Opinion ID: 664742
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: failure to dismiss the grand jury indictment

Text: 7 The government concedes that Lennick's indictment was not physically handed to a federal magistrate in open court and that the prosecuting attorney handed it to a court clerk when the court was not in session. However, the government argues that Fed.R.Crim.P. 6(f)'s requirement that an indictment be returned in open court was satisfied because these events were the functional equivalent of returning in open court and because Lennick was arraigned in open court five days later. Lennick insists that an indictment which is not physically returned in open court must be dismissed under the leading case of Renigar v. United States, 172 F. 646 (4th Cir.1909). 8 We agree that Fed.R.Crim.P. 6(f) requires indictments to be returned in open court, and that Montana's practice of handing indictments to the court clerk when court is not in session violates this rule. However, contrary to Lennick's arguments, 2 errors in the grand jury indictment procedure are subject to harmless error analysis unless the structural protections of the grand jury have been so compromised as to render the proceedings fundamentally unfair. Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States, 487 U.S. 250, 254-57, 108 S.Ct. 2369, 2373-75, 101 L.Ed.2d 228 (1988) (citing cases where the grand jury selection process was discriminatory). Dismissal of an indictment is considered a 'drastic step' and is generally disfavored as a remedy. People of Guam v. Muna, 999 F.2d 397, 399 (9th Cir.1993) (quoting United States v. Rogers, 751 F.2d 1074, 1076-77 (9th Cir.1985)). A defect in form which does not prejudice the defendant does not require dismissal. United States v. Mechanik, 475 U.S. 66, 71-72, 106 S.Ct. 938, 942, 89 L.Ed.2d 50 (1986) (dismissal not required where two witnesses appeared before the grand jury in violation of Rule 6(d)); Breese & Dickerson v. United States, 226 U.S. 1, 10-11, 33 S.Ct. 1, 2-3, 57 L.Ed. 97 (1912) (dismissal not required where only the grand jury foreman was present in open court). 9 While no recent case has addressed the situation of an indictment being handed to a court clerk rather than returned in open court, the procedure employed in the present case was not fundamentally unfair. The record shows that both the grand jury foreman and the United States Attorney signed the indictment and that the court clerk filed it the day it was returned. Lennick was arraigned in open court five days later, and made no objection to the manner in which the indictment had been returned. The trial occurred within the timelines mandated by the Speedy Trial Act. Lennick has not shown that the grand jury was likely to treat any defendants unfairly or that they in fact treated him unfairly. The indictment adequately notified Lennick of the charges against him. 10 [D]ismissal of the indictment is appropriate only 'if it is established that the violation substantially influenced the grand jury's decision to indict,' or if there is 'grave doubt' that the decision to indict was free from the substantial influence of such violations. Bank of Nova Scotia, 487 U.S. at 256, 108 S.Ct. at 2374 (quoting Mechanik, 475 U.S. at 78, 106 S.Ct. at 945); Muna, 999 F.2d at 399. Lennick has made no such showing. The evidence found during the warranted search showed overwhelmingly that Lennick was growing marijuana in his home. Nothing suggests that the grand jury would have failed to return the indictment had the magistrate asked the grand jury foreman to hand it to the clerk in open court. A petit jury later found Lennick guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. 11 While we do not condone the failure of a court and its staff to comply with a simple rule, in this case, the error was harmless. Muna, 999 F.2d at 399. 12