Opinion ID: 1985352
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Government's Qualified Privilege.

Text: The common law has long recognized that the identities of individuals who provide information to the police or to prosecutors concerning criminal activities are protected from disclosure, and that the relevant privilege is one which the government may assert. See, e.g., Vogel v. Gruaz, 110 U.S. 311, 314-15, 4 S.Ct. 12, 13-14, 28 L.Ed. 158 (1884); Developments in the Law-Privileged Communications, 98 HARV. L.REV. 1450, 1596-1600 (1985). For many years, the courts viewed this privilege as an absolute barrier against disclosure. Gruaz, supra, 110 U.S. at 315, 4 S.Ct. at 14; Privileged Communications, 98 HARV. L.REV. at 1597. In Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957), however, the Supreme Court substantially redefined the government's privilege, holding that no fixed rule with respect to the disclosure of an informant's identity is appropriate, and that the public interest in protecting the free flow of information to the government must be balanced against an individual's right to prepare his defense. Id. at 62, 77 S.Ct. at 628. There are obvious similarities (but some differences) [4] between the government's interest in protecting the identity of an informant and its interest in preventing the public disclosure of the precise location of a concealed observation post. In Hicks v. United States, 431 A.2d 18 (D.C.1981), relying on Roviaro and other precedents relating to informers, this court held that the government has a qualified privilege to withhold the location of a secret surveillance position. Id. at 21. We explained that the [l]aw enforcement interests in surveillance positions are analogous to those concerning informants. If an observation location becomes known to the public at large, its value to law enforcement probably will be lost. The revelation, moreover, may jeopardize the lives of police officers and of cooperative occupants of the building. Id. We left to the sound discretion of the trial court the determination whether in a particular case the privilege must yield to the accused's right to confront and cross-examine prosecution witnesses. [5] The government concedes, and we agree, that evidentiary privileges, by definition, inhibit the production of potentially probative evidence. Recognition of such privileges is always, in some measure, in derogation of the search for truth. United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 710, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 3108, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974). Where, as here, the prosecution has invoked an evidentiary privilege in a criminal case, a ruling in the government's favor not only reduces the relevant information available to the trier of fact, but also restricts in some measure the accused's opportunity to confront and cross-examine the witnesses against him. Notwithstanding these countervailing concerns, which the government properly characterizes in its brief as fundamental, certain narrowly defined evidentiary privileges have been found to be justifiable to protect specific and significant societal interests. As we have noted in our quotation from Hicks, supra, the government's interest in continuing to use an observation post and in the protection of the security of police officers and of cooperative citizens may justify some curtailment of the defendant's confrontation rights and related interests. No such curtailment will be countenanced, however, if the defendant can show that application of the privilege will jeopardize the fairness of the proceedings. Hicks, supra, 431 A.2d at 21. Under our precedents, the determination whether disclosure of a concealed observation post shall be required proceeds in two stages. First, the defendant must make a threshold showing of need for the information; he must establish that he needs the evidence to conduct his defense and that there are no alternative means of getting at the same point. Thompson, supra note 5, 472 A.2d at 900 (quoting Harley, supra, 221 U.S.App.D.C. at 71, 682 F.2d at 1020). This threshold showing is required upon the prosecution's invocation of the privilege, and before the court explores the specifics of the government's countervailing interest ( e.g., whether the observation post is still in use, whether cooperating civilians remain in jeopardy, and similar considerations). See State v. Williams, 239 N.J.Super. 620, 626, 571 A.2d 1358, 1362 (App.Div.1990). The defendant's burden in making his initial showing of need is therefore significantly more modest than his second-stage burden of establishing that, in spite of the possible peril to officers and civilians and the potential curtailment of a legitimate means of law enforcement arising in the particular case, disclosure should nevertheless be required. Relying on Thompson and on our later decision in Jenkins v. United States, 541 A.2d 1269 (D.C.1988), Anderson asserted at trial and maintains on appeal that the threshold showing of need can be made simply by showing that there was some vantage point in the relevant area that would not permit a clear view of [his] activities. Thompson, 472 A.2d at 901; Jenkins, 541 A.2d at 1272 (quoting Thompson ). There is language in each of these opinions which, if extracted from its context, might be viewed at first blush as susceptible of that construction. An examination of the issues that were before the court in these cases, however, reveals that neither Thompson nor Jenkins held (or could have held) that such a showing, standing alone, is sufficient to demonstrate need. [6] In fact, the construction of Thompson and Jenkins urged upon us by Anderson leads to unreasonable consequences. A tree on the north side of the street may impair an observing officer's view of the relevant activity from an observation post located on that side, especially if it is between the observation post and the site of the alleged wrongdoing. The same tree would be completely irrelevant to the officer's capacity to observe, on the other hand, if the observation post were on the south side, where there are no trees. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine an area in which there is no location from which the officer's view would be obstructed. Accordingly, if we were to adopt Anderson's theory, we would effectively emasculate the requirement that the defendant make a threshold showing of need. We therefore hold that the defendant is obliged to show not only that there are locations in the area from which the view is impaired or obstructed, but also that there is some reason to believe that the officer was making his observations from such a location. Without some reason so to believe, the existence of obstructed locations is logically irrelevant. The defendant must, of course, be accorded a reasonable opportunity to explore the officer's ability to observe, and he is entitled to some leeway on cross-examination. If counsel is aware of actually or arguably obstructed locations, for example, he may inquire of the officer, indirectly or even directly, whether the observation post was located in any of them. If the officer declines to provide an informative response, then the defendant's showing of need is significantly enhanced, and the judge will ordinarily have to proceed to the balancing stage. If, on the other hand, the officer unambiguously testifies that he was not in any of the impaired locations, and if his testimony to that effect is credited by the court, [7] then it will ordinarily be difficult if not impossible, absent other indicia of unreliability, for the accused to sustain his threshold burden, for there will be no reason for the court to believe that the officer's view was obstructed.