Opinion ID: 340081
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: were defendants properly indicted?

Text: 8 Appellants 2 challenge the validity of the indictments on several grounds. First, they contend that the grand jury was improperly selected. Second, they contend that the information intercepted by the wiretaps was placed before the grand jury before the government complied with 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a). Third, they argue that the government misused the grand jury to intimidate persons whom the government intended to call later as witnesses in appellants' criminal trials. Finally, appellants urge that the indictments were multiplicitous. 9
10 Appellants argue that the selection of the grand jury venire violated the Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968, 28 U.S.C. § 1861 et seq., as well as the selection plan adopted in the Eastern District of Michigan because an improper voting list was used, an unauthorized person took part in the compilation of the master jury wheel, and a jury clerk took official work out of the office to her home. 11 We decided these identical issues in United States v. McNeal, 490 F.2d 206 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1020, 95 S.Ct. 495, 42 L.Ed.2d 294 (1974). At the district court level, the parties in McNeal stipulated that precisely the same challenges to the grand jury venire had already been submitted to Judge Feikens and to Judge Pratt in the Kilpatrick and Jackson cases. The parties in McNeal agreed to be bound at the district court level by the rulings of Judge Pratt and Judge Feikens, and in accordance with their rulings, the district court denied the motion to quash the indictment in McNeal. On review we held that there was no 'substantial failure to comply with the provisions' of the act. 490 F.2d 207. We hold that our determination in McNeal is dispositive of these appeals as well, since not only the same issues but also the same facts giving rise to them are before us again. 12
13 Immediately after their arrest, several appellants filed a motion to suppress the wiretap evidence that they believed might have formed a basis for their arrests. They also sought disclosure of the applications and orders for the interceptions. In addition, they moved to enjoin the government from holding a preliminary hearing or presenting the wiretap evidence to a grand jury until ten days after obtaining the disclosure they sought. The government opposed the motions, but neither admitted nor denied the legality of the wire interceptions. After hearing oral arguments, the district court held that the government could not present wire interception evidence at a preliminary hearing without disclosure, but otherwise the district court denied the motions. 14 On the day scheduled for the preliminary hearing, appellants were indicted by the grand jury, which heard the testimony of Special Agent Garibotto and evidence from the wire interceptions. The return of the indictments made it unnecessary to conduct the preliminary hearing. 15 Appellants contend that this procedure violated 18 U.S.C. § 2518(9) and (10) (a) and 18 U.S.C. § 3504. Section 2518(9) provides that: 16 The contents of any intercepted wire or oral communication or evidence derived therefrom shall not be received in evidence or otherwise disclosed in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in a Federal or State court unless each party, not less than ten days before the trial, hearing, or proceeding, has been furnished with a copy of the court order, and accompanying application, under which the interception was authorized or approved. This ten-day period may be waived by the judge if he finds that it was not possible to furnish the party with the above information ten days before the trial, hearing, or proceeding and that the party will not be prejudiced by the delay in receiving such information. Section 2518(10)(a) provides: 17 Any aggrieved person in any trial, hearing, or proceeding in or before any court, department, officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision thereof, may move to suppress the contents of any intercepted wire or oral communication, or evidence derived therefrom, on the grounds that 18 (i) the communication was unlawfully intercepted; 19 (ii) the order of authorization or approval under which it was intercepted is insufficient on its face; or 20 (iii) the interception was not made in conformity with the order of authorization or approval. Finally, § 3504 states: 21 (a) In any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of the United States 22 (1) upon a claim by a party aggrieved that evidence is inadmissible because it is the primary product of an unlawful act or because it was obtained by the exploitation of an unlawful act, the opponent of the claim shall affirm or deny the occurrence of the alleged unlawful act . . . . 23 Appellants contend that these sections authorized their motions to suppress, required the government to affirm or deny the legality of the wire interceptions, and prohibited the government from relying on the evidence gathered as a result of the interceptions until these requirements were satisfied. Accordingly, they contend that their indictments must be quashed because the government presented this evidence to the grand jury before it replied to their challenge to the interceptions. 18 U.S.C. § 2515 provides that no intercepted wire communication or evidence derived therefrom may be received in evidence . . . in any . . . proceeding . . . before any . . . grand jury . . . if the disclosure of that information would be in violation of this chapter. 