Opinion ID: 781722
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Scarpa Materials

Text: 450 Yousef and Ismoil raise several claims concerning the Government's use of a jailhouse informant, Gregory Scarpa, a member of the Colombo Organized Crime Family who was housed in the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) with Yousef and Ismoil. For several months in 1996, Scarpa reported to government officials that Yousef and others were engaged in new and ongoing criminal activities from within the MCC. Scarpa also provided the government with kites (notes between inmates) that bore Yousef's handwriting and contained information about future terrorist threats. In the course of their investigation of Scarpa's claims, the government erected a firewall between the attorneys conducting the Scarpa investigation, which included the monitoring of Yousef's phone calls, and those prosecuting the present action. This firewall was intended to prevent information obtained in the course of the investigation that was privileged or that otherwise concerned Yousef's or Ismoil's trial strategy from being revealed to the trial prosecutors. In late 1996, the government learned from two sources that Scarpa was in fact colluding with Yousef and others to deceive it. 451 In 1997, the Government made an ex parte application to the District Court for two protective orders preventing disclosure of the Scarpa materials to defense counsel. The first application was made on July 9, 1997, pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(d)(1), and the second application was made on August 11, 1997, under 18 U.S.C. § 3500(c) and Fed.R.Crim.P. 26.2(c). The applications were granted, but none of the proceedings or orders were docketed and no notice was given to Yousef or Ismoil of their existence. 452 Yousef and Ismoil became aware of Scarpa's involvement in the present matter from newspaper articles reporting Scarpa's testimony at his October 1998 trial for racketeering — eleven months after the verdict in this case and six months into the pendency of the present appeal. In December, 1998, Ismoil sent letters to prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York (where Scarpa was tried) and the Southern District of New York requesting information relating to Scarpa's role as a jailhouse informant. The prosecutors in the Eastern District informed Ismoil's attorney that the Southern District would handle the matter, but no response was forthcoming from that office. 453 On January 19, 1999, Ismoil moved in this Court to compel the Government to furnish information regarding the Scarpa affair in order to support a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence under Fed.R.Crim.P. 33. The Government, in its February 1999 affirmation in opposition, stated that the factual record was insufficiently developed to determine whether Yousef and Ismoil were entitled to disclosure and asked that we send the motion to the District Court for further fact-finding. We agreed, see Amended Order of Mar. 1, 1999, United States v. Yousef, Nos. 98-1041(L), 98-1197, 98-1355 (2d Cir.1999), apparently unaware that the District Court had already issued protective orders pursuant to the Government's ex parte applications. In a June 1999 letter, the Government disclosed that it had sought and received protective orders sealing the Scarpa materials in 1997. In an order entered on September 13, 1999 the District Court denied Yousef's and Ismoil's motions, ruling that the Scarpa materials contained no evidence that the Government had violated their constitutional rights under Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 84 S.Ct. 1199, 12 L.Ed.2d 246 (1964), or Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). See United States v. Yousef, 1999 WL 714103, at - (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 13, 1999). The District Court also denied Yousef's and Ismoil's related recusal motions, which we address separately below. 454 Yousef and Ismoil raise a number of issues in connection with both the Government's handling of the Scarpa materials and the District Court's denial of their discovery motions. They challenge whether the granting of the protective orders was valid, and assert that the improprieties in handling the Scarpa materials warrant vacating the protective orders, full disclosure of the materials, and reversals of their convictions. They also claim that the District Court abused its discretion when it failed to conduct a fact-finding hearing on their Massiah and Brady claims and that the District Court erred in refusing to unseal Scarpa's sentencing minutes. Ismoil also claims that the Scarpa materials prejudiced his trial and decisions regarding his subsequent conditions of confinement. 455 We agree that there were procedural defects in the handling of the Scarpa materials. The Advisory Committee Note to Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(d)(1), which governs the first protective order, explicitly states that ex parte protective orders and their supporting documents are to be preserved in the records of the court to be made available to the appellate court in the event of an appeal. Similarly, Fed.R.Crim.P. 26.2(c), which governs the second protective order, 76 states that any portion of a witness's statement that is withheld from the defendant over the defendant's objection must be preserved under seal, as part of the record in case the defendant appeals. The handling of these proceedings was such that the sealed documents and Scarpa's role as a jailhouse informant would not have come to the attention of this Court or Yousef or Ismoil but for fortuitous newspaper reporting. There were, therefore, serious procedural deficiencies. 