Opinion ID: 77688
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Johnson's Grand Jury Appearances

Text: 13 On September 3, 2003, Defendant Johnson was served with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury investigating Balch's alleged illegal fill activities. The subpoena also commanded Johnson to bring with him all records that he had pertaining to Balch and the property in Marathon in order to provide a complete picture of everything that was going on on the property. Shortly thereafter, Defendant Johnson called Agent Romero, complaining that the subpoena was too broad and that he had two drawers full of records. Agent Romero advised Defendant Johnson to box up the records and ship them ahead of time at the government's expense. During the conversation, Agent Romero also reviewed with Defendant Johnson the requirements of the subpoena and instructed him to bring any and all records he had, and not just the records Johnson deemed relevant. 14 On November 12, 2003, Defendant Johnson appeared before the grand jury in Key West, Florida. Before his testimony, Johnson met with Agent Romero and the prosecutor to discuss whether he had brought his records since he had not sent them ahead of time. Defendant Johnson produced four manilla folders that contained the documents he believed were relevant to the investigation. Agent Romero again explained to Johnson that the subpoena required the production of all his records, and Johnson was given a ten-day extension to produce the two boxes of records that he had told Romero about. Johnson was informed that he would likely have to appear before the grand jury again once his records were produced and reviewed. 15 During his first appearance before the grand jury on November 12, 2003, Defendant Johnson testified, inter alia, that (1) he received a call from McGraw on March 3, 2002, 4 in which she stated that there was illegal dumping of fill into the water on Balch's property; (2) prior to being contacted by McGraw, he had no knowledge whatsoever that fill was being placed in the water on Balch's property; (3) he contacted Balch and told him to stop the dumping; and (4) he never advised Balch to put fill in the water. 16 On December 2, 2003, Agent Romero received two boxes of documents from Defendant Johnson that contained, among other things, (1) a copy of the February 28, 2002 fax from Balch containing a description of the areas of his property that were already filled and those areas that still needed to be filled; and (2) a notation on a legal pad, dated February 6 and February 8, 2002, which stated, illegal dredge and fill . . . sovereign land, bay bottom issue, Jeff-felony. When asked about these documents, Johnson stated that he had never seen the fax and was unsure what the notations meant. Johnson also produced, prior to his second grand jury testimony, a folder containing notations from Johnson's conversations with McGraw. 17 On June 16, 2004, Defendant Johnson appeared before the grand jury for a second time and again testified that he had not discussed the filling of the bay bottom with Balch prior to his conversation with McGraw on March 5, 2002. Johnson also testified that he had not talked with Balch about Anderson's February 20, 2002 investigation of the property until after his conversation with McGraw on March 5, 2002. Finally, Johnson was asked about the February 28, 2002 fax from Balch that was recovered from his files and testified that he had no recollection of seeing the fax or dealing with it.