Opinion ID: 414210
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Carruth's Claims

Text: 5 Carruth contends that he suffered actual prejudice as a result of the pre-indictment delay because he destroyed many of his personal and business records following his bankruptcy in 1978, and because Harold Cardwell, TAC's accountant, died shortly before the indictment, and therefore could not testify on Carruth's behalf. The district court found that these contentions did not amount to a showing of actual prejudice. We agree. 6 First, Carruth failed to demonstrate that the lost records or Cardwell's testimony would have exonerated him. The government's case rests on the assumption that Carruth and Reed created documentation for nonexistent transactions involving the syndicates' cattle breeding operations. Carruth has made no showing that the missing records would have proved that the transactions really did take place. Cf. United States v. Kendrick, 692 F.2d 1262, 1267 (9th Cir.1982). 7 Moreover, the evidence does not indicate that Carruth destroyed his records because of the pre-indictment delay. Carruth testified that the records were destroyed sometime between June 29, 1978, and August 8, 1978. The destruction took place after Carruth had met with an IRS special agent, and had been served with one, and possibly two, summonses for those records. To allow Carruth's prejudice claim here would be to hold that those under criminal investigation have a right to destroy documents and then to argue that they are prejudiced because the documents are unavailable to support their defense. This we refuse to do. 8 Finally, according to government agents who interviewed him, Cardwell's testimony would have been limited to his examination of the TAC files, and would not have encompassed the underlying transactions on which the convictions were based. It is difficult to see how Cardwell could have exonerated Carruth, and we cannot overturn an indictment on mere speculation that missing evidence would have contained exculpating material. United States v. West, 607 F.2d 300, 304-05 (9th Cir.1979).