24 We hold that the government was not required to comply with § 2518(9) or to affirm or deny the illegality of the interception before it could introduce the intercepted communications before the grand jury, nor were appellants entitled to prevent the presentation of this evidence to the grand jury even if the interception were unlawful. 25 The legislative history of § 2518(9) demonstrates that Congress did not intend the ten-day disclosure requirement to apply to grand jury proceedings. The Senate Report section-by-section analysis provides that: 26 Proceeding is intended to include all adversary type hearings. It would include a trial itself, a probation revocation proceeding, or a hearing on a motion for reduction of sentence. It would not include a grand jury hearing. Compare Blue v. United States, 384 U.S. 251, 86 S.Ct. 1416, 16 L.Ed.2d 510 (1966). 27 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2195 (1968). 28 The Congressional history of § 2518(10)(a) demonstrates that this section was not intended to permit a defendant to challenge the evidence presented to the grand jury: 29 Paragraph (10)(a) . . . must be read in connection with sections 2515 and 2517, discussed above, which it limits. It provides the remedy for the right created by section 2515. Because no person is a party as such to a grand jury proceeding, the provision does not envision the making of a motion to suppress in the context of such a proceeding itself. Normally, there is no limitation on the character of evidence that may be presented to a grand jury, which is enforcible by an individual. (Blue v. United States, 384 U.S. 251, 86 S.Ct. 1416, 16 L.Ed.2d 510 (1966).) There is no intent to change this general rule. It is the intent of the provision only that when a motion to suppress is granted in another context, its scope may include use in a future grand jury proceeding. 30 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2195 (1968). (Emphasis added.) 31 The Supreme Court's opinion in Gelbard v. United States, 408 U.S. 41, 92 S.Ct. 2357, 33 L.Ed.2d 179 (1972) analyzes §§ 2518(10)(a) and 3504, and supports the conclusion that they do not authorize a defendant to suppress evidence before the grand jury on the grounds that it was intercepted illegally. Nor is the government required to affirm or deny the legality of the interception. In Gelbard the Court held that a grand jury witness could refuse to answer questions that were based upon illegal interceptions, and could defend against a contempt charge under 18 U.S.C. § 2515. Section 2515 bars the use as evidence before official bodies of the contents and the fruits of illegal interceptions. The Court held that in the context of § 3504, which states the procedures by which aggrieved persons may challenge illegally procured evidence, a party aggrievedcan only be a witness, for there is no other party to a grand jury proceeding. Moreover, a claim . . . that evidence is inadmissible can only be a claim that the witness' potential testimony is inadmissible. 32 408 U.S. 54, 92 S.Ct. 2364. (Emphasis added.) 33 The Supreme Court drew a careful distinction between a witness before the grand jury, who it held may refuse to answer questions based upon illegal interceptions, and a defendant or potential defendant. The Court held that: 34 The congressional concern with the applicability of § 2518(10)(a) in grand jury proceedings, so far as it is discernible from the Senate report, was apparently that defendants and potential defendants might be able to utilize suppression motions to impede the issuance of indictments: Normally, there is no limitation on the character of evidence that may be presented to a grand jury, which is enforcible by an individual. (United States v. Blue, 384 U.S. 251, 86 S.Ct. 1416, 16 L.Ed.2d 510 (1966).) There is no intent to change this general rule. S.Rep. No. 1097, 90th Cong., 2d Sess., 106 (1968); U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, p. 2195. The general rule, as illustrated in Blue, is that a defendant is not entitled to have his indictment dismissed before trial simply because the Government acquire(d) incriminating evidence in violation of the (law), even if the tainted evidence was presented to the grand jury. 384 U.S. at 255 and n. 3, 86 S.Ct. 1419; see Lawn v. United States, 355 U.S. 339, 78 S.Ct. 311, 2 L.Ed.2d 321 (1958); Costello v. United States, 350 U.S. 359, 76 S.Ct. 406, 100 L.Ed. 397 (1956). But that rule has nothing whatever to do with the situation of a grand jury witness who has refused to testify and attempts to defend a subsequent charge of contempt. 35 408 U.S. 59-60, 92 S.Ct. 2367. 36 Accordingly, we hold that appellants were not entitled to contest the legality of the intercepted communications before the communications were submitted to the grand jury. Appellants contend, however, that they had a right to contest the admissibility of wiretap evidence at the scheduled preliminary hearing, and that the government could not deprive them of this right by the sudden tactic of obtaining an indictment. 37 Our court has repeatedly held that if a grand jury returns a true bill prior to the time a preliminary hearing is held, the whole purpose and justification of the preliminary hearing has been satisfied. United States v. Mulligan, 520 F.2d 1327, 1329 (6th Cir. 1975). A defendant has no right to have a preliminary hearing if a grand jury indictment is returned. Although we have recognized that a preliminary hearing may as a practical matter provide a defendant with an irreplaceable opportunity for discovery, a defendant has no absolute right to these ancillary benefits. For example, in Mulligan we held that defendants, who wanted to cross-examine a key government witness prior to trial, suffered no prejudice when their preliminary hearing was continued to permit the government to obtain a grand jury indictment in the interim. Accordingly, we hold that appellants suffered no legal prejudice when the government proceeded by indictment, rather than by a preliminary hearing at which appellants could have contested the legality of the wire interceptions pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 2518(10)(a) and 3504. 38
