F.2d 346 (10th Cir. 1974). 39 XI. WHETHER THE ADMISSION INTO EVIDENCE OF THE RECORDED STATEMENTS OF PERSONS NOT DEFENDANTS AT TRIAL VIOLATED THE RULE AGAINST HEARSAY. 40 The appellants objected to twenty of the thirty-five recorded communications admitted into evidence on the ground that they contained statements of persons not defendants at trial. The appellants contend that the admission of these recordings violated the rule against hearsay. 41 A well recognized exception to the rule against hearsay provides: 42    Out of court statements made by a conspirator can be admitted against both declarant and his coconspirator if there is independent evidence of the conspiracy and if the statements were made during the pendency of the conspiracy in furtherance of the conspiracy itself. 43 United States v. Overshon, 494 F.2d 894, 898 (8th Cir. 1974). 44 The exception is not limited to the statements of conspirators who are made defendants at trial. United States v. Richardson, 477 F.2d 1280, 1283 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 843, 94 S.Ct. 104, 38 L.Ed.2d 82 (1973). 45 The statements of Eugene Hanon, Aaron Singer and David Goldberg, if hearsay, were within the exception to the rule and properly admitted. There is independent evidence in the record to indicate that they were coconspirators and that their statements were made during the conspiracy and in furtherance of it. Because we find to independent evidence that Joe Samuelson, Ben Cohen and Mark Hanon were coconspirators, a closer review of their statements is necessary. 46 The statements of Ben Cohen and Mark Hanon were not hearsay. Their statements were received into evidence for the fact that the statements were made and not for the truth or falsity of the matters asserted. The statements of Joe Samuelson, with a few exceptions, were properly received on the same basis. The remaining statements were received by the court on the government's offer of proof that he would be shown to be a coconspirator. See United States v. Reed, 446 F.2d 1226, 1231 (8th Cir. 1971). Moreover, the court instructed the jury that before it could use the statements against anyone but the declarant, it had to find that Mr. Samuelson was a coconspirator. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the jury did not follow that instruction. We also note that no motion to strike Samuelson's testimony at the close of the evidence was made. 47