Opinion ID: 340081
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Presentation of Wire Interception Evidence Before the Grand Jury.

Text: 13 Immediately after their arrest, several appellants filed a motion to suppress the wiretap evidence that they believed might have formed a basis for their arrests. They also sought disclosure of the applications and orders for the interceptions. In addition, they moved to enjoin the government from holding a preliminary hearing or presenting the wiretap evidence to a grand jury until ten days after obtaining the disclosure they sought. The government opposed the motions, but neither admitted nor denied the legality of the wire interceptions. After hearing oral arguments, the district court held that the government could not present wire interception evidence at a preliminary hearing without disclosure, but otherwise the district court denied the motions. 14 On the day scheduled for the preliminary hearing, appellants were indicted by the grand jury, which heard the testimony of Special Agent Garibotto and evidence from the wire interceptions. The return of the indictments made it unnecessary to conduct the preliminary hearing. 15 Appellants contend that this procedure violated 18 U.S.C. § 2518(9) and (10) (a) and 18 U.S.C. § 3504. Section 2518(9) provides that: 16 The contents of any intercepted wire or oral communication or evidence derived therefrom shall not be received in evidence or otherwise disclosed in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in a Federal or State court unless each party, not less than ten days before the trial, hearing, or proceeding, has been furnished with a copy of the court order, and accompanying application, under which the interception was authorized or approved. This ten-day period may be waived by the judge if he finds that it was not possible to furnish the party with the above information ten days before the trial, hearing, or proceeding and that the party will not be prejudiced by the delay in receiving such information. Section 2518(10)(a) provides: 17 Any aggrieved person in any trial, hearing, or proceeding in or before any court, department, officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision thereof, may move to suppress the contents of any intercepted wire or oral communication, or evidence derived therefrom, on the grounds that 18 (i) the communication was unlawfully intercepted; 19 (ii) the order of authorization or approval under which it was intercepted is insufficient on its face; or 20 (iii) the interception was not made in conformity with the order of authorization or approval. Finally, § 3504 states: 21 (a) In any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of the United States 22 (1) upon a claim by a party aggrieved that evidence is inadmissible because it is the primary product of an unlawful act or because it was obtained by the exploitation of an unlawful act, the opponent of the claim shall affirm or deny the occurrence of the alleged unlawful act . . . . 23 Appellants contend that these sections authorized their motions to suppress, required the government to affirm or deny the legality of the wire interceptions, and prohibited the government from relying on the evidence gathered as a result of the interceptions until these requirements were satisfied. Accordingly, they contend that their indictments must be quashed because the government presented this evidence to the grand jury before it replied to their challenge to the interceptions. 18 U.S.C. § 2515 provides that no intercepted wire communication or evidence derived therefrom may be received in evidence . . . in any . . . proceeding . . . before any . . . grand jury . . . if the disclosure of that information would be in violation of this chapter. 24 We hold that the government was not required to comply with § 2518(9) or to affirm or deny the illegality of the interception before it could introduce the intercepted communications before the grand jury, nor were appellants entitled to prevent the presentation of this evidence to the grand jury even if the interception were unlawful. 25 The legislative history of § 2518(9) demonstrates that Congress did not intend the ten-day disclosure requirement to apply to grand jury proceedings. The Senate Report section-by-section analysis provides that: 26 Proceeding is intended to include all adversary type hearings. It would include a trial itself, a probation revocation proceeding, or a hearing on a motion for reduction of sentence. It would not include a grand jury hearing. Compare Blue v. United States, 384 U.S. 251, 86 S.Ct. 1416, 16 L.Ed.2d 510 (1966). 27 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2195 (1968). 