39 Appellants also assert that the government improperly used the grand jury to discover and preserve evidence to be used at the trial of their already pending indictments. They assert that both Burt and Nabors were called before the grand jury to testify against appellants after appellants' indictment. The government concedes that it is improper to use a grand jury solely to prepare a pending indictment for trial. Beverly v. United States, 468 F.2d 732 (5th Cir. 1972); 8 Moore's Federal Practice P 6.04. But it contends that the record contains no support for appellants' claim that Burt and Nabors were called only to prepare pending indictments for trial. Additionally, the government urges that appellants have not demonstrated that any prejudice resulted from the alleged misconduct, and it contends that only Nabors and Burt have standing to raise the issue. 40 A presumption of regularity attaches to a grand jury's proceedings and appellants have the burden of demonstrating that an irregularity occurred. Universal Manufacturing Co. v. United States, 508 F.2d 684 (8th Cir. 1975); Beverly v. United States, 468 F.2d 732 (5th Cir. 1972). Moreover, we agree with the observation made by the First Circuit that: 41 grand jury proceedings cannot be policed in any detail. It is a price we pay for grand jury independence that sometimes people are indicted on the basis of evidence tainted in part by hearsay, Costello v. United States, 350 U.S. 359, 76 S.Ct. 406, 100 L.Ed. 397 (1956), or of illegally obtained evidence, Lawn v. United States, 355 U.S. 339, 78 S.Ct. 311, 2 L.Ed.2d 321 (1958). Nor is a grand jury narrowly confined in its objectives, Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 26 S.Ct. 370, 50 L.Ed. 652 (1906), Blair v. United States, 250 U.S. 273, 39 S.Ct. 468, 63 L.Ed. 979 (1919). 42 United States v. Doe, 455 F.2d 1270, 1274 (1st Cir. 1972). 3 Accordingly, in United States v. George, 444 F.2d 310, 314 (6th Cir. 1971) we held that (s)o long as it is not the sole or dominant purpose of the grand jury to discover facts relating to (a defendant's) pending indictment, the Court may not interfere with the grand jury's investigation. 43 Neither appellants nor the government have cited to us any portion of the record in which appellants presented this claim to the district court, and we have searched the voluminous record to no avail. However, assuming that this issue is properly before us, we hold that appellants have presented nothing beyond their own unproved suspicions to prove that Burt and Nabors were improperly summoned before the grand jury for the sole or dominant purpose of preparing the pending indictments for trial. Portions of the testimony at trial suggest that after appellants were indicted, Burt and Nabors did testify before the grand jury regarding some of the matters at issue in appellants' trial. However, appellants have made no showing that Burt and Nabors were not called in order to determine whether other persons not yet indicted were also involved in the conspiracy under investigation. The indictments charged that appellants conspired with divers other persons whose names are to the Grand Jury unknown, and the grand jury could properly call witnesses in an attempt to identify these persons. United States v. Beverly, supra. 44
45 Appellants allege that they were improperly indicted and convicted of five separate acts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, 4 when the proofs showed that all the narcotics in question were found at the Hubbell Street house, and that the intercepted wire communications indicated that appellants had just received a single shipment. Accordingly, appellants contend that the fragmentation into multiple counts of a single act of possession of narcotics violated their right to due process. 46 Apparently appellants raise this contention for the first time on appeal. The government contends that under F.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(2) appellants' failure to make the claim that the indictment was multiplicitous by pretrial motion constituted a waiver of this objection. F.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(2) requires that (d)efenses and objections based on defects . . . in the indictment or information must be raised prior to trial. (Emphasis added.) However, F.R.Crim.P. 12(f) also provides that the (f)ailure by a party to raise defenses or objections or to make requests which must be made prior to trial . . . shall constitute waiver thereof, but the court for cause shown may grant relief from the waiver. (Emphasis added.) 47 Since it is not entirely clear from the general averments in the indictments that the narcotics referred to in counts 12 through 16 were all seized from the Hubbell Street house, there may have been good cause for appellants' failure to have raised this issue before the district court until the government presented its case. However, since appellants failed to present this objection to the district court even after the close of the government's case, when the factual basis of their objection was apparent, we hold that they waived this objection under F.R.Crim.P. 12(f). 48 Appellants also argue that counts 6 and 10 and counts 7 and 11 are multiplicitous, because they charge both distribution and possession with intent to distribute the same quantities of drugs. They urge that possession with intent to distribute is a lesser offense included within distribution. Again, it appears that appellants did not raise this contention before the trial court, and we hold, accordingly, that it was waived. F.R.Crim.P. 12(f). 49