Opinion ID: 444438
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 On May 3, 1983, appellant testified before the United States Grand Jury for the Southern District of Iowa pursuant to a subpoena. The grand jury was investigating a bank robbery which occurred on April 22, 1983. Two individuals, Eddie Tyrone Wells and Harold Eugene McQuarry, had been arrested by police shortly after the robbery near the scene of the crime. Appellant was suspected of driving Wells and McQuarry to a certain location to borrow the car used in the robbery shortly before the commission of the crime. 3 Under oath before the grand jury appellant testified in response to the prosecutor's questions as follows: 4 Q. And when is the last time you saw Mr. McQuarry? 5
6 Q. What's a while? 7 A. I don't know, back in the 60's. 8 Q. Did you see Mr. McQuarry on April 22, 1983, in the afternoon? 9 A. Not as far as I know. 10    11    12 Q. Isn't it a fact sir that at approximately 2:15 you and Mr. Wells left 1170 18th Street and went to the east side to pick up Harold McQuarry. 13
14    15    16 Q. You did not take Mr. Wells and Mr. McQuarry to West Des Moines to the Anderson residence to borrow a car? 17
18 Q. Are you sure of that? 19 A. Yes. 20 The grand jury subsequently indicted Wells and McQuarry for the bank robbery. Wells pled guilty to a lesser and included offense and McQuarry stood trial. At McQuarry's trial both McQuarry and Wells testified that appellant drove them to Anderson's house on the day of the robbery. McQuarry was convicted by the jury. Shortly thereafter appellant was indicted for violating 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1623. The indictment charged that the testimony of appellant, previously set out in this opinion, constituted perjury before the grand jury. Appellant pled not guilty and waived his right to a jury trial. 21 At the perjury trial the government introduced the transcript of appellant's testimony before the grand jury and called the foreman to establish the scope of the proceedings rather than introduce the entire transcript of the grand jury investigation. The foreman testified that appellant was subpoenaed because the grand jury wanted a witness who could place Wells and McQuarry with the car prior to the robbery, wanted to ascertain if more individuals were involved in a possible conspiracy to rob the bank, and wanted to reconstruct the events leading up to the crime they were investigating. Wells and McQuarry testified that it was the appellant that drove them to Anderson's house on April 22, 1983. Appellant put on no evidence and rested his case at the close of the government's case. 22 On April 19, 1984, the trial court found appellant guilty of making false material declarations to the grand jury in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1623. The trial court found that only appellant's answers to the second and third questions, previously set out, were false and knowingly made by appellant. The court concluded these false statements were material to the grand jury investigation because appellant's denial of contact with McQuarry on the day of the robbery precluded further inquiry into the actions of McQuarry as they might have related to preparation for the robbery and the involvement of others in a possible robbery conspiracy. Lastly the court held that appellant was not entitled to a warning against self-incrimination before testifying before the grand jury and that in a perjury case the declaration alleged to be false must be set forth in the indictment. 3 Appellant was subsequently sentenced to an 18-month prison term and this timely appeal was filed. 23 On appeal appellant first argues that the government failed to furnish enough evidence for the trial court to determine the scope of the grand jury investigation because the government failed to introduce the entire transcript of the grand jury proceeding. Appellant contends that the testimony of the foreman of the grand jury was insufficient to establish the scope of the inquiry. Next, appellant argues that his alleged false declarations were not material because they were incapable of influencing the issue before the grand jury which appellant limits to the question of whether to indict Wells and McQuarry. Appellant maintains that the bank robbery was a solved crime, that he denied specific conduct that was peripheral to the investigation and that his responses did not prevent the prosecutor from asking appellant what he knew of the crime. 24 In response the government contends it adequately established the scope of the grand jury inquiry through the foreman's testimony and that appellant's false declarations were material to the grand jury investigation. It is the government's view that the trial court did not err when it concluded that some of appellant's declarations were false and material as a matter of law.