Opinion ID: 729770
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 This appeal arises from one case in a series of three indictments returned by the Grand Jury on August 30, 1995. 1 Among other things, the indictments charged each of thirty-nine defendants with participating in a twenty-five year narcotics conspiracy in violation of 21 U.S.C. sec. 846, and charged about half of the defendants, including Hatcher, with operating a Continuing Criminal Enterprise in violation of 21 U.S.C. sec. 848. The indictments alleged that the defendants belonged to the Gangster Disciples street gang, which provided the structure and organization for the conspirators' sale and distribution of drugs. 3 The indictment from which this appeal arises, United States v. Parks, named nineteen defendants and had fifty counts. The indictment alleged that the Gangster Disciples operated through a hierarchy, which included a Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board, Governors, Regents, Coordinators and Soldiers. At all times during the alleged conspiracy, Larry Hoover (Hoover) was the so-called Chairman of the Board, which meant that Hoover directed and controlled the activities of the gang. Hoover was able to continue directing the Gangster Disciples despite the fact that he had been incarcerated for murder since 1973. Hatcher was alleged to be on the gang's Board of Directors. 4 This appeal concerns intercepted conversations between Hoover and his visitors at the Vienna Correctional Facility in Vienna, Illinois, during the fall of 1993. Pursuant to a court-authorized intercept, conversations between Hoover and his visitors were seized using a small transmitter placed in a thin visitor's pass worn around visitors' necks. The conversations were intercepted on six different days spread out over seven weekends. The conversations ranged from three to eight hours in duration depending upon the length of the visit with Hoover. Because such an extremely small transmitter was used to avoid detection, the clarity of the tapes of the intercepted conversations was compromised. Background noise, the power of the transmitter, and the hushed tones of the speakers make it difficult to understand the conversations without familiarity with the speakers' voices and manner of speaking. 5 The Government was able to intercept sixty-five hours of conversation before the transmitter was discovered. A Government agent, Mary Hodge, painstakingly listened to the sixty-five hours in order to isolate fragments of the tapes which would be relevant for use at trial. The Government eventually determined that particular fragments of conversations, adding up to four hours of playing time, were relevant. The four hours describe the hierarchical structure of the Gangster Disciples, and include discussions about narcotics trafficking, acts of violence, and efforts to thwart law enforcement. Although none of the defendants in the Parks indictment are overheard on the Vienna intercept, as the Government itself concedes, the four hours are the heart of the Government's case in that they set out the structure of the gang. The four hours were in fact used, without objection, in the first Gangster Disciple trial, United States v. McCain, 95 CR 509, in front of Judge Plunkett. In McCain, the jury was able to listen to the tapes and follow along on a televised transcript. The Government seeks to introduce the same four-hour portion at this trial. 6 During pretrial discovery in this case, the Government tendered to defendants approximately eight copies of the entire sixty-five hours of tapes, as well as written transcripts for the four hours the Government seeks to introduce at trial. The Government later tendered to defendants an enhanced version of the four-hour portion in which some background noise had been eliminated. 7 On June 11, 1996, Hatcher filed a motion in limine asking the district court to suppress the Vienna tapes, arguing that they were inaudible and untrustworthy and, therefore, should not be admissible. Beginning on June 17, 1996, the district court conducted an audibility hearing as to the four-hour portion of the tapes, listening to the tapes without the benefit of transcripts. On June 20, 1996, the district court made an oral ruling and set forth seven findings of fact. The most significant finding was that it was possible to transcribe the four-hour portion, as Agent Hodge had done, and that, therefore, the tapes were audible. The district court also found that scrubbing or enhancing the quality of the tapes did not significantly increase their audibility. The court had listened to the tapes in camera with African-American court personnel and concluded: [T]he main difficulty that these tapes present is a lack of familiarity with the lingo, and the manner of communicating ideas by Black Americans as opposed to White Americans, if you will. The court further ordered: 8 [T]he defendants should listen to these tapes with their counsel, because there is no question in the Court's mind that the defendants will understand with a high degree of precision, and rather easily based on . . . the tests that I undertook in chambers, what was being said, and would be particularly alert to exculpatory information if we are going to be talking in terms of Brady. 9 The district court orally agreed to allow defense attorneys to cross-examine the staff members who had been able to understand the Vienna tapes. However, on June 28, 1996, when the court issued a written order reflecting its audibility findings, it withdrew the offer to allow cross-examination of the court personnel because of their unwillingness to repeat the experiment in open court. In the written order, the district court repeated its finding that the tapes suffer more from a translation problem and less significantly from an audibility problem. The district court therefore agreed to investigate having Chicago African-American court personnel translate the entire sixty-five hours of the Vienna intercept. 10 On July 3, 1996, the district court sua sponte vacated its June 28 order and suppressed the tapes. While not changing its opinion on the audibility of the tapes or its factual findings from June 28, the court shifted the burden to the Government to transcribe the entire sixty-five hours, including the sixty-one hours the Government does not intend to use trial, and make them available for the defendants to examine for Brady material. The court stated: 11 The defendants have a legitimate need to review what is said on the 65 hours of Vienna tapes. They should not have to take the word of the Government that nothing useful to the defense is present on those tapes, which the Government has apparently not spent sufficient time and resources to transcribe, particularly in this case where the stakes for the defendants are so high. 12 The court suggested that listening to the tapes without transcripts would be an incredibly burdensome and/or expensive undertaking for defense counsel and their clients. As a result, the court concluded: 13 [D]efendants should not have to undertake this project without transcripts. Therefore, because of the legitimate concerns that Brady material may be present in the 65 hours of Vienna tapes, and because of the incredible demands that determining whether Brady material is present in those tapes without the assistance of transcripts of them, the court will suppress the 65 hours of Vienna tapes including the approximately 4 hours the Government has had transcribed and wishes to use at trial, until such time as the Government supplies the defendants with transcripts of those tapes. 14 (emphasis added). 15 On July 19, 1996, the Government filed its notice of appeal from the district court's July 3 order suppressing the tapes. On July 30, Hatcher filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, objecting to this Court's jurisdiction because of the conditional nature of the district court's order. Hatcher argues that jurisdiction cannot vest in this Court until the Government makes a definitive statement expressing its unwillingness to abide by the July 3 order. We agreed to hear the jurisdiction issue along with the merits of the appeal.