28 The Congressional history of § 2518(10)(a) demonstrates that this section was not intended to permit a defendant to challenge the evidence presented to the grand jury: 29 Paragraph (10)(a) . . . must be read in connection with sections 2515 and 2517, discussed above, which it limits. It provides the remedy for the right created by section 2515. Because no person is a party as such to a grand jury proceeding, the provision does not envision the making of a motion to suppress in the context of such a proceeding itself. Normally, there is no limitation on the character of evidence that may be presented to a grand jury, which is enforcible by an individual. (Blue v. United States, 384 U.S. 251, 86 S.Ct. 1416, 16 L.Ed.2d 510 (1966).) There is no intent to change this general rule. It is the intent of the provision only that when a motion to suppress is granted in another context, its scope may include use in a future grand jury proceeding. 30 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2195 (1968). (Emphasis added.) 31 The Supreme Court's opinion in Gelbard v. United States, 408 U.S. 41, 92 S.Ct. 2357, 33 L.Ed.2d 179 (1972) analyzes §§ 2518(10)(a) and 3504, and supports the conclusion that they do not authorize a defendant to suppress evidence before the grand jury on the grounds that it was intercepted illegally. Nor is the government required to affirm or deny the legality of the interception. In Gelbard the Court held that a grand jury witness could refuse to answer questions that were based upon illegal interceptions, and could defend against a contempt charge under 18 U.S.C. § 2515. Section 2515 bars the use as evidence before official bodies of the contents and the fruits of illegal interceptions. The Court held that in the context of § 3504, which states the procedures by which aggrieved persons may challenge illegally procured evidence, a party aggrievedcan only be a witness, for there is no other party to a grand jury proceeding. Moreover, a claim . . . that evidence is inadmissible can only be a claim that the witness' potential testimony is inadmissible. 32 408 U.S. 54, 92 S.Ct. 2364. (Emphasis added.) 33 The Supreme Court drew a careful distinction between a witness before the grand jury, who it held may refuse to answer questions based upon illegal interceptions, and a defendant or potential defendant. The Court held that: 34 The congressional concern with the applicability of § 2518(10)(a) in grand jury proceedings, so far as it is discernible from the Senate report, was apparently that defendants and potential defendants might be able to utilize suppression motions to impede the issuance of indictments: Normally, there is no limitation on the character of evidence that may be presented to a grand jury, which is enforcible by an individual. (United States v. Blue, 384 U.S. 251, 86 S.Ct. 1416, 16 L.Ed.2d 510 (1966).) There is no intent to change this general rule. S.Rep. No. 1097, 90th Cong., 2d Sess., 106 (1968); U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, p. 2195. The general rule, as illustrated in Blue, is that a defendant is not entitled to have his indictment dismissed before trial simply because the Government acquire(d) incriminating evidence in violation of the (law), even if the tainted evidence was presented to the grand jury. 384 U.S. at 255 and n. 3, 86 S.Ct. 1419; see Lawn v. United States, 355 U.S. 339, 78 S.Ct. 311, 2 L.Ed.2d 321 (1958); Costello v. United States, 350 U.S. 359, 76 S.Ct. 406, 100 L.Ed. 397 (1956). But that rule has nothing whatever to do with the situation of a grand jury witness who has refused to testify and attempts to defend a subsequent charge of contempt. 35 408 U.S. 59-60, 92 S.Ct. 2367. 36 Accordingly, we hold that appellants were not entitled to contest the legality of the intercepted communications before the communications were submitted to the grand jury. Appellants contend, however, that they had a right to contest the admissibility of wiretap evidence at the scheduled preliminary hearing, and that the government could not deprive them of this right by the sudden tactic of obtaining an indictment. 37 Our court has repeatedly held that if a grand jury returns a true bill prior to the time a preliminary hearing is held, the whole purpose and justification of the preliminary hearing has been satisfied. United States v. Mulligan, 520 F.2d 1327, 1329 (6th Cir. 1975). A defendant has no right to have a preliminary hearing if a grand jury indictment is returned. Although we have recognized that a preliminary hearing may as a practical matter provide a defendant with an irreplaceable opportunity for discovery, a defendant has no absolute right to these ancillary benefits. For example, in Mulligan we held that defendants, who wanted to cross-examine a key government witness prior to trial, suffered no prejudice when their preliminary hearing was continued to permit the government to obtain a grand jury indictment in the interim. Accordingly, we hold that appellants suffered no legal prejudice when the government proceeded by indictment, rather than by a preliminary hearing at which appellants could have contested the legality of the wire interceptions pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 2518(10)(a) and 3504. 38