456 As noted, Rules 16(d)(1) and 26.2(c) require the Government to provide timely notice to defendants and to this Court whenever materials pertaining to the defendants are placed under seal pursuant to a protective order. The proper procedure to be followed in such cases is set out in our decision in In re Herald Co., 734 F.2d 93 (2d Cir.1984), which allows district court proceedings to occur ex parte and in camera based on sustainable findings regarding the need for confidentiality, but requires a public docketing to indicate that sealed proceedings have occurred. See id. at 102-03. In extraordinary circumstances, usually involving physical danger, docketing can be deferred, again with appropriate sustainable findings, until the danger has passed. Id. at 102 n. 7. Should the danger not pass before the case reaches this Court on appeal, an appropriate ex parte application to this Court must be made by the Government with full disclosure to this Court of the proceedings in the District Court. Under no circumstances should either the District Court or the Government handle such proceedings in a way that prevents, or risks preventing, appellate review. 77 457 The procedural defects do not, however, entitle Yousef or Ismoil to a new trial or even full disclosure of the materials. Such relief is available only if the nondisclosure of these materials was error and was substantially prejudicial. See United States v. Pelton, 578 F.2d 701, 707 (8th Cir.1978) (error in administering discovery rules under Rule 16(d)(1) is reversible only if error was prejudicial to defendant's substantial rights); cf. United States v. Hourihan, 66 F.3d 458, 464 (2d Cir.1995) (discovery violation under Rule 16(a)(1)(A) warrants new trial only if defendant can demonstrate failure to disclose caused substantial prejudice). 458 The Government, in ex parte affirmations that we have reviewed in camera, has provided various reasons why the Scarpa materials should continue to be sealed, including the protection of confidential informants and the need for secrecy about how it investigates and responds to terrorist threats. After reviewing these affirmations, we conclude that the District Court did not err in issuing the protective orders although a public docketing reflecting the existence of the sealed proceedings should have been ordered at the time of the Government's applications and certainly no later than the date on which the judgments became appealable. Moreover, our review demonstrates that there was no prejudice to Yousef or Ismoil in the nondisclosure of these materials, and that the Government's affirmations are sufficient to justify the continued sealing of the materials. 459 Yousef's and Ismoil's claims that the Scarpa materials must be disclosed in order to determine whether there was a Massiah or Brady violation are without foundation. In Massiah, the Supreme Court held that the government violates a defendant's Sixth Amendment rights when, acting through an undisclosed agent, it deliberately elicits incriminating statements after the defendant has been indicted and his rights to counsel have attached. Massiah, 377 U.S. at 205-07, 84 S.Ct. 1199. Scarpa's information concerned threats that Yousef had made against United States interests that were unrelated to his attack against the World Trade Center or the airline bombing plot. The eliciting of such information cannot violate Yousef's or Ismoil's Sixth Amendment rights under Massiah because these rights attach only to criminal conduct charged in an indictment. Additionally, Yousef and Ismoil have forfeited their rights under Massiah by deliberately colluding with Scarpa to provide the Government with (mis)information they now claim was wrongly elicited. See Jenkins v. Leonardo, 991 F.2d 1033, 1036-37 (2d Cir.1993) (finding no Massiah violation where it was absolutely clear defendant knew informant was cooperating with government). Our in camera review of the sealed materials also demonstrates that they do not contain exculpatory information that would support a Brady claim. 460 Because the Scarpa materials contain no information that has any bearing on Yousef's and Ismoil's convictions, the District Court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to hold a fact-finding hearing or unseal the sentencing minutes from Scarpa's trial. We are also satisfied, based on the affirmations submitted in support of the protective orders, that the Government established an effective firewall to prevent disclosures to the Government's trial attorneys of trial strategies or confidential communications between Yousef and Ismoil and their attorneys. 78 461 Ismoil has separately raised specific claims of prejudice from the Scarpa materials, namely that the Scarpa episode may have affected the District Court's decision to deny severance or separate juries, which, Ismoil alleges, prejudiced his defense and denied him a fair trial. Our review of the Scarpa materials finds no connection between the information in the sealed documents and the District Court's decision to deny severance or separate juries. Ismoil also alleges that the Scarpa materials have been used to justify the imposition of special administrative measures. We lack jurisdiction to address the merits of this claim, because, for the reasons stated above, Ismoil must first pursue administrative remedies against the Bureau of Prisons.