Opinion ID: 609734
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: failure to preserve evidence

Text: 107 Thompson argues that his due process rights were violated by the government's failure to preserve exculpatory evidence, specifically a DEA-6 form prepared by Agent McDonough summarizing an interview with Thompson. It appears that McDonough interviewed Thompson on March 10, 1988, and then memorialized the interview on the DEA-6 form. On June 22, 1988, just prior to Thompson's appearance before the grand jury, McDonough again met with Thompson, and Thompson made certain handwritten corrections on the form and then signed it. In the grand jury, the government attorney read each statement on the DEA-6 form to Thompson, and then asked Thompson to confirm the truth of the statement. Thompson did so, making some modifications or corrections. The form with Thompson's handwritten corrections was lost after the grand jury appearance. 108 Thompson filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the DEA-6 form as corrected by him prior to the grand jury appearance was material exculpatory evidence, and that the government's failure to preserve that evidence deprived him of a fair trial. This motion was denied by the magistrate judge to whom it was referred. The magistrate judge's report advised the parties that pursuant to the local rules the failure to file written objections to the report within ten days shall preclude further appellate review by the Court of Appeals. Thompson failed to file a written objection. The issue, therefore, was waived. See Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 155, 106 S.Ct. 466, 475, 88 L.Ed.2d 435 (1985); United States v. Valencia-Copete, 792 F.2d 4, 6 (1st Cir.1986). 109 Although we will address waived issues where necessary to prevent a miscarriage of justice, we certainly perceive none here. The corrected DEA-6 form was essentially preserved by the grand jury testimony itself, during which the government attorney went through the form line-by-line. The transcript of this grand jury testimony was read to the jury at trial.