Opinion ID: 380205
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Government Failure to Preserve Evidence.

Text: 16 Agent Fredericks was the DEA Agent who investigated the case and interviewed May in preparation for his becoming an informant and ultimately testifying against Comstock and his co-defendant Bernard. A pretrial motion was made to obtain any exculpatory material and any prior statements of witnesses. No statement of May was ever received. Upon cross-examination, when asked why he had never reduced May's statement to writing, Agent Fredericks said: 17 Normally in interviewing either an informant or a defendant over a period of time, a lot of times the facts will differ from one interview to the next; under legal guidelines, any notes which the agent or interviewer makes, the defense deserves to have those notes, so in trying to avoid contradicting facts from the interview of any defendant or any informant, it is my policy not to write down anything until I am sure the defendant or informant knows exactly what he is saying, and at that time I will make a report, or dictate a report on an IBM dictaphone and have that transcribed. That is to prevent any problems of getting into court and having contradictions from for instance an interview in March with an interview in July, with an interview in August, with an interview in September, and having the defense counsel come back and say Well, did you say this differently at this time? That is the purpose of my not taking notes. 18 The defense sought to dismiss the action based upon the deliberate efforts of Agent Fredericks to thwart discovery under the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500; F.R.Crim.Pro. 16; and Brady v. Maryland, 1963, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215. Agent Fredericks also disposed of a tape of a conversation between Comstock and an informant because, in his opinion, it was unintelligible, and failed to keep the photographs used for identification purposes at Garrett Freight Lines. 19 We emphatically disapprove of Agent Fredericks' views and motivation, and his conduct. His testimony announces a desire to deprive defendants of knowledge of any statements favorable to them that may have been made to him by the informant. This seems to us to be quite inconsistent with the obligations of a law enforcement officer representing the United States Government. Such an officer has a duty to gather all of the facts about an offense, so far as time and his abilities permit, not just those facts that the agent thinks helpful to obtaining a conviction. His superiors and the prosecuting authorities must rely on him to do so. Both he and they have a duty to protect the innocent as well as to catch and prosecute the guilty. And that duty extends to being fair to those whom he may believe to be guilty. Playing games with evidence, as Agent Fredericks has done, demeans him, his agency, and the government itself. 20 However, we can find no statutory basis for compelling the creation of Jencks Act material. The Jencks Act requires the prosecution to produce written statements of various types or their equivalent, 18 U.S.C. § 3500(b), (e). The purpose of the Act was to make any existing prior statements made by a government witness equally available to the defense and the prosecution. See United States v. Cruz, 5 Cir., 1973, 478 F.2d 408, 411. Descriptions of interviews with witnesses that are not substantially verbatim are not discoverable under the Jencks Act. 18 U.S.C. § 3500(e). See Palermo v. United States, 1959, 360 U.S. 343, 352-353, 79 S.Ct. 1217, 1224-1225, 3 L.Ed.2d 1287. We cannot read into this requirement a further requirement that the government create such discoverable statements in the first instance. Accord, see United States v. Short, 9 Cir., 1974, 493 F.2d 1170, 1173; United States v. Jackson, 9 Cir., 1971, 448 F.2d 963, 971-972. See also United States v. Lieberman, 1 Cir., 1979, 608 F.2d 889, 896-897; United States v. Head, 5 Cir., 1978, 586 F.2d 508, 511-512; United States v. Cruz, supra. Nor can we find a constitutional basis for compelling the creation of such material under Brady. United States v. Sukumolachan, 9 Cir., 1980, 610 F.2d 685, 687. See also Reyes v. United States, 9 Cir., 1969, 417 F.2d 916, 918. The motivation of Agent Fredericks would be irrelevant in such an inquiry. United States v. Agurs, 1976, 427 U.S. 97, 110, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 2400, 49 L.Ed.2d 342; Brady v. Maryland, supra, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. at 1196. 21 We do not think that the conduct of Agent Fredericks aids the courts in the search for truth or in the conduct of fair trials, and we hope that such conduct does not become the policy of government investigating agencies. However, as much as we disapprove of that conduct, it is not reversible error here. 22 Even if the failure to produce the photographs and tape at trial was error, such error was harmless to Comstock. None of the employees at Garrett Freight Lines were able to identify Comstock from the photos which were destroyed. Nor does Comstock present any reason for us to think that the material on the tape was exculpatory. Comstock was not prejudiced by the failure to produce these pieces of evidence. 23