Opinion ID: 254349
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the new trial appeal

Text: 7 The first matter to be considered is denial of the defendants' motion for a new trial. Their motion was based primarily on the discovery after trial of 43 unnumbered documents in the Government's files which they argue were material to the conduct of their defense. 1 They contend that they were denied due process by reason of the Government's failure to make available to them during the trial the contents of the 'Owen File.' 2 8 For an understanding of the matters in dispute on the new trial motion some preliminary statement is necessary as to the contents of the Owen File, how the 43 documents contained therein came into the Government's possession, and their relevance to testimony given at the trial by the prosecution's witness Paul Ullman. The documents were papers which belonged to Ullman or his corporation New Sanitary Towel Supply, Inc., of which he was president. In order to prepare its case for trial the Government by use of subpoenas took possession of many documents belonging to Ullman or New Sanitary. No receipts were given for the material so taken. Before trial the prosecution was ordered by judge Dimock to turn over to defense counsel all documents 'furnished to or obtained by the Government, by any means' which were 'material to the proof of the issues in this case or to the preparation of the defense of any of the defendants.' At the trial Ullman testified that New Sanitary had competed with defendants and had taken customers away from them. Thereupon, he continued, New Sanitary had been subjected to retaliatory economic attacks by defendants acting in concert, which resulted in his being forced to sell New Sanitary to defendants at a sacrifice price. Although the Government's proof included evidence of alleged wrongs by defendants not directed against New Sanitary, Ullman was at least, in the words of the trial judge, 'an important Government witness who gave extensive testimony at the trial.' A large part of the trial transcript concerns the Ullman story. During Ullman's examination at trial the trial court directed the Government to permit defense counsel to inspect all documents relating to Ullman's story, which by then had become evident to be crucial testimony on behalf of the prosecution. In supposed compliance with the orders, the Government did turn over for inspection certain files relating to the case. But these did not include the papers subsequently found in the 'Owen File.' 3 9 Of these papers one falls in a class apart from the other 42 documents. This is a letter from Ullman to the New York Telephone Company on the subject of discontinuance of New Sanitary's telephone service. This 'telephone letter' was held in Mr. Owen's hand and referred to by him during his redirect examination of Ullman. 4 It is the only paper in the Owen File which the Government concedes it knowingly possessed during the trial. 10 On July 2, 1958, which was only slightly more than two weeks after the trial court found the defendants guilty, the Anti Trust Division showed the Owen File to Ullman, his lawyer and his accountant, who were preparing to bring a treble damage action against the defendants. At that date, and also on December 4, 1958, when the Anti Trust Division showed the Owen File to defense lawyers, the File contained the telephone letter used by Owen during the trial as well as the 42 documents which the appellants claim were illegally suppressed. 11 1. Location of the Owen File and its contents during the trial. 12 The brief of the United States contends that the movants for a new trial failed to prove that the Owen File was in the Government's possession during the trial. In his opinion denying the motion, Judge Palmieri said, App. 3386a: 13 'I find it impossible, on the basis of the affidavits before me, to make findings or to reach conclusions which would adequately explain the presence of these papers in the Government files at the time they were found. All that is clear is that sometime after the criminal trial was concluded, these papers were found, at different times, in the Government files which the parties to the civil case were permitted to inspect.' 14 If these statements be regarded as findings of fact, this court is as well able as was the trial judge to pass upon the affidavits. 5 But in our opinion the trial court erred in a matter of law in failing to consider and apply the evidentiary principle that the subsequent existence of a fact supports the inference of its earlier existence, when the subsequent condition is one which ordinarily would not exist unless it had also existed at the earlier time. This principle is discussed in 2 Wigmore on Evidence (3rd ed.) 413-414, and we recently recognized it in Russell, Poling & Co. v. Conners Standard Marine Corp., 2 Cir., 252 F.2d 167, 170. 6 In the light of the fact that the Owen File was among Government files shortly after trial, it is a proper inference, absent any explanation of how it came to be there, that the Government had possession of it during the trial. Had this principle been applied, the trial judge would have found that the Owen File was in the Government's possession before the trial was concluded. 15 2. The Owen File would have been useful to the defendants in their cross-examination of Ullman. 16 The papers contained in the File consist of scattered correspondence in the years 1949 to 1951 as well as financial data and contracts of New Sanitary. The Government's brief contends that the documents in the file would have strengthened the case of the prosecution. The trial judge expressed the view that the movants 'failed to prove that they were materially handicapped as a result of the absence of the papers,' 7 and that the documents would not have affected his determination of the defendant's guilt. 8 We disagree with the Government's contention and the trial court's conclusions. Ullman was a witness who at times not only contradicted his prior testimony but also was vague in his recollection of events which occurred years before. Some of the documents contained in the Owen File would have been of obvious benefit to the defense counsel in their cross-examination of Ullman. It will suffice, without detailed discussion, to refer to three matters as to which the trial court made specific findings based on Ullman's testimony. One was the 1950 strike at New Sanitary which the court found the defendants had either instigated or of which they had obtained advance notice. 