Opinion ID: 487491
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Request for Jencks Act Material

Text: 23 Ricks contends that the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3500, is a defendant's exclusive means for obtaining statements of government witnesses before trial. He claims that the government informed the United States Magistrate that it would provide Jencks Act material to Ricks on the Friday afternoon preceding the trial. The government then failed to produce the material. Ricks claims that access to the Jencks Act statements was essential to his defense because he had no other way to determine what the eye witnesses to the bank robbery stated to the FBI. Ricks alleges that the government made the decision not to use certain material in preparing its case for trial so that it would not have to disclose that material. By intentionally not showing certain statements to witnesses, but using those statements instead as a basis for witness interviews, Ricks argues that the government effectively circumvented the Jencks Act and deprived him of the opportunity to learn of possible inconsistencies in the statements. The district court found that the statements did not qualify as Jencks Act statements. 24 A Jencks Act statement, as defined by Congress, is a written statement made by a witness and signed or otherwise adopted or proved by him. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3500(e). The statements which Ricks requested consisted of FBI memoranda of witness interviews. The prosecutor informed the district court that the witnesses never adopted the memoranda as their own statements. In Palermo v. United States, 360 U.S. 343, 79 S.Ct. 1217, 3 L.Ed.2d 1287 (1959), the Supreme Court clarified the legislative intent of the Jencks Act. The Palermo Court held that Congress intended to make certain that only those statements which could properly be called the witness' own words should be made available to the defense for purposes of impeachment. Palermo v. United States, 360 U.S. at 352, 79 S.Ct. at 1224. Although appellate courts have encouraged the practice of pretrial disclosure of Jencks Act material in order to expedite discovery, the practice is only encouraged where the material in question is properly subject to the Jencks Act. Ricks has not demonstrated that the statements in this case fell within the definition of Jencks Act materials; consequently, we affirm on this issue. 1