Opinion ID: 340081
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Improper Use of the Grand Jury.

Text: 39 Appellants also assert that the government improperly used the grand jury to discover and preserve evidence to be used at the trial of their already pending indictments. They assert that both Burt and Nabors were called before the grand jury to testify against appellants after appellants' indictment. The government concedes that it is improper to use a grand jury solely to prepare a pending indictment for trial. Beverly v. United States, 468 F.2d 732 (5th Cir. 1972); 8 Moore's Federal Practice P 6.04. But it contends that the record contains no support for appellants' claim that Burt and Nabors were called only to prepare pending indictments for trial. Additionally, the government urges that appellants have not demonstrated that any prejudice resulted from the alleged misconduct, and it contends that only Nabors and Burt have standing to raise the issue. 40 A presumption of regularity attaches to a grand jury's proceedings and appellants have the burden of demonstrating that an irregularity occurred. Universal Manufacturing Co. v. United States, 508 F.2d 684 (8th Cir. 1975); Beverly v. United States, 468 F.2d 732 (5th Cir. 1972). Moreover, we agree with the observation made by the First Circuit that: 41 grand jury proceedings cannot be policed in any detail. It is a price we pay for grand jury independence that sometimes people are indicted on the basis of evidence tainted in part by hearsay, Costello v. United States, 350 U.S. 359, 76 S.Ct. 406, 100 L.Ed. 397 (1956), or of illegally obtained evidence, Lawn v. United States, 355 U.S. 339, 78 S.Ct. 311, 2 L.Ed.2d 321 (1958). Nor is a grand jury narrowly confined in its objectives, Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 26 S.Ct. 370, 50 L.Ed. 652 (1906), Blair v. United States, 250 U.S. 273, 39 S.Ct. 468, 63 L.Ed. 979 (1919). 42 United States v. Doe, 455 F.2d 1270, 1274 (1st Cir. 1972). 3 Accordingly, in United States v. George, 444 F.2d 310, 314 (6th Cir. 1971) we held that (s)o long as it is not the sole or dominant purpose of the grand jury to discover facts relating to (a defendant's) pending indictment, the Court may not interfere with the grand jury's investigation. 43 Neither appellants nor the government have cited to us any portion of the record in which appellants presented this claim to the district court, and we have searched the voluminous record to no avail. However, assuming that this issue is properly before us, we hold that appellants have presented nothing beyond their own unproved suspicions to prove that Burt and Nabors were improperly summoned before the grand jury for the sole or dominant purpose of preparing the pending indictments for trial. Portions of the testimony at trial suggest that after appellants were indicted, Burt and Nabors did testify before the grand jury regarding some of the matters at issue in appellants' trial. However, appellants have made no showing that Burt and Nabors were not called in order to determine whether other persons not yet indicted were also involved in the conspiracy under investigation. The indictments charged that appellants conspired with divers other persons whose names are to the Grand Jury unknown, and the grand jury could properly call witnesses in an attempt to identify these persons. United States v. Beverly, supra. 44