9 Another was the extent of Ullman's investment in New Sanitary, and a third was New Sanitary's dealings with Howard Johnson restaurants. At the trial the defendants sought to show that Ullman had exaggerated the damage caused by the strike as well as his investment in and the profits of his New Sanitary business. Some of the documents in the File were highly relevant to the defendants' contentions. It is, of course, impossible to know whether the result of the trial would have been different if defense counsel had had the Owen documents. No one can tell what might have developed had the Government's principal witness been confronted with them during cross-examination, or if certain of the documents had been available to refresh his recollection about facts which he did not remember and which, if elicited, might have been helpful to the defendants. As stated in Clancy v. United States, 365 U.S. 312, 316, 81 S.Ct. 645, 648, 5 L.Ed.2d 574: 'Since the production of at least some of the statements withheld was a right of the defense, it is not for us to speculate whether they could have been utilized effectively.' 17 3. Treating the motion as one alleging negligent suppression of evidence are the defendants entitled to a new trial? 18 The appellants do not contend that the suppression was wilful, i.e. Knowingly done by the prosecution or other Government agents. 10 They do contend that it was negligent. The Government disputes that any negligence was proved. We think it was. Here the documents came into possession of the Anti Trust Division in connection with preparing the case for trial. Someone in the Government's employ so arranged them in the files that the prosecutor did not find them when he attempted to comply with the trial court's order to permit defense counsel to inspect all documents relating to Ullman's testimony. Having become custodian of them for its own benefit in this anti trust prosecution, we hold that it was the duty of the Government to keep the evidence of which it was custodian in such manner that it would be available for use upon the trial by all parties. This duty was breached by someone in the Government's employ. Through unexplained acts, certain of the papers in the Government's custody were misplaced and consequently were not shown to defendants when inspection was ordered. This failure to produce deprived the defendants of evidence which would have been helpful to them on points which the findings show were of great importance in determining their guilt. For practical purposes the Owen papers were temporarily lost. We hold this was negligence chargeable to the prosecution. 19 Although no authoritative case precisely in point has been called to our attention, the appellants' citations tend to support the conclusion that the negligent suppression of material evidence by the Government entitles a defendant to a new trial. In United States v. Heath, D.C.D.Hawaii,147 F.Supp. 877, appeal dismissed 9 Cir., 260 F.2d 623 where documentary evidence relevant to the charges and necessary for defense was lost by Government agents, the district Judge held that the indictment be dismissed. In Napue v. People of State of Illinois, 360 U.S. 264, 79 S.Ct. 1173, 3 L.Ed.2d 1217, the court cited with approval a statement from People v. Savvides, 1 N.Y.2d 554, 557, 154 N.Y.S.2d 885, 887, 136 N.E.2d 853, 855: 20 'That the district attorney's silence was not the result of guile or a desire to prejudice matters little, for its impact was the same, preventing as it did, a trial that could in any real sense be termed fair.' 21 The Savvides case has been described as an example of a negligent suppression of evidence. See Comment, 32 N.Y.U. Law Rev. 607, 611. The Napue opinion also cites with approval United States ex rel. Montgomery v. Ragen, D.C.N.D.Ill., 86 F.Supp. 382 where the prosecution was charged with constructive knowledge of a doctor's report favorable to the accused, even through it was not in the State's custody. See also Curran v. State of Delaware, 3 Cir., 259 F.2d 707, 713. Whether the unfairness involved in a conviction under these circumstances, like that involved when evidence is deliberately suppressed, is so fundamental as to amount to a denial of due process of law we do not feel called upon to decide. Compare United States v. Heath, supra, and Curran v. State of Delaware, supra, with Woollomes v. Heinze, 9 Cir., 198 F.2d 577, 579, certiorari denied 340 U.S. 897, 71 S.Ct. 235, 95 L.Ed. 650, and Application of Landeros, D.C.D.N.J., 154 F.Supp. 183. As the Ninth Circuit noted in the course of its opinion dismissing the appeal in Heath, supra, 'There is no necessity to reach the verge of a contitutional question.' 260 F.2d at page 629. We are content to rest our decision on our conviction that the denial of a new trial here is inconsistent with the correct administration of criminal justice in the federal courts, which it is our duty as an appellante court to supervise. As we recently said in another context: 22 'The prosecutor must be vigilant to see to it that full disclosure is made at trial of whatever may be in his possession which bears in any material degree on the charge for which a defendant is tried. In the long run it is more important that the government disclose the truth so that justice may be done than that some advantage might accrue to the prosecution toward ensuring a conviction.' 23 United States v. Zborowski, 2 Cir., 271 F.2d 661, 668. Accordingly we hold that the judgments must be reversed and a new trial granted. 24 However, one defendant is not subject to retrial on the present indictment. On January 21, 1958 the trial judge permitted an amendment of the indictment to change the name of defendant 'Standard Coat Apron & Linen Service, Inc.' to 'Standard Coat, Apron & Linen Service, Inc.' The change consisted in inserting a comma after the word 'Coat.' Although the addition of the comma might superficially appear to be only a correction of a typographical error, the change actually substituted as a defendant a 1951 corporation for a dissolved 1941 corporation. 11 The substitution violated the rule laid down in Ex Parte Bain, 121 U.S. 1, 7 S.Ct. 781, 30 L.Ed. 849 where the Supreme Court adopted the common law rule that an indictment cannot be amended by the court. This court followed the Bain decision in Dodge v. United States, 2 Cir., 258 F. 300, 7 A.L.R. 1510, certiorari denied 250 U.S. 660, 40 S.Ct. 10, 63 L.Ed. 1194. It is true that some circuits have held the rule applicable only to amendments of substance and not amendments of form. 12 Such an exception is not here applicable. The substitution of one defendant for another cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered one of form only. 25 The defendants content that the amendment rendered the indictment void as to all of them. No authority has been cited and we can see no reason for such a rule. There has been no suggestion that the others were prejudiced by the change. To upset their conviction on this ground would be a return to mere formalism. Compare Dodge v. United States, supra, holding that an amendment of two counts did not affect that right to try the defendant upon other counts of the indictment.